Weekly Takes - Monday, December 6 Edition

Weekly Takes - Monday, December 6 Edition

1. My three stars from the Maple Leafs blowout win of the Avalanche on Wednesday…

1. Auston Matthews

2. Michael Bunting

3. John Tavares

It always helps when the opposing goalie is… very bad, but that was a flat-out dominant win for the Leafs, outside of a shaky start to begin the second period.

This is the best Leafs team since the early 2000s.

2. My three stars from the Leafs’ shootout loss to the Wild on Saturday…

1. Jason Spezza

2. Matthews

3. Morgan Rielly

No Mitch Marner, on the road, against a great team, and the Leafs still managed to come away with a point, despite being down 3-0 and being the victims of the worst officiated game of the season.

That was an impressive performance. They easily could have mailed the game in once they went down 3-0 but they didn’t.

The only bad thing for them on Saturday was the Jake Muzzin-Justin Holl pair, which has been the case all season long.

Adding a right-handed defenceman has to be the number one priority for Kyle Dubas at the deadline.

Either find a bruising defenceman to play with Rielly, allowing T.J. Brodie to play with Muzzin, or add a puck-moving defenceman to play with Muzzin.

3. My three stars from the Leafs’ loss to the Jets on Sunday…

1. Jason Spezza for going after Neal Pionk, moments after Pionk laid a disgusting knee-on-knee on Rasmus Sandin

2. Sheldon Keefe for playing Wayne Simmonds, Kyle Clifford, and Nick Ritchie in response to everything that was happening

3. Simmonds for running Josh Morrissey

Running Morrissey was important, because the message has to be “if you go after our stars, we are going to take out someone innocent on your team.” That is the easiest way to deescalate the opposing team from head-hunting.

Between Pionk, Morrissey, and Mark Scheifele, the Jets are easily the dirtiest team in the league.

This was all on the officials for giving a penalty to Matthews when he was getting rag-dolled by Pierre Luc Dubios.

They allowed for open season on the Leafs and sadly, Sandin and Joseph Woll were the victims.

The only positive is that the Leafs showed the fight we have never seen from this team before.

4. Every December, Canadians complain about their favourite junior star that was left off the National Junior Team.

The reality is, Canada is the most talented team heading into this year’s World Junior, as they almost always are.

Yes, Brandt Clarke and Carson Cuelemans should be on this year’s team and yes, the Brennan Othmann’s and Zachary L’Heureux’s of the world were worthy of camp invites, but Canada should still win Gold at this year’s tournament, more so when you consider that the Americans, Swedes, and Russians are trotting out weaker rosters than they have in years past.

If they lose, it will be because a goalie steals a game for them or because the players did not get the job done on the ice, not because management did not maximize their roster.

5. Re-signing Robbie Ray (and Marcus Semien) would have been better than not but replacing Ray with Kevin Gausman, who is every bit as good, while collecting two third-round picks (give or take) for the departures of Ray and Semien is some tidy business by Mark Shapiro and Ross Atkins.

6. If you are the Mets, you sign Max Scherzer to the contract that you signed him to every day of the week but that does not mean it is not an absolutely outrageous contract.

It is not a flattering look for any organization when you have to overpay someone by that much in order for them to join your team.

7. I have no idea what the Texas Rangers are doing.

Semien is great, as is Kyle Seager, but the Rangers still need multiple bats and a few starting pitchers before they may even sniff a playoff spot.

You make these signings if you are a Semien and Seager away from being a World Series contender, not when you are coming off a 100+ loss season.

8. My week 14 NFL picks…

• Steelers (+3.5)

• Ravens (+1.5)

• Raiders (+10)

• Football Team (+5)

• Falcons (+3)

• Jets (+3)

• Titans (-10.5)

• Seahawks (-8)

• Lions (+8.5)

• Chargers (-10.5)

• 49ers (+1)

• Bucs (-3)

• Packers (-12.5)

• Cardinals (-3)

I went 7-6 in week 13, with Monday Night Football still pending.

On the season, I am now 93-92 on the season.

9. The Argos lost their game to the Tiger-Cats in the first half on Sunday.

Yes, they were up 12-0 at halftime, but they absolutely dominated Hamilton in the first half and only had 12 points to show for it, in large part because of the coaching of Ryan Dinwiddie.

You do not make it to the biggest stage in Canadian football by living in your fears.

Dinwiddie coached not to lose and the Tiger-Cats played to win.

That was the difference.

I think he deserves a ton of credit for the season the Argos had (they were an awful team in 2019, only to win the East Divison this season, despite a massive amount of changes) but there is no question that kicking field goal after field goal in the first half was not the play.

10. My top four college football teams would have been Alabama, Michigan, Cincinnati, and Georgia, in that order, but I understand not wanting Alabama and Georgia to face each other two games in a row.