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Maple Leafs general manager Brad Treliving responded Thursday in a phone interview to criticism of the team's approach to sports science. Dan Hamilton / USA Today
Brad Treliving defended the Toronto Maple Leafs’ approach to sports science following criticism the team faced, in a story published Thursday by The Athletic, over a key personnel decision.
In the story, Jeremy Bettle — a former director of sports science and performance with the Leafs — criticized the team for its decision not to fill the vacant director of high performance role when Rich Rotenberg left to join the Pittsburgh Penguins last summer.
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The Leafs general manager reached out Thursday morning, as fans and league observers reacted to the story online, and said that the team, even if it hasn’t hired someone with the same title, has addressed the vacancy through the redistribution of duties and other staff additions.
“You guys get wrapped up in one guy’s fancy title,” Treliving said. “I don’t get wrapped up in titles. I get wrapped up in people doing the jobs.”
The Athletic asked Treliving and the Maple Leafs for comment multiple times over three days prior to publishing the original story, which noted the team said it had bolstered its medical and training staff through other hires this season, adding an additional assistant strength and conditioning coach, an assistant dietitian and a third assistant athletic therapist, as well as consultants in mental health and mental performance.
Treliving said Thursday morning that the Leafs “moved somebody in that role” rather than hiring a replacement at the director level for Rotenberg, who took over for Bettle in 2019.
Treliving said Trevor Bartoli was promoted to assistant strength coach and performance coordinator from his previous role as a roving strength and conditioning coach. Treliving said Bartoli’s duties had expanded to include coordinating the schedule and assisting in the return-to-play process for players returning from injury.
Treliving said the team swapped what was an “administrative” role for one that favoured a more hands-on approach with players.
“I would think having more people working on the players is better for it,” he said. “I would say we’ve got the largest number of people working on players. I haven’t gone out and asked all the other teams, but if we don’t have the largest (staff in the NHL), we’re right there — hands on, working on injuries, working on rehab, doing everything for prevention.
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“And you could have a thousand people, people are going to get hurt when you’re playing this many games.”
Asked why the Leafs couldn’t have both an additional assistant strength coach and a replacement for Rotenberg, Treliving responded, “We do have both. We’ve got a coordinator that coordinates all that too.”
Leafs players have expressed missing Rotenberg this season.
“Obviously a guy that I miss,” William Nylander told reporters in November after seeing Rotenberg when the Leafs faced the Penguins. “He did a lot of things behind the scenes for the players, making sure they’re feeling good and stuff. He’s for sure missed.”
Treliving said the Leafs also have a robust data department, including a large group dedicated to sports science, such as the tracking of player workloads using Catapult technology.
“We’ve brought in support people underneath” Paul Ayotte, who leads the medical staff. “I think what you’re getting lost in is you see somebody with a title and saying we didn’t replace that position.”
Treliving took issue with Bettle’s contention that the lack of a director-level performance position, someone “with domain knowledge in that impartial position leading the department,” had led to more injuries.
“You cannot have injury-free seasons the way they’re currently set up,” Bettle said in the original story.
Treliving said Bettle had not worked for the team in years and wasn’t privy to what went on behind the scenes.
“It has nothing to do with the staff,” he said. “To insinuate that in the article is erroneous. It’s false.”
In the original story, Bettle conceded, “You never know what’s going on inside a club.”
“I’m not blaming the staff,” Bettle said. “I’m blaming the structure. It’s just not set up for them not to have injuries.”
Treliving believes the main cause for the Leafs’ nearly 200 man-games lost to injury is the schedule, condensed to squeeze in a break for the Olympics.
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He cited leaguewide data, which he said pointed to a 42 percent increase in the number of players placed on injured reserve from the period of Oct. 1, 2025 until Jan. 28, 2026 as compared with the same period the previous season.
“It looks like there’s a lot more injuries happening in the league,” Treliving said. “The schedule plays a factor in it; not that the Maple Leafs have cut their sports science department.”
Treliving said the Leafs are spending more money on sports science this season than they did in his two previous seasons as GM, and that he heard from players all the time, saying they had never had better treatment than with the Leafs.
“We’ve got a plethora of people to handle the needs of the players,” Treliving said.
Jonas Siegel is a staff writer on the Maple Leafs for The Athletic. Jonas previously covered the Leafs for TSN and AM 640. He was also the national hockey writer for the Canadian Press. Follow Jonas on Twitter @jonassiegel
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