It’s too early to tell if the Maple Leafs will be buyers or sellers when it comes to trades, says GM Lou Lamoriello.

“To think about that, it’s too far away to even have in your mindset,” said Lamoriello. “That’s a far-fetched thing at this point.”

A 2-4-2 funk has sunk the Maple Leafs to last place in the Atlantic Division. They have pretensions of being a playoff team. Still, Lamoriello says that won’t influence the plan on how to build a team.

“Right now, we’re building,” he said. “Determining who the players are that will be part of the future, and who are buying into what it takes to have the success you want to have.

“We’d like the team in a position where contract numbers won’t get in the way, the cap won’t get in the way, where cash won’t get in the way, and we can develop the players we have in our system.”

After playing two games over the span of nine days, the Maple Leafs are about to get busy. Starting Saturday in Boston, they’ll play five games over eight nights. With the standings as tight as they are, anything can happen, said Lamoriello.

“You win a couple of games in a row and you jump five, six spots without even thinking about it,” said Lamoriello. “You have to be very careful how you look at the standings because it can get in the way of what you’re doing.

“Right now, you have to stay focused on all the individual things that are needed to have success. That’s what this group is doing.”

With a busy week ahead, the team took Thursday off. Rest, coach Mike Babcock believes, is a key part to success. The team has not been as successful as Babcock desires, and already changes in the form of line tinkering have come as young players adjust to life in the NHL.

“You’ve got the learn how to be a good pro and do all the things right that you need to do away from the rink,” said Babcock. “When you’re (at the rink) the biggest thing is you’ve got to learn how to take care of the puck and you have to learn how to have the puck.

“If you have the puck, life is great. If you don’t have the puck, you’re not winning very often. That’s all part of the process they’re going through.”

The Maple Leafs are right in the middle of the pack in terms of their possession numbers, controlling the puck about 50.79 per cent of the time in 5-on-5 situations, according to Corsica.hockey. But that puck possession time hasn’t amounted to wins.

Goals are less plentiful than they once were. They’ve scored 16 goals in their last eight games — two a game. They’ve allowed 20 (plus two more in shootout losses).

Only James van Riemsdyk (three goals in five games) and Auston Matthews (five goals in six games) have produced at a reasonable clip, with Nazem Kadri chipping in three in six games.

Others counted on for offence have slowed:

-Tyler Bozak’s backhand goal on Wednesday was his first goal in 13 games.

-Mitch Marner hasn’t scored in eight games.

-Connor Brown, who played his way up the lineup and missed a chance to tie the game in the dying moments, hasn’t scored in eight games.

-Nikita Soshnikov, who has supplanted William Nylander among the top nine forwards, has only one goal all year.

-Nylander now bounces from fourth-line centre, to second-unit power play, to up the lineup in the third period if the team is looking for offence. He hasn’t scored in seven games.

While the penalty kill has been superb — three goals allowed on 25 chances — the power play has weakened. The team has four power play goals in 26 chances over eight games.

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But the current funk — and accompanying position in last place — is not enough to get Lamoriello worried when he thinks about the big picture.

“Yes, you look at the standings,” said Lamoriello.

“You don’t like the appearance of it. But you know what is transpiring. You feel very good about what you see, what you feel, the way the team is developing. You don’t allow that to get in the way. The end result is what it’s about, through 82 games.”

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