Weekly Takes - Monday, January 22nd Edition

Weekly Takes - Monday, January 22nd Edition

1. My three stars from the Maple Leafs uninspiring loss to the Oilers on Tuesday…

1. John Tavares

2. Jake McCabe

3. Simon Benoit

Outside of the first ten minutes of the second period, the Leafs were on their heels all game. Simply got outclassed as the slump continues.

Every time they have looked shaky under Sheldon Keefe though, they have always managed to turn it around.

We will see if they can do so again. 

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

1. Auston Matthews 

2. Mitch Marner 

3. William Nylander 

The Leafs best players, when they needed them most, were their best players. None bigger than #34, who delivered one of his finer performances as a Leaf.

Greatness. 

3. My three stars from the Leafs awful loss to the Canucks on Saturday…

1. Morgan Rielly 

2. Marner 

3. Nylander 

Martin Jones was always going to regress after his unsustainable start to his Leafs tenure, but it is getting ugly. The Leafs desperately need Ilya Samsonov to regress back to the mean himself. There is no quicker way for a season to get away from a team than receiving poor goaltending.

But the problem does not start and end in the net. 

Up front, the fourth line is awful and the third line is getting caved in. On defence, TJ Brodie and Mark Giordano are unplayable. 

4. With all that being said,  there is this idea out there that the Leafs should “punt” on the season due to how underwhelming their season has been thus far.

That is insanity. You do not punt on anything when the best player in your franchise’s history is having a career season. More so in a year where there is not a clear favourite in either conference. There is not one team that the Leafs should view as unbeatable.

That does not mean the Leafs should trade all of their future assets for rentals, but Brad Treliving should be trying to make the 2023-2024 Maple Leafs better at the trade deadline.

5. What changes would I make if I were Treliving? 

I do not touch the first line, as if Marner can round into form, Matthew Knies-Matthews-Marner is one of the better lines in hockey, with Knies being the guy who can do the heavy lifting while not having the play die on his stick. Maybe Marner does not round into form this season, but there is no move Treliving can make to make up for a down season from Marner anyway. 

The second line of Tyler Bertuzzi-Tavares-Nylander I would leave in place too. The line is not good defensively, but once Bertuzzi and Tavares have their luck turnaround offensively (and they will), their defensive shortcomings will be worth it.

So, upfront, it is the third line and fourth that are the issues. I love Max Domi at 3C, despite his defensive shortcomings. People can say “one of the main reasons the Leafs are struggling this season is because of their forwards being worse defensively than they’ve been in prior seasons,” but Domi provides the bottom-six offence that has been non-existent in previous seasons. 

If I am Treliving, I am finding a defensively-sound left winger to complement Domi and Calle Jarnkrok on the third line. That would go a long way, 

On the fourth line, I go Noah Gregor-David Kampf-Pontus Holmberg for now, but if I am Treliving, I am looking for an upgrade over Gregor.

So, up front, two bottom-six forwards. That is not insignificant, but it is doable. Kyle Dubas did it a deadline ago.

It will be important that both forwards coming in can play on the penalty kill as well. We can say what we want about the likes of Pierre Engvall and Alex Kerfoot, but their penalty-killing skills have not been replaced. Kampf and Marner are the only two trustworthy penalty-killers up front for the Leafs.

Defensively, Rielly needs a partner on the first pairing, allowing Brodie to move down with Jake McCabe, and Simon Benoit down to the third pairing with Timothy Liljegren.

Giordano cannot be a regular in the lineup anymore.

Two top-four defencemen would be great, but I truly believe the Leafs lack of defensive prowess up front is every bit of an issue as their issues on the blue line.

As for in net, you ride Joseph Woll and hope one of Jones/Samsonov can backup.

So, two bottom-six forwards and a defencemen. That is less than what Dubas did a deadline ago (he traded for two bottom-six forwards) and two top-four defencemen), but it is still a lot. But it is the reality of where the team is.

Nick Robertson and a first-round pick are among the assets that have to be on the block.

6. As for Keefe, the slow starts, the blowing of leads, and the lack of attention to detail are clear to everyone. He is showing more emotion than he ever has – both behind the bench and in postgame scrums – so to say he is well aware of these issues would be an understatement, but simply being aware is not enough. 

It may be time to move on. I think he is a great regular-season coach who has struggled mightily in the playoffs, but now he is looking like a coach who has struggled mightily in the playoffs + a coach who looks out of answers in the regular season.

Every coach has an expiration date with a team and his may be coming up. 

7. My three stars from the Leafs bounce-back win over the Kraken on Sunday…

1. Samsonov 

2. Matthews

3. Knies

A stellar effort in the third period, limiting the Kraken to almost no chances.

8. The importance of the Blue Jays signing of Yariel Rodriguez cannot be understated, as the Blue Jays largely made the playoffs in 2023 due to their rotation, their bullpen, and the health of both.

The latter cannot be expected in 2024, so signing Rodriguez, who sure looks like a dominant reliever/back-end starter, is important.

Rodriguez, Bowden Francis, Ricky Tiedemann, and – if you believe in his 2023 season in Buffalo, Mitch White – give the Jays legitimate rotation depth with high upside.

9. Pascal Siakam is the greatest success story in Toronto sports history and should be celebrated forever in Toronto, a place he never wanted to leave.

A late first-round pick that became a fixture on the “Bench Mob,” and then a year later, rose to stardom as he stole the show in Game One of the NBA Finals before hitting the biggest shot in franchise history in the dying minutes of Game Six at Oracle.

He did all of this while starting from nothing, working his way up from the G-League as the truest example of what made the Raptors excellent from 2014 to 2020.

The fifth greatest Raptor of all time, behind Kyle Lowry, Kawhi Leonard, DeMar DeRozan, and Vince Carter.

He is ahead of Chris Bosh for me.

His number should absolutely be retired one day, alongside Lowry, DeRozan, and Carter.

10. But, it was time to move on. His age and contract did not align with the Raptors direction. And make no mistake about it, Masai Ujiri is taking the right direction.

Build around Scottie Barnes, Immanuel Quickley, Gradey Dick, and the draft picks and cap space that come from the two trades the Raptors have made in the last month.

This does not need to be a long rebuild, as most teams do not begin rebuilds with a talent like Barnes on their roster, but it is refreshing that the team now has a direction, at long last.

It is just unfortunate that it is 17 months late.

11. The Steelers lost to the Bills because…

1. The Bills are simply the better team on paper and were simply the better team on the field

2. The Steelers failed to win the turnover battle, which was a must if they wanted any chance to win

3. The Steelers, due to injuries at linebacker, were incapable of covering the Bills two-headed monster at tight end

I fail to see how Mike Tomlin deserves blame for any of that.

They came out flat because of the turnovers. That is on the players.

12. With that being said, Tomlin needs to make serious changes if he wants to end his playoff losing streak.

He needs to find an offensive guru to be his offensive coordinator, he needs to fire his two offensive line coaches, and he needs to consider firing Teryl Austin as his defensive coordinator. Modernizing the staff around him is long overdue. 

Simply finishing above .500 and making the playoffs is not the standard. It cannot be, anyway.

Doing so this season was impressive due to the injuries, quarterback play, etc, but the Steelers skill players are in their prime and their key players on defence are at the end of theirs.

They have to become a true playoff contender now.

13. Improving the coaching staff is not the only thing Tomlin and ‘co need to do to turn the Steelers into a contender.

They need to address C, RT, and CB through free agency and the draft, while they need to add depth at wide receiver and along the defensive line.

If they can do so, their roster can hang with any team in the league, outside of at quarterback. But I would wait one more offseason to address the quarterback position. I would rather build a proper offensive line first.

14. The Eagles have two options when it comes to Nick Siriani…

1. Fire him after a shocking midseason meltdown, starting at the top with Siriani 

2. Tell Siriani he has the offseason to nail his coordinator hirings on both ends of the ball, as he looked like a great head coach last season when he had two great coordinators

Either way, the fall of the Eagles was wild to witness.

15. Outside of the Packers drafting a kicker who had no business landing on an NFL roster, there is no shame in their loss to the 49ers.

The moment was too bright for Jordan Love, but how many quarterbacks come into the league and go on a long playoff run? The list is short.

The Packers will be a better franchise for the next decade because of Love’s late-game failure against the 49ers.

16. I do not know what you are supposed to do if you are the Bills at this point.

You are at home, finally, against a Kansas City team that has never been as vulnerable as they were going into Sunday.

Yet, it ended the exact same, twisted way as it has always ended, with Patrick Mahomes headed to where he has always been: The AFC Championship Game.

I despise the idea of firing people for the sake of it, but the Bills have to look at firing McDermott. There is no rhyme or reason to do so other than changing something up for the sake of it, but something has to give.