Weekly Takes - Monday, October 3 Edition

Weekly Takes - Monday, October 3 Edition

1. My three stars from the Leafs preseason win over the Senators on Friday…

1. Nick Robertson

2. Dennis Malgin

3. Alex Steeves

Roberston needed to look like the best player on the ice and he was. He should break camp with the Leafs.

None of this should be surprising either. He is a plus-skater, has the second-best shot in the entire organization outside of Auston Matthews, has always been aggressive on the backcheck, and has above-average puck skills.

He has just so happened to need time in the AHL to develop his skills. Development is not always linear. There is nothing wrong with that.

2. With John Tavares and Timothy Lilegren out to begin the season, here is what my opening night lineup would look like for the Leafs, assuming Pierre Engvall is ready to go…

Forwards…

Michael Bunting - Matthews - Mitch Marner (Intact)

Robertson - Alexander Kerfoot - William Nylander (Kerfoot in Tavares’ spot)

Engvall - David Kampf - Calle Jarnkrok

Zach Aston-Reese - Holmberg - Nicolas Aube-Kubel (Holmberg in Kerfoot’s spot)

Extras: Malign and Wayne Simmonds

Defence…

Morgan Rielly - Rasmus Sandin

Jake Muzzin - T.J. Brodie

Mark Giordano - Justin Holl (Holl in Lilegren’s spot)

Extra: Victor Mete

The reality is, this team is dealing with an injury bug throughout camp, yet they are still going to have some tough decisions to make at the end of camp. Can they afford to keep Simmonds around as the 13th forward? What do they do with Malgin, who has been excellent in camp? This is the true sign of a team having championship-calibre depth, something this team has not had over the years. That is a credit to the scouting and player development staffs for finding and developing the likes of Roberston, Steeves, and Holmberg.

3. Two takeaways from the Blue Jays deciding to walk Aaron Judge in extra innings on Monday…

• John Schneider made his first “big league” managerial move. He knew if the decision did not pay off, it would have been all anyone in the city would have been talking about the next day. But he made it anyway because he believed it was the right decision to make – and he was right. He did not manage in his fears and that is all you can ask from a manager in 2022.

• The decision had nothing to do with the Blue Jays not wanting to be victims of history, despite this weird narrative coming from Yankees fans. They believed that walking Judge gave them the best chance possible to win the game. And it did. Full stop.

4. 24 hours after one of the more thrilling wins of their season, the Blue Jays laid an absolute egg against the Yankees on Tuesday.

George Springer needed to call off Bo Bichette on the high pop-up in the fifth inning. Bichette cannot chase his first basemen off the bag on a routine groundball. Bichette cannot come off the bag sliding into second base for a double. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. cannot admire a ball that may or may not be a home run, only to be thrown out at second base.

If this happened in June or July, you chalk it up to the dog days of a very long baseball season. But under no circumstance can it happen in late September as you are trying to secure home-field advantage throughout the first round of the playoffs.

An embarrassing loss for the Jays, who, for their sake, better have just played their last bad baseball game of the season. Because there is no margin for error any longer. It is well past “go time.”

Buck Martinez was correct in everything he said on the broadcast, as was Schenider after the game. Let this game be the last wake-up call this core ever needs. Not just this season, but forever. The standard has to be way higher. Talent alone, which they have, can win ball games. Talent alone cannot and will not win championships.

5. Unless the Steelers play a stunning stretch of great football against the Bills, Bucs, Dolphins, and Eagles, the reality is, their season is over, as at the very best, they are going to be 3-5 after eight weeks.

They needed to capitalize on an easy schedule to begin and did anything but after an amazing opening week win against Bengals. They should have, at the very worst, gone 2-1 against the Patriots, Browns, and Jets.

Instead, they lost all three, capped off by a brutal collapse against the Jets, in a game where the defence looked lost down the stretch without T.J. Watt.

The Steelers may be picking higher in this year’s draft than they have in quite some time.

6. Pittsburgh, at least, finally went with their future in Kenny Pickett, albeit way too late.

They beat the Patriots with Pickett, they probably beat the Browns with Pickett, and they certainly beat the Jets with Pickett, given he would have put up more than six first-half points.

I never understood sitting Pickett, given his age and the fact that his skill set is not raw at all.

There will be learning curves (see his interception in the fourth quarter on Sunday) but you will take growing pains with a young quarterback over incompetence with a veteran quarterback any day of the week.

This needs to be his team the rest of the way.

7. My Week 5 NFL predictions…

• Broncos (-3)

• Packers (-7.5)

• Lions (+2.5)

• Steelers (+14)

• Dolphins (-3)

• Bucs (-8)

• Seahawks (+4.5)

• Texans (+7)

• Titans (-2.5)

• Vikings (-7)

• Browns (+3)

• 49ers (-4.5)

• Cowboys (+6)

• Eagles (-5.5)

• Bengals (+3.5)

• Kansas City (-6.5)

I went 8-7 in Week 4, with Monday Night Football still pending.