Ex-employee blames major organizational mistake for Maple Leafs brutal injury woes

The Toronto Maple Leafs are eight points out of a playoff spot heading into Thursday’s action. In the first year of the post-Mitch Marner era, things have not gone well. The Maple Leafs have dealt with a bevy of injuries this season. The Athletic’s Jonas Siegel reported on the lack of a sports science department and the connection between that and the injuries. Former Maple Leafs director of sports science, Dr. Jeremy Bettle, connected those dots.

“It’s gone back to being a traditional hockey club now.” Bettle said, per Seigel, “It’s back to how it was before I arrived. It’s like it never happened. It’s absolutely why they have more injuries. You cannot have injury-free seasons the way they’re currently set up. And that’s no knock on anyone in particular — it just doesn’t work.”

Bettle was hired by the Maple Leafs in 2015, according to Siegel. After he left for the Anaheim Ducks in 2019, Rich Rottenberg came in as the director of sports science. When Brendan Shanahan left the post as president of the Leafs, ex-Toronto GM Kyle Dubas brought Rottenberg to the Pittsburgh Penguins. This season is the first since 2014-15 that the Leafs have not had a director of sports science.

The Maple Leafs have had two players play all 53 games this season: veterans John Tavares and Oliver Ekman-Larsson. William Nylander had missed one game due to injury before this season. He is currently on the shelf with a lower-body injury and has missed a total of 16 games this season.

The Maple Leafs have fallen out of the playoff race, but a hot stretch could bring them back before the stretch run. Despite their incredible talent, they have not stayed healthy and have not won games. It could cost Craig Berube his job as head coach, but it may not be his fault.

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