Weekly Takes - Monday, April 4 Edition

Weekly Takes - Monday, April 4 Edition

1. I had to watch the Maple Leafs win over the Bruins on my phone, so a deep-dive is not realistic, but my takeaways from the game were…

• I was the captain of the “trade for Mark Giordano” bandwagon but even I did not think his impact would be this… impactful. He is everything the Leafs needed defensively

• The Leafs matched the Bruins toe-for-toe when it came to physicality. I know the Bruins are no longer as tough as they used to be but how they performed from a mental and physical standpoint in this game has been one of the biggest positives this season.

• Taylor Hall getting fined for pulling a mini Todd Bertuzzi is a joke, albeit not surprising in the slightest. If Nazem Kadri did that, though… lol.

2. My three stars from the Leafs dominant win over the Jets on Thursday…

1. William Nylander

2. Auston Matthews

3. Mitch Marner

No question Sheldon Keefe made the right decision to play both Kyle Clifford and Wayne Simmonds. The Jets are the dirtiest team in the league but the Leafs managed to take it to the Jets from a physicality perspective.

And Auston Matthews getting to 50 goals is probably the coolest moment at Scotiabank since Tyler Bozak’s overtime goal against the Capitals in the 2017 playoffs.

3. My three stars from the Leafs win over the Flyers on Saturday…

1. Nylander

2. Pierre Engvall

3. Morgan Rielly

Honourable mention to Simmonds, who has come alive during the last two games.

4. With the return of Jake Muzzin imminent and multiple viewings of the new additions under our belt, here is what my Maple Leafs lineup would be come game one of the playoffs, assuming everyone is healthy….

Forwards…

Michael Bunting - Matthews - Marner

Matthew Knies - John Tavares - Nylander

Ilya Mikheyev - David Kampf - Engvall

Alex Kerfoot - Colin Blackwell - Ondrej Kase

Scratched: Simmonds and Spezza

Sent Down: Clifford and Nick Abruzzese

Defence…

Rielly - Ilya Lyubushkin

Muzzin - T.J. Brodie

Giordano - Timothy Liljegren

Scratched: Rasmus Sandin and Justin Holl

Overall, this is the deepest Leafs team under Brendan Shanahan, as Kerfoot and Kase are not fourth liners, Giordano is not a third pairing defencemen, and both Sandin and Holl are more than good enough to dress.

Even scratching Simmonds and Spezza, both of whom could quite easily play an important role in a playoff series, seems like quite the luxury.

It is truly going to come down to execution, for as cliche as it is to say. The first and third lines are well-oiled machines, while a fourth line as good as this one should dominate their minutes. Tavares and Nylander are now playing their best hockey in months and Knies should only help with that, once and if he signs.

Defensively, the third pairing is dominating their minutes, while the first pairing has played well together. The second pairing is a huge question mark, because who knows what Muzzin is going to look like, but at worst, Brodie and Holl have looked quite good together as of late.

5. There have been… many positive developments regarding the 2021-2022 Raptors and the emergence of Precious Achiuwa is right up there with any of them.

It is hard to watch this team and not think “my goodness, Masai has done it again” when it comes to Achiuwa.

6. Tom Brady is the unofficial general manager of the Bucs, just as LeBron is the unofficial general manager of the Lakers.

There is nothing wrong with that but spare us with the “Brady did not know that Bruce Arinas was stepping down when he decided to comeback” rhetoric.

7. With World Cup Qualifying now over for Canada, here are my three stars from the last round of qualifying…

1. Jonathan David

2. Stephen Eustaquio

3. Cyle Larin

Alphonso Davies would be there if he did not miss so much time. Tajon Buchanan, Alistair Johnston, Sam Adejugbe, and, of course, Milan Borjan deserve honourable mentions as well.