Weekly Takes - Monday, November 8 Edition

Weekly Takes - Monday, November 8 Edition

1. My three stars from the Maple Leafs’ dominant win over the Golden Knights on Monday…

1. Mitch Marner

2. William Nylander

3. Auston Matthews

Most nights are going to go pretty well if those three players are your best three players. This game was easily the Leafs’ best game of the season overall.

Full credit to this group for not letting things get off the rails because things were looking pretty bleak last week.

Now it’s a matter of chugging along for the rest of the regular season and actually winning in the playoffs.

This is exactly where I said they should want to be last week. Dominant a regular-season game and enjoy the “now do this in the playoffs” narrative after each win.

2. My three stars from the Leafs’ win over the Lightning on Thursday…

1. Jack Campbell

2. Wayne Simmonds

3. Timothy Liljegren

Not their best game of the season but their most impressive for sure. Campbell looks extremely poised in the net, while the Leafs played great at five-on-five after the first period.

3. My three stars from the Leafs’ big win over the Bruins on Saturday…

1. Marner

2. John Tavares (he is playing some of his best hockey as a Leaf right now)

3. Campbell

I loved how this team played through the first forty minutes. They let up in the third but regardless, the Leafs are cruising right now and playing the way people have come to expect from this team -- in the regular season -- over the last half-decade.

How this team has played since their horrific start truly is a good sign. In a matter of weeks, they have gone from being this tight, fragile team, to the total opposite. Here is hoping, for their sake, that they have finally taken the “we no longer care what people have to say about us” approach.

This stretch will also cool the market down the next time they enter a slump, as they have shown with their play as of late that they will overcome any regular season slumps that come their way.

The only question with this group is… can they win in the playoffs?

That is the only question that media and fans should be asking for the rest of this season.

4. The Jack Eichel trade is a disaster for the Sabres.

Eichel’s floor is a first-line centre and his ceiling is a top-five centre in the game. They trade him for a protected first-round pick, a very good middle-six forward in Alex Tuch, and a likely top-six forward in Peyton Krebs.

That is not enough. At all. A truly gut-wrenching trade if you are a Sabres fan.

5. If you want a perfect example of what a strong culture looks like in professional sport, you have to look no further than the Raptors win over the Knicks last Monday.

On the road, in the world’s most famous arena, without Scottie Barnes and Pascal Siakam, the Raptors beat the best team in the East on pure work ethic, particularly on the defensive end.

It started with Fred VanVleet and OG Anunoby, the Raptors’ two best players, and it trickled all the way down to Justin Champagnie, a two-way player who will spend a majority of this season in the G League.

No matter who you are or how much money you make, if you do not work and if you cannot play defence, you will not be in this organization for long.

Masai Ujiri, Nick Nurse, and everyone else who helped build this program deserves a ton of credit.

6. With Siakam back, here is the lineup I would go with if I were Nurse…

VanVleet - Gary Trent. Jr. - Anunoby - Barnes - Siakam

Delano Banton - Malachi Flynn - Svi Mykhailuk - Chris Boucher - Khem Birch

Banton and Birch should be the unquestioned first two players off the bench, while Flynn is deserving of more of a look. Mykhailuk and Boucher are in danger of losing playing time once Yuta Wantanbe is back.

The Raptors are going to be in a tough spot with Precious Achiuwa soon. Unlike with Goran Dragic and perhaps Boucher, you cannot completely remove Achiuwa from the rotation, as he needs to play from a pure development perspective, but he is not doing himself many favours right now.

It is going to be tough for Nurse to balance winning and development.

7. My week 10 NFL picks…

• Ravens (-6.5)

• Bucs (-7.5)

• Lions (+9.5)

• Browns (+3)

• Colts (-10.5)

• Falcons (+9.5)

• Saints (+2.5)

• Bills (-13.5)

• Vikings (+3)

• Cardinals (-6)

• Broncos (-1.5)

• Packers (-5)

• Kansas City (-3)

• Rams (-3)

I went 6-7 in week nine, with Monday Night Football still pending and am now 69-60 on the season.

8. My top ten NFL teams halfway through the season...

1. Tampa Bay (- since my last ranking)

2. Rams (-)

3. Cardinals (+1)

4. Bills (-1)

5. Packers (-)

6. Cowboys (-)

7. Ravens (+2)

8. Browns (-1)

9. Chargers (-2)

10. Kansas City (New)

I still do not view Kansas City as a Super Bowl contending team, while I am still not all that high on the Browns and Chargers, even though their ceilings are high.

I am still worried about the Ravens’ defence, too.

This may be a six-team league the rest of the way. What a crusher this will be for Bills’ fans if they do not come out of the AFC.

9. My midseason NFL awards…

• MVP: Tom Brady

• OPOY: Brady

• DPOY: Cameron Heyward

• ROY: Ja’Marr Chase

• ROPOY: Chase

• RDOPOY: Micah Parsons

• COY: John Harbaugh

10. After a near-wild weekend in college football, here are my playoff rankings…

1. Georgia

2. Cincinnati

3. Oklahoma

4. Alabama

MSU is all but done with their loss, leaving Oregon and The Ohio State as the last two schools that have a shot.

If the Buckeyes win out, it’s going to be tough to leave them out. Alabama may very well have to beat Georgia to make the playoff.