Weekly Takes - Monday, February 9th Edition

Weekly Takes - Monday, February 9th Edition 

1. My three stars from the Maple Leafs win over the Flames on Monday…

1. William Nylander

2. Joseph Woll

3. John Tavares

A dominant game from the Leafs second line, with Nylander playing the best game by a Leaf all season. Dominant.

2. My three stars from the Leafs entertaining win over the Oilers on Wednesday…

1. Anthony Stolarz

2. Matias Maccelli 

3. Tavares

A great performance + Stolarz’s best performance of the season. Too little too late. A shame.

3. My 2026 Men’s Hockey Winter Olympics Predictions…

Group A…

1. Canada

2. Czechia

3. Switzerland 

4. France

Group B…

1. Sweden

2. Finland

3. Slovakia 

4. Italy

Group C…

1. USA

2. Germany 

3. Denmark

4. Latvia 

Gold: Canada

Silver: USA

Bronze: Sweden 

Tournament MVP: Connor McDavid

Best D: Cale Makar

Best Goalie: Connor Hellebucyk 

Nothing flashy, but I truly believe Canada is the best team. No one would beat them in a series. The question is if a goalie can stand on his head and beat them,

4. I think Sam Bennnet is an upgrade on Anthony Cirelli, so Team Canada backed their way into an upgrade with him.

Zach Hyman would have been next up for me to replace Brayden Point, followed by Mark Scheifele. Seth Jarvis is great, but tough to leave the first two guys off.

5. I have no complaints with the Raptors all but standing still at the deadline, outside of acquiring Trayce Jackson-Davis, who will offer them immediate help + long-term upside in their frontcourt.

The reality is, Scottie Barnes (I think) can be the second best player on a championship team and that Brandon Ingram can be the third best. The next move they make (trading RJ Barrett, multiple firsts, etc) has to be for a star who can be a number one option. Trading for a potential declining Domantas Saboins would not have moved the needle.

Toronto has to shoot for the stars this summer, turning Barnes and Ingram into co-stars with Colin Murray-Boyles, Sandro Mamukelashvilch, and Jamal Shead making for a great supporting cast.

It would have been great to get a deal like that done now, so the Raptors could potentially go on a run in a weak Eastern Conference, but I think Bobby Webster was wise to stand pat.

Get much-needed playoff experience, see how this group performs down the stretch and into the playoffs, see who rises and shrinks, and hope Jakob Poeltl can at least somewhat get healthy and raise his trade value.

6. I cannot believe there are people critiquing the Jazz trade of Jared Jackson Jr.

At some point, you have to build to win. You cannot be in an ever-lasting rebuild. They hardly gave up anything to get him, too.

7. My stance is the same as it relates to the Wizards trade for Anthony Davis.

Will Davis + Trae Young work? Maybe, more so with the young pieces they have. But even if it doesn’t, I cannot fault Washington for trying. Strive for greatness. The never-ending rebuilds have crushed the NBA the last few years.

8. The Seahawks, the best team in football since the start of the season, are as deserving of Super Bowl champions as you can have.

The only reason to doubt them at any point was because of your lack of faith in Sam Darnold. But now he is a champion. Such a cool story and a great reminder that just because you are drafted by a bad franchise, that your career and life is not defined by your time there.

9. What a turnaround for Mike MacDonald. He had such a bad first season in Seattle that I thought he should be fired. Instead he realized his flaws and acted on them, firing his offensive coordinator and bringing in Klint Kubiak. 

It takes a lot of guts for a first-year head coach to do that. He is going to have to nail his next offensive coordinator hire, now that Kubiak is off to Vegas, but it will be tough to doubt him.