The Toronto Maple Leafs are facing the possibility of being a complete farce just 20 games into the regular season, and at this point, they really have no one to blame but themselves. The 6-3 loss to the Colorado Avalanche was another incomplete effort in which, at times, they were competitive with last season’s Presidents’ Trophy winners, but at other times, they appear not to understand the concept of what it takes to play winning hockey.
The maddening thing about how the Leafs are playing right now is that they are in most of the games they are losing, but an error at the absolute wrong time leads to their demise. Unlike the movie Groundhog Day, where Bill Murray learns from his mistakes and works to better himself, Toronto (including certain key players on the club) keeps making the same errors.
After rallying from a 3-1 deficit to tie the game, the Leafs inept defensive zone coverage, courtesy of their top defensive pairing (Darren Raddysh and Jake McCabe) and two of their core group (John Tavares and William Nylander), led to Gabriel Landeskog’s game-winner just 51 seconds after Jack Roslovic tied the game.
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Rather than giving you a point-by-point breakdown of what occurred on Tuesday, here is the CliffsNotes version of the current state of the club. The Leafs have played the most games in the NHL(20), have lost six of their last seven games……in regulation……have played the most home games in the league(12), and have a dismal 4-7-1 record at Scotiabank Arena.
Pathetic is the only word to describe this.
Management
My point of view regarding the Kirill Marchenko deal has been clear, but not for the reasons everyone thinks. Matthew Knies is a good player. He has slumped since being traded to Columbus, likely because he did not want to be traded by Toronto, but that is life in the big city. The issue is, did this deal need to happen? Marchenko is a better offensive player than Knies (there are those who have described him as a Russian Nylander), but he is better. Is he $4.75 million a year better? Is he so much better that GM John Chayka needed to take back $5.4 million of Elvis Merzlikins’ LTIR money, as well as two more years of Miles Wood at $2.5 million per season, Emil Andrae, and a second-round pick?
The answer is no……and to make matters worse, taking on Wood’s term and signing Marchenko to an extension is preventing Chayka from making any other roster moves because of the tagging implications. That means they cannot trade or claim anyone off of waivers with term, and they cannot call up players like Ben Danford (who is currently injured) because they do not have enough room over the cap for next season.
This is something that Chayka knew about before making the trade and signing Marchenko to an extension. If Toronto was bound and determined to trade Knies, then the move should have been for a defenseman or a young #2 center, not another winger.
Coaching
There is no great confidence that Jim Hiller was the right hire, and through 20 games, that opinion has not changed. His handling of the lineup has been chaotic; he seems to be a rubber stamp for the medical staff’s load management strategies (not pulling Sergei Bobrovsky when he is struggling, because Anthony Stolarz is on an inning’s count, or giving Chris Tanev a rest day in the second of back-to-back games), and his feel for the game, such as asking for reviews for goalie interference, is puzzling.
But don’t ask for him to be fired and someone like Bruce Cassidy to be hired. The time for that was this summer. If Chayka decided to let Hiller go, he may as well sign his own resignation.
Goaltending
It is a sad state of affairs when it has to be said that Anthony Stolarz has been the more dependable of the two goalies. Bobrovsky has been……let’s be honest……horrible and thus far the biggest black mark on Chayka’s tenure. Three or more goals in 12 of 13 starts….the 38-year-old is playing like the three-year deal he signed was part of his retirement plan.
This is not to say that the team’s defense does not have a hand in the club’s demise so far……it does……but Chayka’s plan was to trade Joseph Woll for a defenseman that he gave away to fix the Marchenko deal at the last minute, and spend double the amount he cleared with that deal on a goalie 10 years older who had the worst year of his career.
Nylander
Willie being Willie just doesn’t cut it anymore. Anyone complaining about how Auston Matthews played the last two years has to be spewing their bile on #88. This is not a one-game thing. In the six losses during this downturn, Nylander has two goals, is -8, and is playing like he does not care. This is nothing new. Since he came over from Sweden to play for the Marlies, he has been a player of immense talent who generates immense frustration because he can dominate games, but simply does not do it for long stretches.
It would be insulting to call him lazy, but to describe him in one word would have me reaching for Roget’s Thesaurus. The answer to this solution would be to trade Nylander, but thanks to Brad Treliving, he has a complete, ironclad no-movement clause and will only go somewhere he wants to go.
At this point, it is hard to imagine, with all the injuries the Leafs currently have, that they can pull out of this crash dive and remain competitive for a playoff spot, especially with the likelihood of going 0 for 6 on this homestand with Minnesota and Edmonton coming up next.
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