Weekly Takes - Monday, March 21 Edition

Weekly Takes - Monday, March 21 Edition

1. The suspension of Auston Matthews is a joke.

Sure, it was a dirty play, but it is a dirty play the league has consistently allowed, particularly against the Maple Leafs, throughout the entire tenure of George Parros.

But it should come as no surprise that Matthews got suspended, given the disgraceful history of Parros.

Good on Matthews for sticking up for himself. Stars need to do so more often.

2. My three stars from the Leafs shutout win over the Stars on Tuesday.

1. Erik Kallgren

2. Rasmus Sandin

3. Morgan Riley

A perfect win. Kallgren gave the Leafs their best goaltending performance in months, stopping not only the shots that he had to save, but some tough ones too! Apparently that is allowed!

The Stars had no answer for the mobility of Sandin and Riley on the back-end, while Mitch Marner, John Tavares, and the third line were buzzing all night long.

Ilya Lyubushkin continues to be a perfect fit too, no matter where he plays in the lineup.

3. My three stars from the Leafs impressive win over the Hurricanes on Thursday…

1. Kallgren

2. Ilya Mikheyev

3. Mitch Marner

Here is the reality: In a 60-minute hockey game, you are going to allow chances. Your goalie needs to save a bunch of them. Kallgren is doing that right now, making the Leafs look as though they are playing their best defensive stretch in months.

They have been good defensively but they have been throughout. The only difference is the goaltending.

4. My three stars from the Leafs loss to the Predators on Saturday…

1. Matthews

2. Marner

3. Michael Bunting

Tough to be a team such as Nashville when only one line shows up.

5. The Mark Giordano trade is a home run by Kyle Dubas.

A shutdown pair of Giordano-Brodie is as good as it gets, while a Jake Muzzin-Sandin third pairing will have the opportunity to absolutely crush their minutes.

Lyubushkin, meanwhile, is not a first pairing defencemen but he is a nice fit along side Riley on the top pairing.

Justin Holl and Liljegren give the Leafs nice depth in the press box, too, as Holl has been playing his best hockey of the season as of late and Liljegren has done everything asked from him, although he clearly looks one year away, which is fine.

This trade easily allowed the Leafs to trade Travis Dermott without thinking twice about it, too.

Getting Colin Blackwell, a right-handed centre with strong defensive metrics and a good shot is tidy business by Dubas as well. The Leafs needed to improve their fourth line and between Blackwell and the hopeful addition of Matthew Knies in April, that sure looks to be happening.

6. I love the Brandon Hagel trade by Tampa Bay.

They needed their Blake Coleman replacement and they find a player in Hagel who is only 23 and is making next-to-nothing for the next three seasons.

A lot better than trading for an over-the-hill Nick Foligno.

7. Trading for Matt Chapman is a near-home run by the Blue Jays.

He is an elite defensive third basemen, which is… nice, given if the Jays simply had average defence at third base last season, they would have made the playoffs with ease.

And offensively, I think the Rogers Centre and the lineup around him will serve him well.

This would have been a perfect fit if he was a switch-hitter or left-handed bat, something the Jays still need, even if it is a backup infielder or outfielder.

The package that they gave up for him is fine, too. Acquiring an all-star third baseman while keeping Gabriel Moreno, Olivares Martinez, and Jordan Groshans is a tidy bit of work by Ross Atkins, even though I love Gunnar Hoglund and Kevin Smith.

I think Hoglund will be a mainstay in the A’s rotation for a long time, while I think Smith has starting upside at second base.

Even Zach Louge has decent potential, albeit I believe to be in the bullpen.

But this is the price of doing business.

8. For as much hype – and rightfully so – that the Jays rotation and lineup gets, their team defence should get just as much.

Between George Springer and Teoscar Hernandez in the outfielder, two-thirds of their OF is above average defensively. And in the infield, Chapman is elite at third base, while Bo Bichette is on pace to become, at worst, an average shortstop given how he played at short down the stretch last season.

Cavan Biggo and Vladimir Guerrero Jr should grade out as average on the right side of the infield, while all three of Danny Jansen, Alejandro Kirk, and eventually Gabriel Moreno are all above-average behind the plate.

This team is one more high-end reliever and a backup left-handed bat away from being the best team in baseball.

9. The pros and cons of the Steelers signing Mitch Trubisky…

Pros…

• He is an upgrade on 2021 Ben Roethlisberger and is an upgrade on whatever Mason Rudolph was going to be in 2022

• He cost no assets to bring in, outside of money. This should always be the approach by a team looking to bring in a short-term quarterback. The Steelers trading assets for Jimmy Garoppolo would have been quite silly

• He has, ever so slightly, the potential to be the quarterback of the future. He is mobile, can throw on the run, has strong vision, has decent size, and has the pedigree. Can he sit in the pocket and throw the football, which I still believe is the most important asset for a QB to have? No idea but we are going to find out

• It allows the Steelers to properly judge Matt Canada as the offensive coordinator. His first season was a mess and I would have fired him because of that but it was clear that he was limited in what he could do because of Roethlisberger. Now, with Trubisky, a quarterback that perfectly fits his scheme, there is no more excuses

• It allows the Steelers to pass on this year’s quarterback draft class if they want to, allowing them to fill out the roster around the quarterback ahead of the stacked 2023 quarterback draft class

Con…

• By not finding their next franchise quarterback this offseason (barring drafting one), the Steelers waste another season of TJ Watt’s and Cameron Heyward’s prime years. This team could very well make the playoffs but they have no chance of coming out of the AFC

So, overall, a fine signing. But the Steelers, for their sake, better greatly improve their roster around the quarterback position. No excuse not to, given the cap room and draft pick capital they have.

10. So far, so good re: the Steelers greatly improving their roster.

Mason Cole and, in particular, James Daniels, completely revamp Pittsburgh’s offensive line, while Levi Wallace greatly helps the secondary.

Myles Jack is coming off a down season and has injury concerns, but there is a ton of upside in a Jack-Devin Bush inside linebacking duo, more so with Brian Flores coaching them.

Re-signing Akhello Witherspoon, who was developing into a CB1 down the stretch, was massive, too.

They are signing a slot receiver and signing a backup running back away from having the exact type of free agency period they needed.

Go QB and S in the first two rounds of the upcoming draft and find an OWR in the third round.

Do that and Kevin Colbert leaves the Steelers with their most complete roster in years.

11. The Jaguars are a better team than they were two weeks ago but they are going to quickly realize that overpaying for players simply because you have the cap space to do so will come back to haunt you rather quickly.

Cap space gets eaten up fast, man.

12. My favourite free agent signings thus far, in no order…

• OG Daniels (Steelers)

• WR Russell Gage (Bucs)

• S Jordan Whitehead (Jets)

• ED Randy Gregory (Broncos)

• S Marcus Williams (Ravens)

• DE DJ Jones (Broncos)

• S Justin Reid (KC)

• C Alex Kappa (Bengals)

• TE C.J. Uzomah (Jets)

• ED Von Miler (Bills)

• WR Allen Robinson (Rams)

• WR Juju Smith-Schuster (KC)

• OL La’el Collins (Bengals)

Honourable mention to the Bucs for trading for Shaq Mason. What a difference the last week has been for their franchise.

13. The return the Packers got for Devante Adams is… fine, although there is not really a precedent for the best wide receiver on the planet being traded.

The issue is trading him in the first place. I do not care if he wanted to go to Las Vegas. You have two or three years left with your franchise quarterback. Do whatever you can to win. Call his bluff if he threatens to sit out the season.

14. The Browns instantly become a Super Bowl contender by trading for Deshaun Watson, albeit probably the 2023 Super Bowl, given Watson is likely to miss at least a handful of games in 2022 due to suspension.

The package they gave up for him is a lot, but it is worth it, as they were a quarterback away from being a truly elite team.

It is just funny that one day prior to making the trade, the Browns were leaking to the national media that they want an adult as their quarterback, only to trade for someone that has been accused of sexual assault by dozens of women.

And it is sad that Watson ends up with $230M and a suspension-proof contract out of all of this.