Running it back more common than not

A good rule for life is to be suspicious of catch phrases and clichés.

- DAMIEN COX

If you want to accuse the Leafs of running it back, go ahead and use the cliché, Damien Cox writes. But the rest of the NHL is doing it too.

This is particularly true in sports, where clichés are king. Which brings us to a relatively new one, the concept of “running it back.” As in when a team chooses to “run it back” the next season.

What this means, generally speaking, is that a club decides against major changes, roster deletions, management alterations or coaching moves. Instead, the team decides to keep its main group — general manager, head coach, core players — and tinker with the rest of the roster and organization in hopes of having more success.

It’s also a phrase frequently uttered with disdain. As in, “I can’t believe they’re just going to run it back next season.” It’s a criticism that suggests the team either lacks the imagination or motivation to create major change.

It’s a cliché you hear being lobbed at the Maple Leafs these days. Some can’t believe Toronto intends to go into next season with Brendan Shanahan as president, Brad Treliving as GM and an intact core of key players that includes Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, William Nylander, John Tavares and Morgan Rielly.

Only the head coach, Sheldon Keefe, has paid for the first-round defeat to the Boston Bruins with his job. He has been replaced by Craig Berube.

To understand this in greater context, let’s examine who is and who isn’t “running it back” in the rest of NHL for the 2024-25 season.