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It’s the Leafs’ first six-game winless skid since Nov. 9-19, 2019, a run that resulted in the firing of Mike Babcock
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Published Jan 30, 2026 • Last updated 15 hours ago • 5 minute read
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Matty Beniers #10 of the Seattle Kraken scores during the first period against the Toronto Maple Leafs at Climate Pledge Arena on January 29, 2026 in Seattle, Washington. Photo by Alika Jenner /Getty Images North AmericaArticle content
The worst-case scenario played out for the Maple Leafs on Thursday night.
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After Buffalo, Montreal and Boston won earlier in the evening, the Leafs lost 5-2 against the Seattle Kraken at Climate Pledge Arena to start a four-game trip.
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If you’ve stopped bothering to count at home, and we wouldn’t blame you, the Leafs are now 10 points out of a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
The Leafs’ first loss in Seattle — they won in each of their previous four visits since the Kraken’s inaugural season in 2021-22 — dropped Toronto to 0-5-1 in its past six games.
It’s the Leafs’ first six-game winless skid since Nov. 9-19, 2019, a run that resulted in the firing of Mike Babcock. They’ll try to keep it from hitting seven when they visit the Canucks in Vancouver on Saturday.
William Nylander, who has missed the past seven games with a groin injury, could return to the lineup in Vancouver.
Three takeaways:
DEADLINE ON ARRIVAL
Questions regarding the Leafs’ plight as it pertains to the National Hockey League trade deadline on March 6 are starting to come post-game, which is about right.
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The Leafs have nine games remaining before the deadline and if players are starting to look around the room and wonder who might be on the way out, it would hardly be surprising.
Do the Leafs have it in them to start piling up wins to climb back into the playoff race? We don’t think so. The potential for changes looms and general manager Brad Treliving doesn’t have much time to decide whether, or how much, he is going to sell.
“There’s no question — that’s not lost on anyone,” defenceman Morgan Rielly, the longest-tenured current Leafs player, told media in Seattle after the game.
“Our work is cut out for us. We’re in a spot in the standings that we haven’t been and we’re not happy.
“It’s on us. It’s not on anyone else. It’s performance-based, and again, it’s mistakes. We’re aware of what’s going on, and we’re doing everything we can to right the ship and to get playing better hockey.”
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Captain Auston Matthews had little interest in going down the possible-trade road in general, not regarding himself.
“You leave that up to the management,” Matthews said. “For us, it’s about the next game. It’s about winning and starting to put ourselves in a much better position then we are now.”
A much better position only comes if the teams ahead of the Leafs in the Atlantic Division go into a nosedive. That’s just as unlikely as a long Leafs winning streak.
How concerned is coach Craig Berube that there is not enough runway left for the Leafs, who have 28 games remaining, to make a true playoff charge?
“We can’t worry about that or look at that,” Berube said. “You can’t start looking at how many games are left. You’re putting yourself in a bad spot. We have to go into Vancouver and get two points.
“The goals right now need to be small.”
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THE COST OF MISTAKES
Matias Maccelli didn’t see the ice again after his turnover led to Seattle’s fourth goal by Shane Wright, who also had scored in the second period. Wright’s first goal was followed by a Brandon Montour goal 31 seconds later, putting Seattle up 3-1.
Maccelli didn’t sense the pressure of Montour on Wright’s goal in the third and the puck quickly was in the net. Berube yelled at the players on the bench after the goal, and it made zero difference.
On Matty Beniers’ goal at 1:21 of the first, Rielly was caught in the neutral zone and the Leafs didn’t recover with proper coverage in the defensive zone. Montour’s goal came off an odd-man rush.
The Leafs play a broken record when the subject is cleaning up mistakes, yet nothing changes. Sure, the effort was better overall against the Kraken, with the Leafs outshooting the home team 31-22, but that didn’t add up to much, did it?
“It’s tough,” Berube said. “Nobody’s happy, but in the end, that’s the way we have to play. There’s a lot of good things in the game. We could clean up a couple things, mistakes that are unnecessary, but in the end, if we play like that, we’ll win a lot of games.”
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When? Next season? It’s too little, too late for this group.
The line of John Tavares between Matthew Kines and Maccelli had a rough night, as the Leafs were outshot 8-3 at five-on-five when the trio was on the ice and were outscored 3-0.
For the team as a whole, it’s not just about erasing mistakes. The Leafs are bad defensively and have allowed 45 goals in a nine-game span for the first time since the 1991-92 season. They’re not cleaning that up. It’s who they are.
Two positives regarding the Leafs goals: Nick Robertson was energized all night and used his quick release to score in the first.
In the second, and this is kind of hard to believe, Rielly scored the first power-play goal by a Leafs defenceman this season. The Leafs were 1-for-3 with a man advantage after earning no power plays on Tuesday in the loss against Buffalo.
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NO GOALIE HELP
Goaltender Anthony Stolarz has played in two games since returning from an upper-body nerve issue and has been beaten on the first shot in both.
That doesn’t instil confidence in teammates.
Stolarz thought his movement was better than in his first game back last week against Vegas, but acknowledged his deficiencies.
“You need a big save out of the goalie,” Stolarz said. “For me, it seems to be lacking right now. I just have to dig down.”
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Said Berube: “He probably wants a couple back for sure. But overall, his game was better.”
Berube’s first words were coach speak for ‘not good enough.’ Similar to last week, Stolarz didn’t have a handle on rebounds like he should.
One of the looming decisions for Treliving could be trading one of his three goalies — Stolarz, Joseph Woll or Dennis Hildeby. We’d take Hildeby out of that possibility. With the Toronto Marlies now, Hildeby should really be with the Leafs, where he would give the team a better shot at success than what is being provided by Stolarz and Woll now.
X: @koshtorontosun
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