Jamie McLennan thinks Treliving’s vanilla comment highlights Leafs’ lack of identity: Leafs Morning Take

The Leafs GM addressed the media during his quarterly press conference Tuesday morning. That’s where the conversation started about the latest edition of Leafs Morning Take. All in all, Treliving wants to see three things moving forward: 1. Return to a connected group, 2. A more consistent effort, and 3. More enthusiasm in the group. To be honest, he didn’t say much that jumped off the page. The most notable thing he said was that he thinks the team has been too vanilla, which is very fair. I’m sitting here on November 18th^ethe Leafs have no identity.

After breaking all that down, we looked ahead to the matchup with the St. Louis Blues, who attended both meetings with their former coach last season. Missouri native Joseph Woll will start in goal. Meanwhile, Troy Stecher will make his Maple Leafs debut and Jacob Quillan, just recalled from the Marlies, will play his second NHL game. He is expected to center the third line alongside Matias Maccelli and Bobby McMann. Yes, this team is currently plagued by injuries. It’s beautiful. Bottom line: They need to be patient and find a way to win this game. Of course, the Leafs are winless after five (0-4-1), and believe or not, after Buffalo defeated Edmonton on Monday night, Toronto is now tied with Buffalo for last place in the Eastern Conference (18 points).

TSN’s Jamie “Noodles” McLennan then stopped by the show again. First, we got his reaction to Treliving’s press conference. The vanilla commentary really stood out with Noodles. He thinks this has to do with Toronto’s lack of identity in the beginning. Additionally, we investigated Berube’s status after Treliving trusted him. Furthermore, Noodles got the attention, the return of Woll and everything surrounding Anthony Stolarz so far this season. Finally, he discussed all the injuries and gave his prediction on whether the Leafs could get out of this hole.

Zack Phillips and Jay Rosehill will join you on Wednesday’s edition of Leafs Morning Take. Join them for a full Leafs/Blues recap. Plus, they’re looking ahead to Thursday night’s date at Scotiabank Arena with the Columbus Blue Jackets.