Weekly Takes - Monday, July 3rd Edition

Weekly Takes - Monday, July 3rd Edition

1. The decision to bring back Sheldon Keefe is a fine one.

There is no question he is a great regular-season coach, and he has shown he can win a playoff series going up against the best coach in the world. I have gripes with certain decisions he makes, but that is going to be the case with any head coach.

Overall, you can do a lot worse than Keefe and there is no real reason to believe you could have done any better this summer.

The only real reason to fire him this summer would have been to give the dressing room a new voice. But why bail the group out with another coaching change?

2. The David Kampf contract is a bit too long and worth a bit too much money, but not by much. Re-signing him is a tidy piece of business given he is a centre who is great defensively, great on the dot, stays healthy, and has shown he can perform in the playoffs.

3. The Ryan Reaves contract is also a bit too long and worth a bit too much money, but once again, not by much. He fills the Wayne Simmonds role in a better way.

4. I understand the rationale (and even agree with it) regarding the John Klingberg signing.

The Leafs defence provided little to no production offensively a season ago, while it has been a revolving door at the point on PP2 for a long time now.

Klingberg helps significantly in both regards.

As long as he is not playing higher than 3RD at 5 on 5, I like this signing a lot, more so given it is only one year.

5. The Tyler Bertuzzi and Max Domi signings are home run signings by Brad Treliving, who did something one month into the job that Kyle Dubas failed to do for half a decade: Add sandpaper to the top of the lineup.

Trading for Kyle Clifford, signing Simmonds, and signing Reaves is nice. But they rarely play. You need toughness at the top of the lineup and both Bertuzzi and Domi will do just that.

Serious upgrades over Michael Bunting and Alex Kerfoot.

6. The Leafs had to move on from Luke Schenn at the price and term he got, but he is easily the biggest loss in the sense that the Leafs have been unable to replace him.

The forward group is all but set, barring a William Nylander trade. The defence is surely not done being rebuilt.

7. As I wrote at the end of the season, letting Kerfoot and Justin Holl walk was a no-brainer, but bringing Ryan O’Reilly, Noel Accari, and Bunting back had to be options.

So when all three signed reasonable contracts on Canada Day, it was not a great look for Treliving.

But this is why people have to let things breathe.

8. If I were the Habs, I would have drafted Matvei Michkov, who may easily be the second-best player in the draft.

The top four teams all had valid reasons to draft elsewhere, given the other names at the top of the board. But the Habs should have ran to the podium to draft him.

9. Re-signing Jakob Poetl saves Masai Ujiri from an otherwise embarrassing trade deadline, while it also greatly raises the Raptors floor. Poetl is a top-ten centre in the league after the Raptors went the better part of three seasons without one altogether.

10. Signing Dennis Schroeder, a high-end backup point guard who can ball out defensively, also raises the Raptors floor, after the team went the last two seasons without one.

11. But to me, it all goes for naught after the team was unable to re-sign Fred VanVleet.

They were right not to pay him the money that the Rockets paid him, but he was also their most efficient player last season by a country mile.

So unless the Raptors think a new coach, a full season of Poetl, and progression from the likes of Scottie Barnes is due to happen, it is tough to defend keeping this core together.

They sure seem to max out as a playoff team who can scare a contender or two.

What is the point of that?

A Pascal Siakam trade has to be explored.

12. James Harden wanting out of Philly should be the end of “The Process.” He is the best co-star Joel Embiid has played with (outside of Jimmy Butler), yet he won nothing with him.

How is he going to win something with no co-star now?