TORONTO — There will be no magic solutions from the outside, through trades or other player moves, that will get the Toronto Maple Leafs out of their early-season funk, general manager Brad Treliving said Tuesday.

He also said their recent struggles, which have seen the Maple Leafs fall into a last-place tie with the Buffalo Sabres in the Atlantic Division, have not caused him to lose faith in second-year coach Craig Berube.

“I fully believe in Craig and the messaging,” Treliving said. “Craig didn’t become a bad coach overnight. When you go through difficult times the easy thing is to pick off the coach … the important thing is to not point fingers and dig in together … I have all the faith in the world in him.”

Treliving said the answers will have to come from within the Toronto dressing room, and, for that matter, the front office.

And it starts with the work on the ice, which has not been at the level it needs to be.

“I think the consistency of effort in some cases,” Treliving said. “There’s a lot of nights I don’t question the effort but there’s been some inconsistencies there.

“And then just the enthusiasm of the group. I think when you go through a difficult time, it’s easy for everyone to feel a little bit tight. We need to get that enthusiasm back.”

There has been little reason for the Maple Leafs and their fan base to feel that way this season. They are 8-9-2 and on a five-game skid (0-4-1) entering their game against the St. Louis Blues at Scotiabank Arena on Tuesday (7 p.m. ET; TVAS, TSN4, FDSNMW).

Treliving even referred to the moribund vibe these days as “vanilla.” Still, he was quick to point out that change won’t necessarily come via roster moves.

“You’re always looking to make your team better, regardless where your team is at, but there’s not one point where you say ‘OK, today I’m going to ship out five guys,'” he said. “The reality is, you’re not trading your way out of problems.”

That doesn’t mean the front office isn’t exploring ways to improve.

“But the majority of problems we have need to be solved within the group,” he said. “You’re not airlifting in 15 new people tonight.

“This is the group we’ve got. The job of all of us is to maximize the people you’ve got and get them to play at the highest level.”

Among the issues Treliving isolated is a disconnect in terms of style between players on the ice, where too often Berube’s north-south blueprint has not been followed. The GM noted it’s the players’ responsibility to heed the words of the coach, whom he said he fully supports.

Berube was asked if “inconsistency in effort,” to use Treliving’s phrase, is one of the most frustrating part of his team’s malaise thus far.

“Well, obviously it is,” the coach replied. “I mean, we all want effort, right? That’s very important. And there’s times that it’s been lacking.

“Having said that, I haven’t seen that lately, so it’s going in the right direction, in my opinion.”

Forward Max Domi thinks it’s been a team-wide confidence issue. Or, in the case of the Maple Leafs, a lack thereof.

“I don’t think it’s an effort thing,” he said. “I think everyone in here is working hard and trying their best. It’s more of an execution thing. And that comes with staying connected out there. We’re certainly aware of that, and we have to do a better job.

“If you’ve played before, you understand that confidence is part of the game. If you haven’t, then you wouldn’t, so I think we all know that here. And getting confidence that comes from concentrating on the process, working extra in practice, watching extra video, things like that.”

The Maple Leafs have had their share of injuries including forwards Auston Matthews (lower body), Nicolas Roy (upper body) and Scott Laughton (upper body), goalie Anthony Stolarz (upper body), and defensemen Brandon Carlo (lower body) and Chris Tanev (upper body).

Matthews, out since Nov. 11, skated Tuesday, but is not ready to return.

“No excuses,” Treliving said. “Everyone has injuries. It’s my responsibility and that of the staff to get this thing on track.”