Weekly Takes - Monday, November 13th Edition

Weekly Takes - Monday, November 13th Edition

1. My three stars from the Maple Leafs thrilling win over the Lightning on Monday…

1. Auston Matthews

2. Matthew Knies

3. Calle Jarnkrok

Full credit to Sheldon Keefe for the lineup changes. Knies simply makes plays at 1LW that no one else on the Leafs would be able to make for Matthews and Mitch Marner, while Max Domi looked great down the middle at 3C. It is a line that will have to be sheltered, but Nick Roberston-Domi-Jarnkrok defines a line that will provide depth scoring. If Tyler Bertuzzi can get going (he does not look close to doing so, more so after being the worst player on the ice in this one), then the Leafs may have just found their line combinations for the top nine.

Simon Benoit is someone who should get an extended run on defence after an impressive debut, too.

As for the goaltending situation, it is not much of a situation to me. Joseph Woll should be the number one goalie moving forward. If he has a tough game, you go back to him. That is what teams do with their starters.

2. It is tough to say that Matthews is playing better than he was in the spring of 2022, as I truly believe that was his most dominant stretch in the NHL, but what he is doing right now is superstar stuff.

The Leafs are never out of a game because of him and he is seizing what it means to be the best player on the most popular team in the league. He brought more noise to the arena on Monday night than any Leaf has in a long, long time on a weeknight.

3. My three stars from the Leafs awful loss to the Senators on Wednesday…

1. William Nylander

2. Matthews

3. Bertuzzi

It was an off-night for Woll, who was fighting the puck all night, but it was nice to see Bertuzzi play his best game of the season and get rewarded with a goal. The top nine is settling into place quite nicely.

That is where the positives begin and end, though. Ryan Reaves is completely unplayable on the fourth line, with his value to the team all but going to the waste side after his inaction in Boston. John Klingberg, meanwhile, is the worst defenceman in the NHL, somehow managing to be worse than he was on a last-place Ducks team a season ago.

Kyle Dubas’ biggest strength as general manager was not doubling down on his mistakes. When he made one, he owned up to it and did something about it. Brad Treliving has to do the same with Klingberg and Reaves. Reaves should be sent to the AHL, while Treliving has to throw Klingberg into a trade at the deadline as a salary-matcher. Neither of these players can be on the roster come playoff time.

He then has to hope Domi and Bertuzzi can turn things around (Domi certainly looks like he is going to) to salvage an otherwise bad first offseason as GM.

4. My three stars from the Leafs wild shootout win over the Flames on Friday…

1. Nylander

2. John Tavares

3. Domi

A game where the score does not show how great the Leafs played. A shaky Woll + unlucky bounces were the only two things that kept the game close.

More importantly with Woll, he overcame a shaky first forty minutes to be the reason the Leafs got a second point. That is the truest sign a young goaltender is taking a step.

As for the forward lines, they continue to trend in the right direction, sans the fourth line. The top nine looks as great as the Leafs have had in years, more so with Bertuzzi rounding into form in the last two games.

If the trend holds, it will allow Treliving to focus purely on defence (and a 4RW, unless a Bobby McMann or Max Ellis can step up internally) ahead of the deadline.

5. My three stars from the Leafs win over the Canucks on Saturday…

1. Nylander

2. Bertuzzi

3. Knies

A wild week that saw the Leafs not only win three of their four games, but finally find their footing with their forward lines. The top nine looks set in stone, while the fourth line had their best game of the season in this one. David Kampf has long shown he is an effective centre when he has two speedy wingers to play with. That applied in this one with Noah Gregor and McMann.

As for Mark Giordano and Domi fighting: I am not a fan of players fighting after clean hits and this cannot become a trend, but they showed pushback that they had not shown in years. Season rallying moments.

6. A minor, but positive development for the Leafs in the last week or so that has gone largely unnoticed? The play of William Lagesson and Benoit.

When everyone is healthy, they are the 8th and 9th defenceman on the Leafs, which is some tidy business by Treliving, as coming into the season, I was quite concerned about their depth on defence. But Lagesson and Benoit are serviceable depth options that provide a physical element.

Max Lajoie has not panned out at all, whether it be in the NHL or AHL, but that is why you sign as many tweeners as possible in free agency. You have to hope enough pan out and that has turned out to be the case in Toronto.

7. Kris Knoblauch is going to come into Edmonton, take over a team that is going to regress to the mean both offensively and in the net quite soon, and make himself and the Oilers look rather smart.

But the firing of Jay Woodcroft – one of the great cop-outs in recent NHL memory – is a flawed decision, as is the decision to hire Knoblauch and Paul Coffey.

To keep a star player, you do not coddle him by hiring his junior coach or by hiring his agent to be the president. You keep him by running a competent organization.

The Oilers are not that.

8. I would not have brought back Guillermo Martinez if I were the Jays, as I would have cleaned out the hitting coaching department completely, but he has done a great job as the hitting coach of the Blue Jays. They have been an elite hitting team with him as the hitting coach, so the outrage about him coming back is misguided.

The concern is the promotion of Don Mattingly, whose addition to the team in 2023 played a major factor in the Jays misguided change in their hitting approach. His promotion is not a promising start to the offseason.

9. Scottie Barnes’ breakout game into stardom came Wednesday in Dallas.

0-4 from three and 4-15 from the field, yet he found a way to be a team-high +9 by collecting a team-high 14 rebounds, seven assists, and four steals.

Your jumper is not going to fall every game, so you better have a fallback plan to help your team win. Barnes did that and then some.

Star.

10. Bill Belichick’s time in New England has reached its expiry date, but Robert Kraft and the Patriots have to do right by him and let him coach out the season. You cannot fire him. Trade him to the Chargers in the offseason and let everyone leave happy.

11. Never mind the Rookie of the Year award. CJ Stroud should be in the MVP conversation.

Even with a great head coach, a good wide receiver group, and foundational players on defence, the Texans should have been a year or two away from making noise in a loaded AFC. What Stroud is doing is delivering the best quarterback play by a rookie since Andrew Luck.

12. My Super Bowl power rankings, after Week 10 of the NFL season…

1. Kansas City (+1 since my last ranking in Week 5)

2. Eagles (+1)

3. 49ers (-2)

4. Ravens (+3)

5. Bengals (New)

6. Bills (-2)

7. Dolphins (-2)

8. Cowboys (-2)

9. Jaguars (New)

There is a gap after the top five teams, with the Jaguars barely on the list after an embarrassing loss to the 49ers.

Perhaps the Lions should be on this list, but I think they are a year away from Super Bowl contention. That does not mean they will be an easy out come playoff time.

13. My Week 11 NFL picks, after going 9-4 in Week 10…

• Bengals (+4)

• Jaguars (-5.5)

• Chargers (-2)

• Giants (+10)

• Dolphins (-9)

• Cardinals (+5.5)

• Lions (-9.5)

• Steelers (+4)

• Cowboys (-9)

• 49ers (-10.5)

• Seahawks (-1.5)

• Jets (+8)

• Vikings (+1.5)

• Kansas City (-2.5)

On the season, I am now 72-71.

14. The Argos stunning loss was just that… stunning.

And it was unfortunate, given the hype that had been developing around the team throughout the city. The team was turning a corner in Toronto that I never thought would be possible.

Thankfully, though, for the Argos, the team should be every bit as good in 2024 and beyond with Pinball Clemons running the show. They have set themselves up for an era of success, both on and off the field.

Unfortunately, an amazing regular season will not be remembered for what it was, but the loss was self-inflicted. The offensive line played its worst game all season and Chad Kelly had one of the worst performances in Argos history.