Weekly Takes - Monday, January 26th Edition

Weekly Takes - Monday, January 26th Edition 

1. My three stars from the Maple Leafs loss to the Wild on Monday…

1. Nicolas Roy

2. Easton Cowan

3. Nick Robertson

A typical game for a team coming off an emotional road trip. Their biggest game of the season is coming up on Wednesday. They have to beat Detroit if they want any shot at catching them.

2. My three stars from the Leafs awful loss to the Red Wings on Wednesday…

1. Joseph Woll

2. Matthew Knies

3. Scott Laughton

The worst loss of the season. Needed two points and came away with one, despite an incredible performance from Woll. An awful defensive performance, with Cowan getting embarrassed in overtime to cap it all off.

A well deserved loss, despite a great performance offensively. 

3. My thoughts on Mitch Marner, ahead of his return on Friday (written before the game) and after Elliote Friedman’s detailed article on his time in Toronto:

• Marner represents not only the worst in athletes, but in society in 2026. He is a spoiled brat, raised by an egotistical father. The two, alongside his cronies who worked security for him, are fragile, insecure men. He didn’t have the guts, pride, or courage to play in Toronto. He and his Dad tried to get certain people in the media fired. They were hung up on unpaid bonuses from 2015. They were hung up on the fact that maybe, just maybe, there is a hockey player (Auston Matthews) who is better than him and deserves to be paid more.  They were hung up on the fact that he choked every playoffs, instead trying to leak through the media that blame should be placed elsewhere. He was a cancer who had one-foot out the door for years. When it was all on the line, Mitch was about Mitch. Because that is who he is and has always been. An unloyal, untrustworthy, brat. 

• The gaslighting from Marner and his camp is what always got me, too. “I did not want to uproot my family at the deadline! My wife was pregnant." Yet he would have waived for Vegas. Just not Carolina. It was never about his wife being pregnant and all about him having one foot out the door to Vegas. Just like he had one foot out the door to Switzerland in 2019 when he wasn’t getting his own way. 

• Given all that, it is the biggest stain on Brendan Shanahan’s legacy. Why did he not trade him before his no-move clause kicked in? He operated with the same mindset that a brainwashed partner operates in. “My partner will change!” But Mitch, like everyone’s toxic ex, did not change. When people show you who you are, believe them. Shanahan believed in Marner until the very end and that, truly, may be his lasting legacy. What a shame. 

4. My three stars from the Leafs disgraceful loss to the Golden Knights on Friday…

1. Laughton

2. Matthews

3. Matias Maccelli 

It was my hope, given everything I wrote above, that the Leafs would want to win for the city, their fans, and the logo on their sweater, more than Vegas wanted to win for Marner. It would have been the ultimate season-changing and era-changing game,

That did not happen. Instead, they came out as soft as they always do in big games, a carbon copy to game five and seven at home to Florida last spring. 

For that, it needs to be the end of Craig Berube. No one would ever accuse him of being an X’s and O’s guy – which is fine – but you better have your players ready to play. Instead, they allowed a goal right away and did not lay one big hit, even though the lively arena was starved for it. Fire him.

Reality is, the Leafs told you before the game how this was all going to play out. To a man, they said “it was just another game.”

Tone deaf, with no pulse of the city or its fans. A staple for a decade now. 

Vegas, meanwhile? Protected Marner on his walk in, with Jack Eichel hiding the camera. Keegan Kolesar ripped a jersey that said “sellout” on it, and his teammates gave him a standing ovation during the video tribute. 

What an amazing contrast between two franchises. 

Keith Pelley needs to fire Berube and Brad Treliving. They have failed at getting results and at setting a culture that badly needed to be reset after the entitled “Core Four” era.

5. The Leafs need to sell, officially. 

An awful start, followed by a mini bounce back, followed by a dreadful chunk of games, followed by a mini bounce back, followed by another dreadful chunk of games, followed by a great stretch of hockey after firing Marc Savard, followed by the current stretch.

That has been their season. Just too inconsistent to be buyers. I was hoping the firing of Savard + Christmas break was a tangible reason to believe that they were for real, but alas. 

Sell Bobby McMann and Troy Stecher and even look at selling Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Brandon Carlo, and Anthony Stolarz.

Recoup some assets and cap space. This does not need to be a rebuild. But a reset is needed. If this team was good enough, it would not be this difficult. Recoup assets and give your new general manager some flexibility for the summer. You still have two more years with Matthews.  

6. The biggest thing for the next era of Leafs hockey is going to be rather simple: You need character at the top of the lineup.

They tried a young, youthful group that was built on skill and speed (2017 to 2019.) They tried bringing in veterans at the bottom of the lineup (2020 and 2021.) They tried going “big” (2022-present.) None of it has worked when it truly matters, outside of that one glorious night in April of 2023.

Why? Because their top players are all wired the same. The hope was removing a cancer (Marner) would have changed things. It has not. This is still a team that has no passion, at its core. 

7. I truly believe the Leafs’ issues are largely on Shanahan, their PR staff, etc.

The Phil Kessel-Dino Phaneuf era was so toxic at the end that Shanahan wanted his players to become robots. Mission accomplished.

The good news from that? There has been little to no stunts (salute gate, for example) in the last ten years, contract battles aside.

The bad news? Whenever there is a game seven, a homecoming (John Tavares’ return to Long Island), or a game like Friday’s, the players fold. Because they have been taught that nothing matters. Every game is just another game in their contract. They have been taught to not show emotion. As professionals, they do not know any better.

I just feel so bad for the fan base. Leafs fans are the greatest fans in sport. They do not ask for wins. Just effort. They worship Darcy Tucker and Tie Domi. This core hasn’t given them an honest effort in a decade. They were ready to explode if someone laid a big hit on Friday. It just didn’t happen. Shame on us for expecting it. 

Like I wrote earlier, when people tell you who they are, believe them.

This core is made up of corporate losers. They told us that a decade ago and have been consistent in their message for a decade.

8. What brings me peace is everyone in this fan base knows it is over, for everyone. Steve Dangle made a great point, asking “what are we preserving?” JD Bunkis worded things perfectly on the 590’s postgame show too. 

It is over, because this fan base knows it is over. This fan base does not need to be lectured by the national media, other fan bases, or whatever. This fan base knows it is over.

All needed now is Pelley knowing it too. A bounce back performance in the days and weeks ahead does not change anything. What would they be bouncing back for? Getting in the playoffs and falling short in a big game again?

Pass.

Fire Treliving and Berube and look at trading anyone not named Matthews or Knies.

9. My three stars from the Leafs expected loss to the Avs on Sunday…

1. Woll

2. Stecher

3.  Roy

At the very least, it was nice to see Jacob Quillan in the lineup, albeit not playing nearly enough. I have no idea why the Treliving regime has been so against giving extended looks to players who have dominated with the Marlies. 

Alex Steeves was signed and developed by the Leafs. He is now a regular NHLer (on the Bruins, no less) because Treliving let him walk for nothing after not giving him an extended look with the big club. I just don’t get it. Steeves is far from a star, but he is an NHLer. In the cap era, and with so few draft picks, these are the players that you have to give a chance too.

Marshall Rifai is another player I just don’t understand why he hasn’t been given a longer look. We know Phillipe Myers is not an NHLer. Let’s see if Rifai is. 

10. The Steelers hiring of Mike McCarthy is just so disappointing. 

Is he a good coach? Absolutely. A great offensive one at that, something the franchise has never had. But this was the ultimate time for the Steelers to do a culture reset by going with a younger, more progressive coach. Instead, they played it safe with a veteran head coach who will probably not change the dynamic of the organization at all.

Sad.

The only way this can be acceptable is if he is allowed to build out a deep, expensive coaching staff.

11. What the Patriots have done (albeit with the easiest road to the Super Bowl ever) should have been the Steelers template.

Move on from your iconic coach, load up on cap space and picks, and spend a couple of years in the basement.

If you believe in your program, what could you possibly be afraid of?

12. The Seahawks, for months now, have been the best team in the NFL. The only hold up in believing in them was Sam Darnold and if he, despite being elite the last two years, could win the big game.

He was masterful and outplayed a Hall of Famer on the other side.

What a story. I had the Seahawks and Patriots both missing the playoffs, thinking both teams were a year away. Instead, they have become the gold standard when it comes to rebuilds. 

13. The Bills were right to fire Sean McDermott, but keeping – and retaining – Brandon Beane is criminal.

McDermott needed to be fired because, even though he’s a good head coach, the results were not there and history shows us the results were never going to come.

Beane needs to be fired because the roster is nowhere near good enough. He is lucky Josh Allen is his quarterback.

14. Who would I hire if I were Buffalo? Klint Kubiak. A clinical performance on Sunday, on the biggest stage.

Chris Shula’s stock took a hit, even though I think he got better as the game went on.

15. Mark Carney’s speech in Davos was powerful, blunt, and correct. It was the type of speech that all Canadians should be behind, no matter their political background. 

So to see Pierre Poilievre attack his speech for clicks and views was disappointing, albeit not surprising. Poilievere is a clout-chasing, empty politician whose appeal is to the fringiest, chronic online types.

If you disagree with everything your political "opponent" has to say, it just means you truly believe in nothing.

Poilievre is boring. A meh individual. Stands for nothing. 

16. A week ago, I wrote how no matter what you think of Donald Trump, ICE, illegal immigration, etc, the truest sign of a declining society is when politicians tell you 2 + 2 does not equal 4. 

That happened from Trump and his cronies in wake of Renee Good’s execution and it happened again over the weekend in wake of another execution. 

We are seeing government agents go into cities, cause chaos, and murder innocent civilians in broad daylight, with Trump and his cronies instantly saying “it had to be done” even though literal video shows differently. 

America is no longer the beacon of anything good. If they are comfortable defending the murder of innocent civilians, where does it end? Does it? Who will be left?

America is now a police state that no one should feel safe going to. This is what happens when you elect a politician who says “everything is the greatest” and he can “fix all.” You cannot give power to an evil, narcissistic, spiteful, aging man who surrounds himself with yes men. 

The consequence is government executions and 2 + 2 no longer equalling 4.