Weekly Takes - Monday, May 2 Edition

Weekly Takes - Monday, May 2 Edition

1. My NHL Playoff Predictions…

Eastern Conference…

First Round…

• Panthers beat Capitals in six games

• Bruins beat Hurricanes in six games

• Lightning beat Leafs in seven games

• Rangers beat Penguins in seven games

Second Round…

• Lightning beat Panthers in seven games

• Bruins beat Rangers in seven games

Third Round…

• Lightning beat Bruins in six games

Western Conference…

First Round…

• Avalanche beat Predators in five games

• Flames beat Stars in five games

• Oilers beat Kings in five games

• Wild beat Blues in seven games

Second Round…

• Avalanche beat Wild in six games

• Flames beat Oilers in five games

Third Round…

• Avalanche beat Flames in seven games

Cup Final

• Avalanche beat Lightning in seven games

2. Here is what my game one lineup would be for the Leafs, if Bunting was healthy…

Forwards…

Michael Bunting - Auston Matthews - Mitch Marner

Alexander Kerfoot - John Tavares - William Nylander

Ilya Mikheyev - David Kampf - Pierre Engvall

Wayne Simmonds - Colin Blackwell - Ondrej Kase

Scratched, in order of who I would bring in if needed: Jason Spezza, Kyle Clifford, and Nick Abruzzese

Defence…

Morgan Rielly - Ilya Lyubushkin

T.J. Brodie - Justin Holl

Mark Giordano - Timothy Liliegren

Scratched, in order of who I would bring in if needed: Rasmus Sandin and Jake Muzzin

3. In sport (and in life) you can only control what you can control, and that was the downfall of the Golden Knights this season.

With a “hell for it, we will figure out our issues later on” approach, they never seemed in control as an organisation at any point.

That franchise top-to-bottom needs to reevaluate how they do business.

4. List of NHL general managers and coaches I would fire now that the regular season is over…

GMs…

• Pierre Dorion (Senators)

• Chuck Fletcher (Flyers)

• Kevin Chevaldayoff (Jets)

Head Coaches…

• Derek King (Blackhawks)

• Jeff Blashill (Red Wings) (Already let go)

• John Hynes (Devils)

• Mike Yeo (Flyers)

• Dave Lowry (Jets)

5. My NHL year-end awards…

• Hart Memorial Trophy: Auston Matthews (Runners Up: Connor McDavid and Igor Shesterkin)

• Calder Memorial Trophy: Michael Bunting (Runners Up: Trevor Zegras and Mortiz Seider)

• James Norris Memorial Trophy: Cale Makar (Runners Up: Roman Josi and Charlie McAvoy)

• Vezina Trophy: Shesterkin (Runners Up: Frederik Andersen and Andrei Vasilevskiy)

• Frank J. Selke Trophy: Patrice Bergeron (Runners Up: Anthony Cirelli and Brad Marchand)

• General Manager of the Year: Joe Sakic (Runners Up: Bill Zito and Brad Treliving)

• Jack Adams Award: Darryl Sutter (Runners Up: Dean Evason and Todd McLellan

6. The roster being as talented as it is and finally playing a full season at home aside, one of the biggest reasons why I was so high on the Blue Jays this season was because their luck was going to turn after last season’s unluckiness.

They lost so many close games last season, more so in the first few months. That was bound to change this season. And is it ever.

7. My takeaways from the Raptors game five win over the 76ers on Monday…

• At worst, the Raptors are doing exactly what I said they’d do come playoff time and that is give a team with championship aspirations a run for their money. They are an absolutely miserable team to play against.

• This 76ers team is not coming out of the East. Joel Embiid is absolutely amazing but there is no reason to believe that James Harden will turn things around on a consistent basis, while we all know how streaky Tobias Harris and Danny Green are. They are not beating the Bucks or Celtics in a seven game series.

• It is nice to see Pascal Siakam respond the way he has after a tough game three. After game three, I wrote that he cannot be “the guy” but that he can still be a number two option on a championship team and he is at least showing he can be that. If things continued to go off the rails for him, it would have led to an offseason full of hot takes, which would have been so disappointing after the season he had.

8. My takeaways from the Raptors game six loss to the 76ers…

• A very disappointing effort from the defence all night long. It had been their strength all season long and was going to need to be to force a game seven but instead, it was one of their worst performances of the season.

• The Raptors did a great job on the offensive boards, protecting the basketball, etc, but it all goes for naught if you cannot shoot and they were not able to shoot in the second half. This was their biggest area of weakness throughout the season and will be the biggest area that needs to be addressed in the offseason.

9. My year-end review for the Raptors…

• Masai Ujiri/Bobby Webster: A-

• Nick Nurse: A+

• Fred VanVleet: A+

• Malachi Flynn: C

• Delano Banton: B+

• Gary Trent Jr. : A+

• Justin Champagnie: B+

• Armoni Brooks: C-

• OG Anunoby: B

• Thad Young: B+

• Svi Mykhailiuk: F-

• Yuta Wantanbe: D-

• Isaac Bonga: D

• Pascal Siakam: A+

• Scottie Barnes: A+

• Chris Boucher: B+

• Precious Achiuwa: A+

• Khem Birch: C

Overall, an important and valuable season. VanVleet replaced Kyle Lowry masterfully, Trent Jr. has found a clear and obvious role on this team moving forward, Siakam returned to his old form – and then some – Barnes looks to be a franchise cornerstone, Banton and Flynn showed flashes that they could end up being backup point guards, Achiuwa was a steal and then some, and Boucher and Young provided the Raptors with very clear roles that the team otherwise lacked.

The whole point of this season was to determine what this team needs moving forward and what they have. They now know the answers to those questions (they need a starting centre and shooting off the bench) and in that process, ended up making the playoffs and gave a team hoping to win a championship a major scare.

Ideally, the Raptors look like this heading into next season…

Starting Unit: Siakam - VanVleet - Anunoby - Barnes - Vacant

Bench: Flynn/Banton - Trent Jr. - Vacant - Boucher - Achiuwa

Reserves: Flynn/Banton, David Johnson, Champagnie, Brooks, and Birch

I like Young a lot, but I question the fit moving forward. Mykhailiuk, Wantanbe, and Bonga should not be brought back.

10. My round two NBA playoff predictions, made prior to the second round beginning…

• Heat over 76ers in five games

• Celtics over Bucks in seven games

• Suns over Mavericks in six games

• Warriors over Grizzlies in six games

11. My NFL Draft takeaways…

• The Jaguars drafting Travon Walker ain’t it. Could his raw, athletic tools translate to the NFL? Sure, but why take the risk when Aidan Hutchinson is available?

• The Jets (Sauce Gardner and Garret Wilson) and the Giants (Kayvon Thibodeaux and Evan Neal) are easily the winners of the draft

• Kyle Hamilton to the Ravens at 14th overall is tremendous value, as is Tyler Linderbaum at 25th overall. The Ravens know how to draft, man.

• Kenny Pickett to the Steelers at #20 is fine. He throws the most accurate football in the class, has the highest floor, is the most-ready quarterback, is mobile and tough to bring down, and has a better deep ball than people give him credit for. But not drafting Malik Willis, the quarterback with by far the highest upside, may come back to haunt them. The Titans should be thrilled to get him where they did.

• The Steelers and Kansas City had the most underrated drafts

• It is so sad to see Justyn Ross go undrafted. He should be the poster boy for the “pay college athletes” crowd.