Insiders alarmed: Leafs locker room faces unseen turmoil

"A state of panic" is a good way to describe how things are going with the Toronto Maple Leafs right now. For weeks, we've seen a frustrated head coach addressing the media after every loss and a disgruntled general manager having to post up at the quarter-mark of the season to discuss his team's state of affairs.

However, panic setting into coaching staffs and front offices is normal in the NHL, according to Elliotte Friedman. The real issue is when it starts to enter the locker room and with the players, who are generally seen as being optimistic by nature. He touched on that during his most recent "32 Thoughts: The Podcast".

Friedman then added that Kyle Bukauskas noticed the trend during their most recent loss on Saturday night, which basically signalled that the players have begun to panic.

After rattling off three straight wins to start out the month, the Leafs have now lost 7 of their last 8 games, and with Craig Berube intimating that some of their absentees aren't close to making a return, their current crop of players have to stick together to get out of this mess. However, if panic has already seeped into the room, then we could be in for some troubling times.

It only gets harder with the Leafs' upcoming stretch of games, which includes a 5-game road trip involving Columbus, Washington, Pittsburgh, Florida, and Carolina, before home matchups against Montreal and Tampa Bay. It's a gruelling stretch that might determine their fate one way or the other.

It's gut-check time in Toronto and everyone has to be on their toes. They have to approach things one game at a time in an effort to end their losing ways, but with the new year fast approaching, they might not have enough time to get all their ducks in a row.