Weekly Takes - Monday, December 29th Edition

Weekly Takes - Monday, December 29th Edition 

1. The Maple Leafs were right to fire Marc Savard, an uncreative coach who oversaw the worst power play in the NHL.

But Craig Berube, as I wrote a week earlier, has to go too. Immediately.

Letting him coach out the season gives you more uncertainty for 2026-2027 than you would otherwise have. 

Is Auston Matthews declining because of his health? Berube’s usage? Berube’s system? The only way to find out is by firing Berube.

Every day they go without firing Berube is malpractice. They are restricting themselves from gathering the most information possible regarding their most important asset. 

And it is rather obvious that this is not just a problem related to Matthews, either. No one is having a career year, outside of Troy Stecher. The players have to perform and Brad Treliving has not done a good enough job at bringing in better players, but no one is growing into a better player under Berube.

2. The “oh, who are you going to replace him with” question does not apply, either. Not when Peter DeBoer is available. 

David Carle, Jay Pandolfo, Jay Woodcroft, Jeff Halpern, Manny Malhotra, and Todd Nelson are intriguing names too, come the summer.

At the end of the day, the Leafs simply have to nail the hire and cast the widest search possible.

It would be a mistake to search for a "veteran coach" or a "new coach." Just get whoever you deem to be the best one.

3. My three stars from the Leafs win over the Penguins on Tuesday…

1. William Nylander

2. Steven Lorentz

3. Jake McCabe

Tough for the Penguins to win when Sidney Crosby is as much of a nonfactor as he was in this one. 

4. My three stars from the Leafs erratic win over the Senators on Saturday…

1. Auston Matthews

2. Bobby McMann

3. Troy Stecher

Matthews’ best game of the season. He looked like his old-self.

5. My three stars from the Leafs overtime loss to the Red Wings on Sunday…

1. McMann

2. Matthews

3. Nick Robertson

A 50/50 game, but the Leafs need to get as many points as they can right now. They may have something in the Matthews-McMann duo.

6. My final lineup for Team Canada, ahead of their NYE announcement…

Forwards…

Macklin Celebrini - Connor McDavid - Mitch Marner

Sidney Crosby - Nathan MacKinnion - Connor Bedard 

Brad Marchand - Brayden Point - Sam Reinhart 

Brandon Hagel - Nick Suzuki - Mark Stone

Extras: Mark Schiefele and Tom Wilson

Defence…

Devon Toews - Cale Makar

Josh Morrissey - Shea Theodore 

Matthew Schaefer - Drew Doughty

Extras: Jacob Chychrun and Colton Payarko 

Goalies…

Jordan Binnington

Logan Thompson 

Darcy Kuemper 

I expect Seth Jarvis and Anthony Cirelli to be on the team, likely for Bedard and Schiefele. I expect Travis Sanheim to be on the team too, likely for Chychrun. So in reality, two extra spots, leaving Bedard as the one true snub.

Thomas Harley making the team over Schaefer would be a bad decision, too, but I don’t see Hockey Canada doing this. 

Evan Bouchard is a no-go for me. There is enough fire power on defence to leave him off.

7. My 2026 World Juniors Predictions…

Group A…

1. Sweden

2. USA

3. Slovakia  

4. Switzerland

5. Germany

Group B…

1. Canada

2. Czechia

3. Finland

4. Latvia 

5. Denmark

Gold: Canada

Silver: Sweden

Bronze: Czechia 

MVP: Michael Misa (Canada)

Top Defender: Cole Hutson (USA)

Top Goalie: Carter George (Canada)

It is Gold or Bust for Canada. They are missing a ton of talent, but this is the best team they have had on paper in three years.

8. My three stars from Canada’s exciting Boxing Day win over Czechia…

1. Tij Iglina 

2. Michael Hage 

3. Zayne Parkeh 

The top-six looked stellar. The third line needs to be way better, as does the Carson Carles-Harrison Brunicke pairing. 

Czechia is right there with Finland as the fifth best hockey country.

9. My three stars from Canada’s… underwhelming overtime win over Latvia on Saturday…

1. Jack Ivankovic 

2. Hage

3. Cole Reshcny 

They definitely need to switch up the lines and get some new bodies in. This performance was not good enough.

10. The Steelers loss to the Browns may be the worst regular season loss in the Mike Tomlin era.

But do not confuse that with the predictability of the loss. There is nothing shocking about a Tomlin coached team losing a game they need to win. Or losing a game to a bad opponent. 

They have had the division on a platter for them all season. They are one loss away from choking it away and ending the Tomlin era for good.