“I think he obviously wants to play. We all know that – everyone wants to play – but he’s handled it positively,” Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube said when asked about Matias Maccelli and the fact he wasn’t in the lineup. Based on the way the forward has been playing lately, that won’t change.
Berube added: “He knows he has to be better. We put him in the Washington game, and there wasn’t much. I thought he struggled in that game. We’ve won the last couple, so I’m not going to change the lineup. We’ll see.”
Berube isn’t the only one waiting for Maccelli to find a version of his high-end game that will allow the Maple Leafs to call on him regularly. Jeff O’Neill from TSN OverDrive said last week: “Let’s face it: Dakota Joshua and Matias Maccelli did jack squat.” Joshua has since turned things around with two goals and three points in his last two games.
Maccelli is running out of runway to make an impression in Toronto. Brought over in an offseason trade in an attempt to fill some of the hole left by the departing Mitch Marner, it was no coincidence. He scored four goals and nine points in 22 games. He hasn’t been terrible, but he hasn’t produced the offense Toronto needed when they acquired him.
Has Maccelli’s opportunity already passed him by?
To say there isn’t ‘much’ is a damning statement from the coach. It could lead people to wonder if Berube has already passed judgment on the attacker and if his opportunity has already passed him by. An RFA at the end of the season, there’s a bit of a Nick Robertson vibe starting to form with this player.
Next: Will William Nylander play through injury?
#Wasnt #Berube #Blunt #clawed #Maple #Leafs #ahead