Maple Leafs, Oilers and Canadiens need to find answers

Maple Leafs, Oilers and Canadiens need to find answers

We’re back with Cameron Gonz, a Canadian team with mounting embarrassing losses. It’s a statement that you can apply to three teams, the Maple Leafs, the Canadians, and the Oilers. Let’s talk about all three, beginning with Toronto. How high is your level of concern when it comes to the Maple Leafs right now? It’s actually gone down over the last couple games. It’s still relatively high compared to where you would have expected it to be at this point in the season, but it has gone down. I think the addition of Joseph Wall has done so much for that group. Yes, he stabilized obviously the goalending situation and how well he’s played, but it seems like having him back there has helped in other facets. They’re breaking the puck out all of a sudden much better. They talked about it last night in their game how they’re able to get through the neutral zone much more efficiently than they have in the past. Now, Joseph Wall is not a part of those breakouts. He’s not giving five foot support for the centerman and for the defenseman, but yet having him in there seems to have almost like a checklist. Well, I’m getting our good goalending check now. Let’s move on to breakouts. Let’s get rid of that. let’s fix the next problem. And the other thing that that’s happened in these last couple games is a bit of a bit of an emergence of a few players that given the injuries might not have seen. For instance, that third deep pairing of Troy Ster and Dakota Mermis, that’s proven. They’ve got very good depth. Now, once everyone comes back healthy, maybe one of them’s in the lineup, but if not, they’re out. Now, you don’t really need to search for that because those two how they played. They’ve also got Eastston Cowan playing a top six role, doing a wonderful job last couple games. when you see that confidence growing in him, all of a sudden he’s holding on to the puck a bit more. He’s a bit less likely to delegate in the offensive zone, just giving it to one of the more veteran players. And then the other player that’s really done something for them was Scott L. Again, it’s one game, but having him in the lineup just solidified that penalty kill, gave a much better look to the fourth line, and seem to galvanize the group a bit on the bench. And my level concern, though it’s still higher than I would have wanted for this time of year for the Leafs, it’s gone down over the last few games. How about that? Some positivity. And so, so maybe the Maple Leafs are trending in the right direction. It’d be very tough to make that same argument for the Montreal Canadians who it felt just like yesterday they were in first in the conference. Five straight losses. They now find themselves in 13th. Is this a market correction or just a young team showing their inexperience? I’m going to say young team. Again, I’m going to take a bit of a more positive look at it. They’re a team that plays with tons of passion, tons of care. And when you’re a team in a bit of a down spin, that’s what you need to get out of it. You need that effort level. They’ve got it. They’ve got it in spades. Problem is there’s a bit too much youthful exuberance. Um they’re the youngest team in the league. So when something like this happens, they can’t just peel back to well back when this happened to me three years ago for Well, they can’t do that because they haven’t experienced it. They’re going through all this for the first time. And it seems like a lot of them are trying to win games or get back in games all in one shift or all in one period. Uh the best way it’s ever been described to me was if you’re playing really bad, if the water on a faucet is really cold, water’s coming out cold. You turn that water to hot, it’s not going to go to hot immediately. It’s going to take a bit of time. I don’t care who your plumber is, it’s going to take some time to get there. So for the Canadians, they need to figure that it’s going to take some time to get back to where they were at. and they need to show the determination and will to stick with their defensive efforts until it goes the way they want to go. That faucet analogy, that’s that’s a new one. Uh the Edmonton Orio, their fans are maybe running a little hot right now with the way that they’re playing. Um at some point, we can’t say it’s just the regular season or it’s just the start of the regular season. How do they snap out of this recent trend? To me, it’s they need purpose and meaning in their game. And no better way than to play the team that they’ve lost to the last two Stanley Cup finals than Florida. They got a match up Saturday night against Florida. And that could be the game that kickstarts them, right? Because again, you don’t want to keep saying it over and over, it’s just the regular season, you know, it’s just the start of the season because at some point it’s going to be too late. They need to start doing things soon. And by soon, I would think now. It’s the last game of a seven-game road trip. They played 16 of their 24 games after tomorrow night on the road. That’s a lot for the start of a season, which means they’ve got a lot built up home games for the end of the year. So, if they can keep it close, continue to maybe get some wins tonight and moving forward. Then at the end of the year, they can make their hay at home. They can figure out ways to get their game where it needs to be come playoff time like they did last year where they had a bit of a, as you say, market correction to playing the game they want to play. But it needs to start now. And the conversation in net, right, is one that we’re having on a daily basis when it comes to the Oilers. Do they need to go out and and swing for the fences and get a top tier goalender or do they simply just make a change for the sake of making a change in that? I think it’s make a change for the sake of making a change. Like you can make those swings. If you can get a UC Sorrow and you can get someone who’s an upper echelon goalender, of course you do it. But at this point, it just seems like they need something new. Even if it’s a lateral move, someone who might not be that much better in terms of statistically or in terms of how he plays on a night basis as Steuart Skinner, it’s still going to be someone different back there. So when you look back and if if a weak goal is let in, it’s not it’s the same story again. It’s not going to be the same thing over and over. It’s also a new face for the fan base to look at and see. It’s just a change for the sake of needing a change because it’s just happened too many times. There’s too much scar tissue built up. Listen, Calvin Pickard played excellent last night and he’s clearly a very big part of that group. So, I don’t think you can move on from him. So, I think the idea is you’re going to have to try to find a way to get someone new in there to replace Skinner. It’s very hard at this time of year because everyone thinks that they’re the team to make it, but it has to happen sooner rather than later. All right. Well, as you point out, up next, it’s a big date against the Florida Panthers. Meanwhile, it’s the Leafs and Canadians in Montreal on Saturday.

How high is the level of concern around the Maple Leafs right now? After five straight losses, are the Canadiens just a young team showing some of their inexperience? How can the Oilers snap out of their rut before it’s too late? TSN Hockey analyst Cameron Gaunce joins Domino’s That’s Hockey to weigh in.