The Maple Leafs Make Some Lineup Changes & Stay Red Hot | SDP

The Maple Leafs Make Some Lineup Changes & Stay Red Hot | SDP

There is wholesale changes in the lineup. So you know what’s you know what what would have happened in Leaf’s past is hey they came back so the lineup stays the same. Mhm. Brew is not playing like that. Um N Matthews kneelander is now officially aligned. They that was the first time they looked the way they ought to. They were dominant. Robertson Tvaris McMahon. Hell yeah. Like Robertson’s been a dog by the way. five points in three games since he got elevated to the top six. I think he belongs. Look at all the guys who are in the rotation to be in and out of the lineup. You don’t even bring his name up. But Steve has been saying that like he can’t play in the bottom six. He’s not a bottom six. Either he’s in a top six forward playing in a premium spot or he’s out of the lineup and now he’s found his top six spot. So I think it’s great. Joshua Wah Michelli. So Machelli will draw back in after sitting for a game. He got healthy. He’s still looking for his spot. And Scott Lton is looking like he’s going to play tomorrow night with Doy finally on the wing and Steven Lorent back in the lineup. Now, I want to say something. I like I like what Brew is doing here. I’m sad to see Sammy Bla not in the lineup. I know he’ll cycle back in. He took a bad penalty. He did take a bad penalty, but I have really liked him. So, uh I know he’s not like he’s not going to be the straw that stirs the drink. I get we’re debating a fourth line winger, but I’m just, you know, let let me point something out, though. So, uh, Carlo’s not there today. Mermis is with Riley, uh, which I assume he won’t be during game situations, but if Carlo can’t go, they have too many players on their team right now. They have three extra forwards uh, and an extra D. You’re only allowed three extra players. Um, I kind of like the Hunger Games thing going on. Well, the very easy solution, and a lot of people won’t like hearing this, is Cowan going down to the Marlies. And I know the answer keeps going back to, well, Bub likes him. He didn’t last night. He He wasn’t a a major part of that third period. No, he wasn’t. I’d love to know what his ice time was. Well, we can look that up. And like again, it’s not a shot at the kid. I think he’s going to have a very long great career. Great career. But they have way too many guys. Even if you send him down for a month, you can bring him back December. Hell, a couple days even. Like it right now. Um I don’t know that his roster spot is so secure that you can’t send him down to the Marlies for a little bit. I wonder if Carlos block shot at the end of the game hurt a little bit more. He’s not in practice. It wasn’t great. Yeah. And he’s There’s the uh extra roster spot. I’m just guessing though. And by it wasn’t great, I mean it might have been his most glorious moment as a Leaf so far. Like holy, I was You saw in the group chat. I was livid last night. I was like, “Who is this person? I cannot believe this person was a Boston Bruin. Holy shit.” And then last night you’re like, “Oh, there he is.” 10:42 Eastern Cowan played last night. How much total? That what’s that? Oh, yeah. That’s total. So that’s low. Yeah. How much How much in the third, Jess? Do we know in the third? I can bring it up. Okay. Yeah. if you really want. Yeah, I’m sorry. Sub 11 minutes is just not a guy you have to have. Sammy Blade played eight minutes. Okay, well there you go. And I think after that penalty, you’re not playing him much. That’s not great either. That’s not great either. And and like Oh god, I’m really excited for Lton. I really am. I, you know, one thing they could do if they really wanted is reunite that line that did so well for them in the preseason, which was Lton uh centering Lorren and Cowan. They could do that. But, uh, if Carlo can’t go, they have a decision to make. I’m excited to see what Lton brings to this lineup, too. Uh, you mentioned it yesterday, a little bit of scoring punch. Um, little bit of attitude. Uh, he is beloved in the dressing room, was from the moment he got there. Like, just has everything. So, you know, they paid a first round pick and a prospect for this guy. We, you know, obviously he’s missed the first month with the foot injury. Um, it’s going to take I do want to temper people’s expectations. This guy’s missed 14 or 15 games. It’s going to take some time for him to get back up to snuff. So, you’re going to start to see people go, “Oh, light still sucks.” Blah blah. Yeah. I want Let’s talk in Let’s talk in four weeks. And and on the goalending, and I think this is key. Quick note, Steve asked, want to answer the question? Uh, in the third period, Ethan Cowan played 1 minute and 58 seconds. Oh, boy. He had three shifts there. That Yeah, that’s that’s enough of the third. So that’s enough of that. Three shifts in the third, 158. That’s a non. I mean, if he’s not there to generate offense, what are we doing? Yep. You know, like, yeah, he’s 20. He’s what the Marlies are for. He’s what the American Hockey League is for, developing that kind of player. What um Sorry. And you want to go to the Yeah, I do. I do. It’s okay though. It’s good to know what Eastston Cal played. I think it backs up Steve’s point. Now, I want to talk about goalending here cuz Stallers, um, I was really supp surprised by the second Ben Kindle goal. And not because it wasn’t good. I thought he was amazing all night. What a what a pick. Power play blast. 11th overall pick, WHL player last season. Like crazy. He’s 18. I can’t believe both his parents are professional soccer players. Wow. So, runs in the family. I think his mom played on the Canadian national team and then his dad was a Vancouver White Caps player. Wow. So, unreal. Unreal family. Um, so he he looked amazing last night, but the second goal that was this is the goal where it flew out of the air and he that that was the second Penguins goal. Oh, it was his first goal. Okay. So, there’s a couple things about that goal that I didn’t understand. First off, when they credited it to him, the only thing the Amazon broadcast only showed one angle. So, apparently the local Pittsburgh broadcast actually had a bunch of different angles according to our our chat. So, I didn’t get a great look at because the Leaf’s defenseman is blocking him. I didn’t get a great look at where he touched that puck because to me, if he touched it, and I’m not even sure he did, it would have been with the high stick. Now, beyond that, if even if it went off his glove and end, it’s still not a goal, right? If it’s off your glove and end, it it is not a goal. It’s off your body. It’s different. It can, I believe, go off your glove, but not if you go like like, yeah, shove it in on purpose. The part that I didn’t understand really, so whatever. He gets the goal. I didn’t understand how the because the the shot was the reason it bounced up is that Stallers had it in his left side glove. It popped out of his glove, went high and then went to the other side where Kendall pushed his blocker back and spun him around. And I’m curious as to how that’s not goalender interference. The Leafs, it might be, Adam, but you got to challenge it. And the Leafs are probably gunshy about that because well they made a bad challenge a few games ago, but that was not their video department that told them to do that. That was Bube angry and that was not their video. Really? Yeah. The video they it was pretty clear from the replays when they made that challenge which led to another penalty which led to another goal. I forget which game it was. It was embarrassing though. That was the coaching staff going no challenge it anyway. I’d love to know the power dynamic there because they obviously trust their video guys for offsides as they should like with their they’re robots like it’s it’s unreal their accuracy. Um but goalie interference I mean take a take a take your take a guess. Who the hell knows if anything like I agree with you. Did it did feel like goender interference did it not? Like that seemed textbook to me. I don’t know like that. No, but Steve, like like I I understand the confusion with the rule cuz I too am confused. But like if you were to write goalender interference down and you show somebody that picture, here’s the flaw in the rule. Um they made it so that you can challenge every goal for offside and every goal for goalie interference. And the system got abused badly and that’s why games took forever. Yeah. Then they implemented uh it’s a penalty if you challenge and you’re unsuccessful and I would like to see a world and this probably wouldn’t work but there are some challenges that are just so clearly not frivolous. You know what I mean? Yeah. So I would love a world where the Leafs can challenge that. The refs can go you’re wrong. It’s not goalie interference, but we understand no penalty. Oh, that’s putting too much on the refs. You can’t I know putting or like how many times have we seen a a goal that’s offside by a or not? Sorry, it’s onside by a millimeter. I would love some leeway to be like, “Yeah, we get it. We Yeah, that’s close enough that it’s valid.” And I would love to see that over to the refs. That’ll just make people hate them more. I know. I just that’s how you show bias. You don’t want to do that. I know. I just think it it sucks that like I it’s a valid question. I I feel like challenging that would it Yeah. I don’t know. Do you know I how the NHL did they did review the goal but not for that either. They weren’t looking at goalender interference when they were reviewing it. Like good luck. You know, we talked about like how easy baseball is once you know the rules. Like I don’t know. Hockeyy’s hockey will be an awesome sport when it’s done. I I don’t think it’s goalie for Tell me why. I’m interested. Um, if you look at the play, first of all, the ruling on the play is um, first it’s touched by a Leaf player with a high stick, then Ben Kindle touches it with a high stick, but then the puck is actually shoved in by the Leafs. So, the that’s what they reviewed and the ref comes out and they they say the play the the puck was ruled by with a high stick, but it was then touched by a Leaf player. Good goal. So, the the high stick by Kindle, it’s it’s uh washed out, you know, at least touched it. And you can see here the puck being shoved in there. It’s being forced in by the leaf leg. Whoever, it doesn’t really matter. Those are three leaf legs that are shoving the puck into the net. And for me on this goalie interference thing, so uh sorry from this angle, you’ll see here uh Kindle coming in touching that puck and then Stallers is just fighting around for it. But he’s in the blue paint. That’s the part for me, Jesse that doesn’t make Stallers can’t get to that puck. Yeah, but he’s he’s playing the puck. Like the puck is here. He’s allowed to play the puck. Yeah, but like he’s not in the blue paint here where he’s playing the puck. Stallers is out. But that to me makes it worse because he doesn’t have control of the puck when he goes to the blue paint. So he touches it and Stallers is out here. I believe this should be Kindle’s space with everybody here. You can’t tell him. You can’t tell Kindle he’s not allowed to enter this area here where he’s not even touching stallers. but he doesn’t have control of it and he is touching Stallers there. Look at where Stallers’s glove is. So, but that’s because Stallers is outside of his crease and he’s turning around. So, Kindle Kindle’s allowed to go for this puck that’s here. He’s allowed to go fetch a puck that’s in the crease, right? He’s he’s not bullying over the goalie to get there. He’s just turning around and playing this puck here and it shoved in by So, we need John Buchi to go to Mr. Jackson, the rules guy. So, um, we need his giant screen. Dave Jackson here from this angle, too. I I don’t know. I just feel like it’s worth a I I feel like it’s a legitimate challenge that no one should be punished for is all I’m saying. A clarification. But anyway, listen. Uh, the NFL has a replay assist thing they call. They just go to the replay and they’re like, “Oh, yeah, that was actually fix that call.” And they do that. So, the NHL should have that system as well. Did you notice that the shots were 5-4 and they would have been they would have been 6’4 after that. So th this just emphasizing Buru’s point. 206 left in the first. Emphasizing Buru’s point, they got their asses kicked so bad after it was two nothing. Pittsburgh played like the team down two goals. Yep. I agree with Buru that the first period wasn’t like that bad. No, they’re down 2 0, but like it’s not death. They didn’t generate much, but they didn’t allow much, which we saw plenty of games like that last year, and they won a lot of them. Um, you we’ve been looking for like a rallying something this season, and I thought in the moment it was going to be Stallers calling out his team and they respond with their most baby [ __ ] performance of the season uh against the Devils. they just got killed and you know they put together some good ones, they put together some bad ones. Ultimately, it didn’t seem like that game had any effect on them whatsoever. And then you’re down two nothing heading into the second. And Barub’s like, “All right, here they come.” And still nothing. Like, that’s got to be a terrifying moment for a coach, which he’s got to be thinking along the lines of what I’m what I was thinking, like, am I about to get fired? Like, is this team quitting on me? Because we go over this every day. We have a worldclass video staff. We sit through these meetings. I have a white board morning skate. We I like to think they respect me. We won the division last year. They will not do the things that I am telling them to do. I’m I’m at a loss. Yeah. And that doesn’t mean you’re a bad coach. But sometimes you just lose the room. Mhm. And they’ve been playing like a team that where the coach has lost the room entirely. If they will not, you could tell them the like a like a foolproof. I came up with a scientific method. You’ll win every single game if you just do exactly what I told you. If they won’t listen to you and do it, then you okay. Well, best of luck in your endeavors. And you know what’s going to happen? From here on out, the Leafs are going to go about 124 and one uh for the next uh little bit. They’re going to go on a nice run. They’re going to sit oh second in the Atlantic uh when we enter December and we head into January. and we’re going to forget these moments and then everything’s going to be fine. Mhm. That’s usually good. That is how every season with this darn team plays out. Yep. You know what? That’s frustrating. Please sign me up for it. That is frustrating. Please sign me up for that face. What if we signed you up for just a season that went well from the start? Yeah. You know what? Spilled milk. It’s true. It’s some I mean people can’t go back in time. It’s amazing. like especially this season like you you you can look at the games two very different ways. One, it’s early November and it doesn’t really matter all that much. Oh, it matters. But two, two points in the standings is a massive swing at this time of year. And a lot of Leaf fans who I know haven’t been paying that much attention to them over the past month, they’re like, “Wait, they’re third in the Atlantic right now.” They were eighth uh like yesterday, you know, or no, in the Atlantic. They’re I think they were seventh yesterday when we recorded. Yeah. Like they were in a three-way tie for last with the Sabres and Panthers. Try to figure that out at all. What do you take from that information? A team that you expect to be there and the Panthers and also you’re by tiebreakers below the both of them and now they’re 75 and one or two or whatever it is. I don’t have to guess cuz you can uh just look this up. So on November 2nd, the Toronto May police were seventh in the Atlantic. When we sat there on September 2nd and looked at the standings. Now we go to September or no I keep saying September. November 3rd they are third in the Atlantic. Let me spin this. They’re three points out of first. That’s Oh my god. By the way, they are Montreal’s first. They are I believe they’re four points out of first in the NHL if I’m not mistaken. I go to the league one. What? Who’s top of the league? No way. Yeah, they’re four points out of four points out of first. 12th in the league, though. Tied for ninth. Adam Wilds, Anaheim Ducks. That’s right. Yeah, there’s a lot of swings with one win here. Well, of course. Like that’s why it’s so every game matters. That’s why people were posting like, “Oh, the Leafs are seventh in the division.” Like last night, I’m like, “Guys, come on. You’re being insincere.” Like I I No, they’re being funny, which is sometimes the same. Yeah, I suppose. And listen, I’m guilty of it too, but I’m like, okay. Like, I’m not 23rd in the league there behind the Bruins. Start of business day on Monday. They moved up 11 spots. Start a business day today. Uh, they’re up there in 12th. So, yeah. When anybody tells you 63 and one two game winning streak, uh, when anyone tells you the first month doesn’t matter, show them that. Yeah. Like, it’s so much easier to get out to a hot start and then play pretty good hockey than it is to play like [ __ ] and then play all-star hockey after that. Yeah, we’ve been talking about the Vegas Golden Knights being a wagon to start the year. Exact same amount of points as the Leafs. Two less games to be fair, but uh 15 points. Leafs got 15 points. Holy high event, too. Like you look at they’re tied with Dallas who has 33 goals for 36 against. Leafs are 47 and 47. Holy [ __ ] They’ve got to be one of the worst teams in the league. Goals against. Oh yeah, they are. Oh my god. By the way, funnily enough, William Knander uh leads the uh yeah, Toronto is top 10 worst or bottom 10, I guess, is William Knander now leads the league in um uh coolness. In coolness, but also in points per game for minimum seven games, according to James Myrtle. Like, hilarious. Hilarious. It’s just hilarious stuff. So, if you haven’t been paying attention, uh you’ve missed a lot so far. Yeah. Yeah. It’s a it’s a it’s been a wild wild.

Steve Dangle, Adam Wylde and Jesse Blake take a look at the Toronto Maple Leaf recent lineup changes and why they’ve been able to stay red hot and climb back up the standings.

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