Whether you consider the first quarter concluded at the end of the 20th game, the end of the 21st game, or at the end of the 30th minute of the 21st game, the first quarter of the Maple Leafs season is over. With Game 22 scheduled for Saturday night, this seems like a perfect time to clear as many opinions as possible before the second quarter invalidates these recordings.
- More than anything, the Leafs are too slow. They skate slowly, move the puck slowly and don’t win races to the puck. Every opponent has a built-in advantage. Finding a way to get players like Quillan into the lineup is a good first step to solving that problem, and the Leafs should also look at faster defensemen.
- Max Domi is in a square peg, round hole situation for the Maple Leafs and there appears to be no path to success for him with this team. It may be a bad contract for a bad contract trade, but Domi doesn’t fit into the Leafs lineup.
- The Leafs need to plan for the future and that means putting Robertson and Maccelli in places where they can thrive. The Leafs will do that with Robertson, but need to find the fit for Matias.
- Cowan, on the other hand, should be sent down until the Leafs are ready for him. Cowan may be at the NHL level, but the club needs to come up with a better plan for him.
- Put Tavares, Nylander and Matthews on separate lines 5v5. You can always merge lines later in the game if you need to, but start them separately to make them harder to play against.
- Put Chris Tanev with Morgan Rielly when he returns. That combination, plus Jake McCabe taking over the second line instead of the top line, seems like a defensive improvement.
- Based on age and who you need to be the future of the team, Woll should theoretically be the 1A. The game will ultimately dictate things, but it makes the most sense to prioritize Woll in net otherwise.
- Bobby McMann’s future really intrigues me. Curious to see what his next contract should look like, and if his asking price is over $2.5 million AAV, the Leafs should acquire him as a cheap scoring option, even if that slows Toronto down even more.
- I would like to see Scott Laughton deployed on the wing when Nicolas Roy returns. Keep Quillan as the 4C and see if Laughton and Roy improve them together.
- It was either the best or worst thing the Leafs could have done by taking Tavares’ C, but either way he is playing great and showing that he is a true leader.
- While I’ll stick with the praise part of these shots, I admit that I’ve been too harsh on Oliver Ekman-Larsson in the past and his attacking performance is appreciated this year.
- I often say good things about William Nylander, so I’ll say that again here and say that no one has answered the challenge of life without Marner as well as he has.
- I’m an unapologetic supporter of Jake McCabe, but the Leafs should continue playing him on the left side.
- With the amount of cap space the Leafs have after this season, it makes sense to me to retain 50% on some players with a term to get a higher return on players Toronto might want to ship.
- If I’m Keith Pelley, I ask Brandon Pridham what he would do if given the big office as the trade deadline approaches.
- I want to see more of Calle Jarnkrok. There are plenty of other forwards who have made stronger arguments for their healthy scratches than he has.
- Dakota Mermis and Philippe Myers are Marlies. Even with the current injury situation, the Leafs can do better. If the Leafs don’t see Thrun or Villeneuve as ready, call Benning.
- Toronto needs to stop downplaying their injuries. I understand that Craig Berube is not a doctor, but this is an annoying trend that may just bother me, even though I don’t gamble.
- I have a feeling the organization is going to push the idea of a Morgan Rielly trade until he eventually wears out and agrees to waive his movement clause. I’m just not sure if that’s good or bad.
- The Leafs can no longer give up futures for a player over the age of 30.
- You have to be careful what you wish for, and it doesn’t feel great when regular season games mean something again.
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