Weekly Takes - Monday, November 28 Edition

Weekly Takes - Monday, November 28 Edition

1. My three stars from the Maple Leafs awful loss to the Islanders on Monday…

1. John Tavares

2. William Nylander

3. Mark Giordano

Two obvious storylines in this game.

1. The Leafs were playing a perfect third period until their third-string goalie handed the Islanders a goal.

2. The Leafs are incapable of playing in overtime. They have no idea what to do out there.

2. I was unable to watch Leafs-Devils with great focus on Wednesday, but here are my thoughts on the disallowed goals…

• The first one: I do not believe Matt Murray was interfered with when it came to impacting the puck going in or not, but contact was still made against him while in his crease. I lean towards calling it a goal but understand why they did not

• The second and third ones: No chance either was a goal. You cannot wipe out a goalie behind the net, nor can you kick the puck. I understand having three goals disallowed in one game is shocking but the last two no-goals were no-brainers.

3. My three stars from the Leafs win over the Penguins on Saturday…

1. Mitch Marner

2. Auston Matthews

3. Michael Bunting

A dominant performance start to finish. The true sign of an elite franchise is when they can suffer the injuries they have suffered only to keep on chugging. The Leafs are doing just that.

4. For as sad as the passing of Borje Salming was and is, his last weekend in Toronto highlighted how great of a job Brendan Shanahan has done since he became president of the Leafs.

He is going to make sure the history of this team is respected and honoured. The Salming celebration against the Canucks was just that. An all-time great tribute that will go down in Leafs lore forever.

5. My Week 13 NFL Picks…

• Bills (-5.5)

• Titans (+6.5)

• Packers (-2.5)

• Jaguars (+2)

• Browns (-7)

• Vikings (-3)

• Falcons (-1.5)

• Ravens (-8)

• Giants (+2)

• Dolphins (+4)

• Seahawks (-4.5)

• Chargers (-2.5)

• Kansas City (-2.5)

• Colts (+9.5)

• Bucs (-5.5)

I went 10-5 in Week 12, with MNF still pending.

On the season, I am 84-88.

6. My top four college football teams, heading into Championship Weekend…

1. Georgia (-)

2. Michigan (+1)

3. TCU (New)

4. Ohio State (-2)

Out since my last ranking: Tennessee

TCU enters the fold since they have continued to take care of business, while Tennessee, Clemson, Oregon, UCLA, Ole Miss, and LSU have fallen off completely.

USC remains firmly in the mix heading into the last weekend of the season and for the sake of everyone’s entrainment value, the College Football Playoff would be better with Caleb Williams and USC in it.

7. My thoughts on Canada’s loss to Belgium on Wednesday…

• It would be impossible to be more impressed by Canada’s performance. They were the way faster team, created more chances, and looked way better defensively than I thought they would. They went toe-to-toe with a world power on the biggest stage. Who would have thought that two years ago?

• I am all for Jonathan David taking penalties for Canada, but it is silly to suggest that John Herdman made the wrong decision by choosing Alphonso Davies. He is their best player and was two-for-two in penalties in his career. Not everything needs to be second-guessed.

8. My thoughts on Canada’s loss to Croatia on Sunday…

• Unlike Wednesday, Canada was simply outclassed by a team on a different tier than them. There is no shame in that.

• I understand the sentiment that came with starting and playing Atiba Hutchinson, but he should not have played for as long as he did in this game. Canada’s only path to victory was being aggressive.

• The Davies goal will live in Canadian sporting lore forever. While Wednesday’s game against Morocco will mean nothing when it comes to advancing, it will still be another chance for the team to pick up their first-ever win. That means something.

• Let this loss be the last “oh shucks, we are here” moment for this era of Canadian men’s soccer. Everything they do from this point forward should be with the hope of making it out of the group stage in 2026. Anything less is unacceptable, outside of being granted a very tough group.

Everything they have done up to this point has been excellent, shocking, and amazing to watch, but it is not the standard you want to limit yourself to.