Weekly Takes - Monday, January 5th Edition

Weekly Takes - Monday, January 5th Edition 

1. My three stars from the Maple Leafs thrilling comeback win over the Jets on New Year’s Day…

1. Auston Matthews

2. Troy Stecher

3. Bobby McMann

From the very first game without Marc Savard, Matthews has looked like the Matthews of old.

Dominant.

It helps that he is also playing with Bobby McMann, a forceful, straight line skater playing the best hockey of his career.

I am done predicting what is next for this team, as every time they look like the Leafs of old, they end up looking absolutely awful, but if Matthews is back, they can absolutely make the playoffs.

2. The Leafs’ lines that I would run, without Chris Tanev and Dakota Joshua for the foreseeable future…

Forwards…

McMann - Matthews - Nick Robertson

Matias Maccelli - John Tavares - William Nylander

Matthew Knies - Nicolas Roy - Easton Cowan

Steven Lorentz - Scott Laughton - Max Domi

Defence…

Jake McCabe - Stecher

Oliver Ekman-Larsson - Brandon Carlo

Morgan Rielly - Simon Benoit

Matthews at his best should be able to carry a line, allowing Craig Berube to spread the wealth a bit. McMann can do the heavy lifting (and chip in offensively, to say the least as of now) and Robertson absolutely creates space for Matthews.

Maccelli, for all of his faults, is crafty enough to give one more look with Tavares and Nylander.

Rielly needs his minutes limited once Carlo is back. Him and Domi are net negatives with how bad they are defensively.

3. My three stars from the Leafs overtime loss to the Islanders on Saturday…

1. Matthews

2. Robertson

3. Stetcher 

Another forceful game from Matthews, while the Leafs continue to look “back” themselves. Probably their most entertaining loss of the season.

Rielly is unplayable right now, though.

As for Matthew Schaefer… wow. His speed, size, length, and puck skills are all elite. He is going to be the best in the world very soon.

4. My three stars from Canada’s New Year’s Eve win over Finland…

1. Cole Beaudoin 

2. Zayne Parkeh 

3. Michael Hage

A very impressive performance to win the group. I am a tad concerned about Carter George, though.

5. My three stars from Canada’s dominant win over Slovakia on Friday…

1. Michael Misa

2. Keaton Verhoeff 

3. Beaudoin 

Team Canada looks unstoppable. I love Dale Hunter’s call to go to Jack Ivankovic. 

6. My takeaways from Canada’s semifinal loss to Czechia on Sunday…

• Lost to a better, faster team. They skated Canada into the ground, forcing turnovers all game. The better team flat out won.

• This is not an indictment on Hockey Canada, who were without Macklin Celberini and Matthew Schaefer, among others. If this was a true best-on-best, it is a borderline dream team. Management took the best players this time around and the players simply underperformed when it mattered most. No summit needed.

• From Porter Martone’s antics on Boxing Day and Misa’s hand on the puck penalty in the semis/Gavin McKenna’s awful penalty in the semis, Canada’s best players under-delivered when it mattered most and displayed immaturity. Such is life in a tournament made up of teenagers.

7. I correctly predicted Anthony Cirelli making Team Canada over Connor Bedard and Travis Sanheim making the team over Jakob Chychrun, but I didn’t see Bo Horvat making it over Mark Schiefele. I thought Seth Jarvis would have been the guy.

Regardless, the forward group is stacked and if they do not win Gold, it is going to be because players underperformed. 

The only silly decision is taking Thomas Harley over Schaefer. Harley has not been good and Schaefer is already a superstar, age be damned.

8. I love the Blue Jays signing of Kazuma Okamoto, a power-hitting, bat-on-ball corner infielder who they can stick in the middle of their lineup for the next half-decade. I also do not think it takes them out of the market for Bo Bichette or Kyle Tucker. I still see a pathway for the Jays landing one of them. In fact, I still think they have to land one of them to truly set themselves up as the best team in the AL.

(I think Bichette is easier to bring back than Tucker, as I think signing Tucker would have to involve having to trade Santander. But I would prefer the lineup with Tucker)

With Tucker:

1. George Springer (DH)

2. Tucker (LF)

3. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (1B)

4. Addison Barger (RF)

5. Okamoto (3B)

6. Daulton Varsho (CF)

7. Alejandro Kirk ( C ) 

8. Ernie Clement (2B)

9. Andreas Gimenez (SS)

Bench: Tyler Heineman, Davis Schneider, Anthony Santander, and Nathan Lukes/Myles Straw

With Bichette:

1. Springer (DH)

2. Okamoto (3B)

3. Guerrero Jr. (1B)

4. Bichette (2B)

5. Barger (RF)

6. Kirk ( C )

7. Varsho (CF)

8. Santander (LF)

9. Gimenez (SS)

Bench: Heineman, Clement, Schneider, and Lukes/Straw

I think Lukes is going to get squeezed no matter what, as long as they sign one of Bichette or Tucker.

9. My 2026 NFL Playoffs Predictions…

AFC…

Wild Card…

• Patriots beat Chargers (it is tempting to take LA, but their offensive line makes it too difficult to do so)

• Bills beat Jaguars (this is simply putting all of my faith in Josh Allen. The Jags defence is way better and they are better coached)

• Texans beat Steelers

Divisional Round… (i am confident in both of these predictions, should the divisional round play out accordingly)

• Bills beat Broncos 

• Texans beat Patriots 

Championship Game…

• Bills beat Texans (it is tough to beat a team as good as Buffalo twice in one year)

NFC…

Wild Card…

• Packers beat Bears (this is the game I feel most uneasy about on the NFC side)

• Eagles beat 49ers (another coin flip. I give the edge to the cold weather team hosting a warm weather team)

• Rams beat Panthers  

Divisional Round…

• Seahawks beat Packers

• Rams beat Eagles 

Championship Game…

• Rams beat Seahawks 

Super Bowl: Bills beat Rams

As has been the case all year long, who actually knows what will happen. I fully expect the most unpredictable season in modern NFL history to be followed up with the most unpredictable postseason in modern NFL history.

It is now or never for Allen-Sean McDermott in the AFC, while the NFC is truly wide open, with the Panthers being the only team that truly has no shot.

10. My NFL awards…

MVP: Drake Maye

OPOY: Jaxon Smith-Nijgba

DPOY: Myles Garrett 

ROPOY: Tetaiora McMillian

RDPOY: Carson Schwesinger 

Exec of the Year: John Schneider 

Coach of the Year: Mike MacDonald

11. Coaches that I think should be fired following the conclusion of the NFL season…

• Jonathan Gannon (Cardinals)

• John Harbaugh (Ravens)

• McDermott (unless the Bills can go on a playoff run, which they… should)

• Zac Taylor (Bengals)

• Pete Carroll (Raiders)

• Mike Tomlin (Steelers)

• Todd Bowles (Bucs)

12. Coordinators I would look at hiring…

• Grant Udinski (Jags OC)

• Kliff Kingsbury (Commanders OC)

• Mike LaFleur (Rams OC)

• Klay Kubiak (49ers OC)

• Klint Kubiak (Saints OC)

• Jeff Hafley (Packers DC)

• Jesse Minter (Chargers DC)

• Chris Shula (Rams DC)

• Brian Flores (Vikings DC)

I would also hire Mike McDaniel and Kevin Stefanski if they get fired from their respective teams, while I would avoid Joe Brady (Bills OC) and Matt Nagy (Chiefs OC.)

I would be hesitant before hiring Vance Joseph (Broncos DC) and Robert Saleh (49ers DC.)

I think Bears OC Declan Doyle is one more year away.

13. NFL general managers that I think should be fired…

• Terry Fontenot (Falcons)

• Brandon Beane (Bills) (barring the Bills going on a run)

• Andrew Berry (Browns)

• Joe Schoen (Giants)

14. The Steelers win is the most Tomlin win ever, but it is also the most fitting.

It would have been cruel for Aaron Rodgers to have his career end on a brilliant touchdown pass or for the Steelers season to end due to the always-reliable Chris Boswelll missing an extra point.

15. Here are factual statements about the US’ invasion and occupation of Venezuela…

• Maduro is an evil person. In a utopian society, removing him from office and holding a free and fair election to find his successor would be amazing for the people of Venezuela 

• But even in a utopian society, invading and occupying Venezuela without congressional approval makes this illegitimate and defines American as a rogue state

• Now that this disclaimer is out of the way, we can point out that this has nothing to do with Maduro being an evil person or the military industrial complex wanting a better life for the people of Venezuela. This, like Iraq and so many invasions before it, is about oil. (Hakeem Jeffries, America’s softest politician, should have responded with this instead of just saying “congress should have been involved.” Take an actual stance for once) 

• This is problematic for Mark Carney and Canada, losing the last bit of leverage (oil supply) they had. An embarrassing look for Carney to not strongly condemn this. A soft leader.

• Let’s not kid ourselves, either. Donald Trump is a soft leader as well, as are the cronies that work for him. Targeting Venezuela is light work. If Pete Hegseth is as tough as he made himself out to be on Saturday, go invade a country with nuclear weapons next time and see what happens. Otherwise you are just a wannabee tough guy with a loud mouth.

• Trump saying the U.S. is going to occupy Venezuela without an end date is 1) obviously illegal and 2) up there as one of the worst policy decisions in modern American history. The United States has never succeeded at nation building. They will not succeed this time, either. It is great to take out a “bad guy”, but history shows the next guy is going to be even worse. (unless you just stay forever, in which case, lol)

• The point above is why “the people in Venezuela are happy” defence does not matter. The people in Iraq celebrated when the U.S. arrested their evil dictator as well. How did that end?

• A reminder that the president of the United States is in the Epstein Files and this is simply his largest distraction yet.