Weekly Takes - Monday, January 17 Edition

Weekly Takes - Monday, January 17 Edition

1. My three stars from the Maple Leafs 4-3 win over the Golden Knights on Tuesday…

1. William Nylander

2. Auston Matthews

3. Ondrej Kase

2. My three stars from the Leafs 2-1 loss to the Coyotes on Wednesday…

1. Matthews

2. Nylander

3. Michael Bunting

The Leafs dominated and deserved to win but not many players were chugging outside of the Matthews line, which has been a theme all road trip long.

3. My three stars from the Leafs wild 6-5 win over the Blues on Saturday…

1. Matthews

2. John Tavares

3. Timothy Liljegren

Safe to say Jack Campbell is in a slump, which was going to happen at some point. It did not help that the Leafs played perhaps their worst game of the season when it comes to purely how they played in their own end.

No question this team is grinding it out right now.

4. There is no easy fix for what is happening in Edmonton with the Oilers.

Firing Dave Tippett is not the answer, just as firing Todd McLellan was not the answer.

They need a starting goalie, an entirely new third line, and two top-four defencemen, yet, despite all that, they have no cap space and one of the worst prospect systems in the league.

Simply put, they have to hope their elite players can carry them into the playoffs and then go on an historic run, because this roster is what it is going to be for the next two years, outside of some minor tweaking.

What an epic failure by Ken Holland.

5. This Raptors season has been full of positive developments, with Fred VanVleet replacing Kyle Lowry seemingly, Gary Trent Jr. developing into a mainstay, Scottie Barnes looking like a star in the making, and now Pascal Siakam returning to his 2018-2019 form.

Never mind that Delano Banton, Justin Champagnie, and Precious Achiuwa have shown flashes as being legitimate bench pieces moving forward.

This team has flaws (to say they need shooting and a revamped bench would be an understatement) but this season is going as well as anyone could have possibly expected. This season was never about wins and losses – it was about determining who should be a part of this core moving forward.

So far, it is looking as though a lot of this year’s players should be a part of this core in ‘22 and beyond.

6. I am fully on the Josh Allen bandwagon now.

The talent was always there but I always had little to no faith in him when it came to the big moments and for the first few seasons of his career, he proved me right.

But doing what he did on Saturday, in that weather, against that defence, and against that coach, on the stage he was on, is as impressive as it gets.

I think the Bills lose to Kansas City but that game is going to be a lot closer than I thought it would be a month ago.

Buffalo is peaking at the right time, in large part due to their offensive line miraculously improving in the last five or so weeks of the season. I truly believe you have to be great in the trenches on both sides of the ball to win a Super Bowl and the Bills finally are.

7. The Dolphins firing Brian Flores is absurd, as is the Texans firing David Culley after one season.

When I wrote in December which coaches I would fire (Matt Nagy, Joe Judge, and Vic Fangio), Flores and Culley did not even cross my mind.

8. Speaking of firings, I think the Steelers should fire Matt Canada.

He did not have much to work with from a quarterback and offensive lines perspective, but I saw nothing from him that made me think he is a capable offensive coordinator in the NFL.

The Steelers making the playoffs was quite impressive given their roster but a reset in a lot of areas is still needed.

9. Staying on the topic of firings, the Cowboys need to move off of Mike McCarthy.

The ‘21-’22 Cowboys had a championship-calibre roster on both sides of the ball with championship-calibre coordinators, only to completely flame out. And watching McCarthy’s in-game play calling, it is not hard to figure out why.

In a year where there is an elite cast of future head coaches, the Cowboys need to do everything they can to salvage this core.

10. My divisional round picks…

• Packers beat 49ers (-4.5)

• Bengals beat Titans (+3)

• Kansas City beats Buffalo (-2.5)

I went 4-1 in predicting the actual winners this weekend and 3-2 in predicting the spread, with Monday Night Football still pending.