The Toronto Maple Leafs are a club whose only accomplishment between now and the end of the season is to increase their odds to win the NHL Draft Lottery and finish in the bottom five of the standings to hold on to their first-round pick. The club has lost eight of its last 10 games, after losing 4-3 in overtime to Carolina on Friday and 5-2 in Ottawa on Saturday, and right now, the vibe the team is giving off is that they want the NHL season to be over with.
The weekend was eventful in all ways negative, starting with the stupid comments made by Craig Berube. After the loss to the Hurricanes, the Leafs head coach called out goalie Joseph Woll, who faced 36 shots in the contest.
“He’s played well, but, tonight in the end, I think, I don’t think, I know we need a save. Whether it’s the OT or one of the breakaways, you just need a big save there.”
The Leafs have been a wreck defensively for most of the season, as reflected in the fact that the goalie who has faced the most shots in the NHL this season is Woll, and just behind him is Anthony Stolarz. In his last six starts, Woll has faced 32, 40, 33, 34, 36, and 44 against the Sens on Saturday. In those games, Toronto is 1-3-2. The fact that Berube set his critical sights on the goalie, and not on the clown car of a team in front of him, shows how out of touch he is.
He then directed his critical comments on rookie Easton Cowan, who arguably was the best Leaf on the ice on Saturday, with a goal and an assist on John Tavares 25th of the season. After the game, the 20-year-old said that the club started strong and then got deflated by Ottawa’s opening goal, something that Berube reacted to.
“I don’t really understand the deflated stuff, to be honest with you. I think it’s a cop-out.”
My early thoughts on Berube as a head coach was that he was someone similar to Ted Nolan when he was in Buffalo, someone whose strong suit was as a motivator, but not someone who is a tactician. After almost two seasons, my conclusion is that after all the coaxing, cajoling, yelling, and screaming, the team has tuned him out (and that has been for some time now), and his reactions and observations are to be taken with a grain of salt, since he knows as a coach in Toronto, he is dead man walking.
Veterans like Woll can take the criticism, but how the club has utilized some of the younger players has been a catastrophic error. Cowan appears to be a player who could develop into a top-six forward, but the fact that he was inactive for a month before, during, and after the Olympic break is unforgivable. The Leafs have had nothing to play for since the trade deadline, except maybe to give some younger players a chance and to evaluate them, but even then, Berube’s decision-making is baffling.
There is no way to know if Jacob Quillan can be an effective NHL player, and it is impossible to find that out by playing him on the fourth line with Steven Lorentz and Calle Jarnkrok. Anyone who has observed him can see he is a good skater and his numbers in the AHL reflect someone who has offensive talent, but in spite of the fact that the games are meaningless, Berube continues to play him on the fourth line, while 26-year-old Benoit-Olivier Groulx gets considerably more of an opportunity. The fact that Jarnkrok is even in the lineup is hilarious, while young players like Luke Haymes with the AHL Marlies don’t get a look.
The lack of talent recognition regarding Dennis Hildeby caused the club to claim Cayden Primeau on waivers, to overplay Stolarz at the start of the season (which may have contributed to his injury), and only after they had no options did they start the big Swede……and gee whiz, he can actually play goal.
There are 11 games to go in the Leafs season, the last being on April 15 in Ottawa. On April 16th, there will likely be a press release from the club. It is not going out on a limb to predict that Berube will be gone after two years, but the larger question is whether it will be a clean sweep and GM Brad Treliving will be sent packing as well.
