I'm going to try to post a photo. Yes, except mine is more awkward looking at the top. And not as many side branches are affected. I'm not sure if I should cut off the top or do something like what you're describing. The winter seemed pretty typical except for temps that were way below average about a month ago. We're in SE Twin Cities.

Many of my Fall Fiestas look similar to yours. Looks like you could tie up the tall branch on the left side of the photo if you felt so inclined. But if you are okay with not having a straight leader, then just let it be.

We did have an unusual, long 40-degree-highs thaw around the holiday season and New Year's, if I remember correctly. The late freezes didn't seem to affect the emerging buds on mine. They were either dead or stalled out before then or they continued along unaffected.

I'm going to try to tie up a side branch but if that's too hard or looks dumb, just cut off the dead parts. Do you think there's any place in particular I need to cut? Like right above or below existing growth? It's disappointing because I thought sugar maples were more hardy than this. And I wouldn't have picked Fall Fiesta if others stand up better. Even my Yellowwood looks perfectly fine. I hope this is an unusual year rather than a regular occurrence.

Forgot to say, what I remember happening was just a couple weeks ago, it started to leaf out, and then it got to around 32 overnight. The leaves wilted and looked terrible, then I think they just fell off. This happened to some of my other trees as well: the Cork Tree, Yellowwod, Smoke Tree, etc. But it didn't have a lot of leaves at that point so I didn't notice if some branches were not getting leaves.