Toronto Maple Leafs put up another disastrous performance vs. Canadiens | Quarter-season grades

Toronto Maple Leafs put up another disastrous performance vs. Canadiens | Quarter-season grades

We’re at the quarterway mark of the season and things seem to be getting worse, not better. How many more embarrassing losses until the Leafs make a drastic move? You’re listening to the Locked On Leafs podcast, part of the Locked On podcast network. It’s your team every day. [Music] Your Locked On Maple Leafs, your daily podcast on the Toronto Maple Leafs, part of the Locked On podcast network, your team every day. [Music] Hello and welcome into the Lockdown Leafs podcast, a daily Maple Leaf Center podcast hosted by myself, Mike Dphano, and my co-host Dave Morudi. Thank for making us a daily listen for you guys and thank you for making the Locked On Network the number one sports podcast network in North America. Today’s episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Download the FanDuel app now by visiting banduel.com and win $300 in bonus bets if your first $5 bet wins. What’s happening, Dave? What’s going on? Well, this team still stinks. Yeah. What I missed? What did I miss, Dave? What did I miss? Uh, you missed you missed a victory. You You did miss a win. A as rare as it as it is. One win. I missed one win. You missed um a loss. A couple a couple losses. Couple overtime one where the Leafs got Adam Fantied. Yeah, that was fun. Yeah. Well, the local home hometown star, of course, you you expect it. It’s either hometown kids or former Maple Leafs. Like that’s that’s who always comes to play against Toronto and they show up. He was so jacked up for that, too. It made me sick. You know what though? He’s on fire now. He’s got like nine goals last nine games or something like that. So, don’t think he was worthy of being a top three pick in the NHL. Yeah, maybe. Maybe. Um, but the the that loss was one thing. the loss against the Habs over the weekend though, Dave, that was a whole other thing. And and I I was on my flight during the game, so I couldn’t watch the video, but I was keeping track of the game on Twitter. And the meltdown that at least Twitter was having in the second period when, you know, goals were coming in left, right, and center, Wool gets pulled. There’s no push back. It based on what I saw online, I was expecting uh the worst with uh when I went back to watch the game. And I mean it people were pretty bang on like that was such a pathetic pissport performance again by the Maple Leafs. They lose 52 to the Montreal Canadians who had lost what seven in a row going into that game. Like they lost a bunch of games in a I think it was seven in a row. They allowed eight goals in the game before. Dude, they allowed eight goals in the game before and they had allowed at least three goals in nine of the last 10 games. and Toronto couldn’t get more than two on uh on them. Couldn’t get more than two past Jacob Dobish and the Montreal Canadians. Apparently, the Montreal Canadians are an outstanding hockey team who just simply cannot be beat unless they’re every other team who apparently knows how to score on this club. I I don’t know, Dave. Like, I you tell me, man. Like, what what the hell happened in that game? That’s what that’s what’s getting me so annoyed is seeing a team that either has barely beat the Leafs or has really taken it to the Leafs then get absolutely dummy themselves not long after playing the Leafs. Like Columbus was one of those where yeah they won against Toronto both know in both the times really hadn’t done much since. Um and and that that game against Montreal, what really annoyed me is that is a national stage. That is your biggest rival, right? You have a half decent first period where two goals goes against you and it’s like the house is falling apart. M second period comes out and like if you ever need to show anybody what’s the true definition of a mercy pole taking out Joseph Wool when you’re being outshot at the time 16 to1 in one period. Yeah. And then the what what really got my blood boiling and like I’m trying not to let this team get my blood boiling but it’s just like oh yeah by the way we’re going to make it somewhat interesting by starting to play in the third period and get somewhat close but then realize Montreal’s like okay no like we’re just not going to let this happen and they finish things off. But it’s truly clear that there are players on this team. I go back to the Austin Matthews comment against Florida in the playoffs when he called them P when he said passengers. We have passengers on this team. Yeah. That I think applies so much now than ever before because there’s only a group of players right now that are willing to put in the effort. When Cowan is giving the most consistent effort, when a 35year-old John Tvaris who everybody thought was going to be on his worst years is having one of the best years of his career. Yep. Now is your best player. Yeah. Oel. Yeah. Dakota Murmuries is the guy to show push back and stick up for his teammates. Dakota Murmuries who was in the American League not too long ago and he’s the one that’s sticking up for everybody. There’s something man there’s a stench right now in that Leaf’s locker room and I we’re getting to a point here. We’re going to we’re going to get to our quartermark report card cuz we are a quarter way through the season now. Like we’re we’re through 22 games. Like we’re technically a little bit past a quarterway mark of the season to this point. And you know they always say that American Thanksgiving is that barometer. We’re three days away from that barometer. Dave. So I think we’re pretty good enough to take a one game really before that. Exactly. So it’s it’s mathematically pos imp possible for them to be over 500 by American Thanksgiving which is insane when you think about it. When you think about the expectations that are placed upon this team again we’ll get to the report card and the full kind of outlook in just a moment. I want to fix fixate on this game against Montreal specifically. But I mean that second period and but it just continues to be one of those emerging trends this year. And again, we’re 22 games into this thing. Like it’s getting to a point where it’s no longer a trend. Like this is this is habits. Like they just they just fall apart in the second period. Um they’re giving up more goals in the second period per 60 minutes than any other team in the NHL. Like they’ve given up 32 goals in the second period through 22 games. They’re being outscored 32 to 21 in 32 games or in 22 games here. So, I mean the the team just I don’t know what it is when I mean I could I have a couple guesses being old and slow is one of them. Um but when they got that long change man this team just simply cannot get it going. Uh it doesn’t matter if it’s on home ice, on the road, doesn’t matter where they are, man. It’s it’s been a terrible, terrible period. And even Burb, you know, spoke about it after the game and was like, “Yeah, when we get down, just seems like the team quits.” And and I don’t understand how he could say that. And then continue to roll out the exact same lineups game after game after game. Like if this is a pattern and he says that this has happened before, how have we not seen a little bit more of a hammer come down from Burub? Like that’s what I don’t understand. Um and the the the performance they put on against Montreal. I mean that that for sure again there’s three days now in between games. So like cooler heads might prevail, but you would think that there would have to be some sort of like minute scaling for somebody something coming into the next game cuz that that was just brutal what we saw over the weekend. Yeah, it it’s it’s getting it gets to the point where you’re just like you’ve shuffled the lines. And we talked about this. I talked about it with actually with with James um about players who are not playing to the caliber that they’re expected to and nothing’s really being done. They’ve been elevated. I look like a ma like a Max Doi. like you they the Leafs decided Jacob Quillin was not going to play against Montreal. Jacob Quillin has looked promising because he’s been putting in an effort. He’s showing speed. He’s showing he can keep up and he gets sat for Sammy Blaze who in a way I can guarantee that had a little bit also to do with the fact he had 15 people in attendance for that game. Yeah. Okay, fine. But don’t take him out and then leave some of these other players who are just not giving you anything right now. And like like the inconsistency in effort, that’s something a coach can say, if you’re not going to give us the effort, you’re going to sit. And yeah, we haven’t seen that enough. No, we haven’t seen it nearly enough. And and the inj I guess with all the injuries, it’s so hard to do that. They’re already kind of at the bottom of the barrel where I I suppose you’re looking around and you’re like, well, you know, like what’s what’s a better option? I suppose a struggling Max Doy or Jacob Quillin, a struggling Max Dolomi or, you know, insert random guy Michael Pazetta. Did we call him up potentially, you know, and and take out DOI for like probably a struggling DOI is still a better option to win the game. But sometimes you got to just send messages and and you know, maybe you fire a fire off, you know, that one bullet and you does it cost you a game cuz your best lineup’s not out there? Maybe. But maybe it turns the team around, right? Maybe it lights a spark, lights a fire up there at these guys butts and they get going. Um, but that that was uh that was pretty pretty up there with one of the more brutal losses. Again, like Montreal was playing horribly going into that game. like they had lost seven straight. They were allowing I think like upwards of of over four goals per game in those seven games. Um and Toronto couldn’t muster up anything. Nothing. You look at like the heat map for how many for like how tight they were able to get in and and and where they were getting their chances from like they got nothing in front of the in front of the net. Nothing whatsoever. Um, a lot of perimeter stuff, a lot of stuff coming from like, you know, the faceoff dot and all that, but man, just not a very very good effort all around. I think uh how many 1.66 expected goals, 29% expected goals at uh for the Maple Leafs in that game. 29% expected goal share, 70.48% for the Montreal Canadians. They had five high danger chances the entire game. Eight nothing they were out chanced uh high danger chances in the second period alone. Eight nothing. 17 to4 were the scoring chances in the second period uh against the Toronto Maple Leafs. So yeah, just man it’s it’s brutal. And there’s three days off to try and regroup, reset. And then they got the Columbus Blue Jackets who they played recently. They they should know, you know, what didn’t go well and how to correct those mistakes. But we’ll see. We’ll see if they can get it done. It’s so sad, too, that when you look at this game that the best defenseman for this team was Troy Ster. Guy was a waiver claim for goodness sake. Been here for a week. A week. you know, Benis like he’s one guy too like like he has done nothing for me this year, right? And there’s that’s like a perfect example where it’s why is he still on the ice? Like why isn’t he taking a a night in the press box like at this point like give him the Justin Hall treatment where it’s like take a couple nights up top and they did that to him last year. That’s the thing. They’ve done this with their players before. Yeah. Well, I don’t really like I guess they feel they don’t have the depth on the blue line for someone to come up and and help. And I guess they don’t. They got to a point where they had to claim someone off waiverss and bring in Troy Stetcher. But maybe make a trade. Like there’s got to be someone out there that could help you. You know what I mean? Like maybe you can bring someone up. Like what about William Banov potentially could come up and and help out a little bit, right? Like there’s got to be this weekend. Like I know some guys who work for the Marers are like why isn’t this guy getting an opportunity? Like couldn’t you really do worse at this point? Is he a lefty or a righty? Uh I believe he’s a lefty. That’s what I’m about to double check right now. No, he’s a right shot. So he’s a right shot, which is actually like that’s the other thing. then you would have a more balanced lineup and you can have guys like again I understand you’re you’re trying to get your veterans rely on your veterans and you don’t want to throw William Villinov into a situation that maybe is going to be tough for him but Troy Strick came in at one point played 13 minutes I think in all situations he played over 22 minutes he was the second most in ice time and Riley and Lars at Oel are getting power play time like we’re like at at the at this point and I know Jake McCabe got hurt and that played a part of it too. Yeah. Um but yeah, like I’m sorry, go younger. Go with guys who can skate. Guys are a little more mobile because Weber like I don’t know, maybe Cab Weber, bring him up, see if he can do anything for you. He’s a left shot. Could do something more than Simone Benois. I don’t know. Yeah. Like if if Simo and Beno was gone tomorrow, would anybody bash bat an eye? Would anybody lose their mind? I don’t think so. Probably not. But the same him and Myers have both been the most disappointing defenseman. That’s their depth, man. Like that’s the problem. That’s their depth. Like who else is supposed to, you know, who who can come in behind them, right? It’s not like they have someone in the miners who’s knocking on the door to like take take on those roles. You know what I mean? That’s kind of the problem. They haven’t had a lot of draft picks to get those guys over the last five, six years who should be 22, 23, you know, and have been second, third round picks. They’ve been trading those guys away. They should have a first round pick from a couple years ago, you know, that they were able to invest and allow them to, you know, develop into at least a third pair defenseman by now. You know, maybe they could have kept Rasmus Sandine around who is turning into a pretty good top four defenseman for uh for um the the Washington Capitals. So, anyways, we went way off topic there. Uh why don’t we take a break? Let’s come back. Let’s reset and let’s get to the quartermark report cards here, Dave, because we’ve kind of been doing that a little bit, but let’s get into the nitty-gritty. Hand this team a grade. talk about the positives, the very few that there have been, and the lots of negatives. Uh, and we’ll give this team an overall grade through the first quarter mark of the season. So, that’s all coming up next. The Locked On Leaves podcast, part of the Locked On podcast network. It’s your team every day. Hockey season is officially here. 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Make sure you subscribe and get your daily dose of Maple Leafs content directly to your phone, computer, wherever you consume your daily podcasts. All right, Dave. Uh, we’ve made it through 22 games so far on the season. It’s the quarter mark of the way through. It’s Monday. Feels like a a report card is appropriate at this point for the Maple Leafs. So, we can go over some positives, the long list of negatives that uh, you know, have accompanied this season to this point, and then we’ll come up with a grade toward the end of it. Um, but you know, pretty much it it we all know that it’s going to be a terrible grade. I mean, we’re 22 games into the season and they’re 9, 10, and three and have the second worst record in the division. I mean, this is a a division that they won a season ago and now they have the second worst record. And actually, no, they have the worst record cuz Buffalo won today. Just realized this. They are at the bottom of the Eastern Conference. They’re at the bottom of the Eastern Conference. They have They’re literally last place in the Eastern Conference as of the recording of this podcast. Sitting alone, too, with just 21 points and a 477 uh win percentage. Like, that’s just like flat out not good enough. Not even close. Like it in a lot of ways some people say it reminds me of the 2019 St. Louis Blues and I’m like yeah but the problem is the guy who put the Blues into overdrive is I mean the guy who’s there now I mean who are they going to fire to bring him in? Exactly. Like they’re also not this also not forget Jordan Bennington went on one of the most insane runs a goalie has ever gone on to lead his team from the basement to a Stanley Cup. And I don’t think a we’ve seen Joseph Wall come in play better than what they’ve gone on any goalie this year and it’s still not be enough because the team in front of him refuses to provide any support for him. Well, that’s what it is. I mean, even if you look at that Blues team, I mean, they had Alex Petrangelo, they had Colton Pereco, right? Like Justin Faulk, I believe. Was he on that team at that point when they won? Was he there? Maybe not. Maybe not Faulk. But like they had a pretty darn good blue line. Like J Bster was on that one. Jay Bowster was still around for sure. So they had a good blue line and they defended well. And they had, you know, Ryan O’Reilly in his prime. They had a Vladimir like I don’t know they had a better their team performed I guess but like just that blue line in general to me is is what’s totally different here and that’s one of the one of the big kind of fallbacks um you know for when you look at the team and and why they’ve had such little success this year in comparison to last year and why it’s so headscratching is they’re the exact same blue line as they did last year when they won a round in the playoffs when they won the division and made it to seven games against the eventual Stanley Cup champions in round two. How that same blue line has fallen apart so quickly. And I get it, Chris Tan has been out for a majority of of the season and he is kind of the best best they got. Um, but no one else has even been close to what they can be either outside of Oel, I guess. Like you’ve seen a nice offensive resurgence from Morgan Riley, but defensively he’s been an absolute mess. Brandon Carlos been even worse. Arguably one of the worst defenseman that they’ve had. We already talked about uh your boy Simone Benois. You think he’s benchable and should be up in the press box. I mean Jake McCabe’s been okay, right? Like he’s been fine. He ever since Tana went down, he has not looked the same. But he’s also playing with Simone Benois who can’t who can’t can’t The problem is you’re asking Simone Benois to play in a supporting role with Jake McCabe and he’s not able to do that and Jake McCay’s taken on so much more responsibility that it’s like I can’t do the job of two guys. No. No. So yeah, like that that’s that’s the the weirdest thing is how much of a step back this blue line has taken this year. And that that to me is one of the one of the negatives, I guess, is just like bad defense. They’re giving up 3.73 goals against per game. They’re giving up 31 shots a game. They have 17.1 giveaways per 60. Like that’s 30th in the league in giveaways. That’s last or second last in goals against uh I think maybe last in goals per game. Um and bottom five in shots allowed per game and they’re giving up a ton of chances uh overall. So defensively they’ve been horrendous and and that is again one of the weirdest falls that we’ve seen from a from a team from from year to year is the same group but it’s not even not even close to the similar results and and like you’ve gotten so much better production out of John Tvar than you’ve ever gotten from him. Matthew nice offensively. I I just was speaking on to Gil Martin on a lock on NHL and he’s like like this team is putting up offense like it’s like yeah that has not been their problem. No. No. I mean they they’ve they’re scoring at an elite rate. They have the second they averaging the second most goals at five on five. 3.05 goals per game at five on five. Um they have the second highest shooting percentage at five on five. 11.4% 4% shooting percentage as a team. We’ve got with 27 points. NY is up over they have three players averaging more than a point per game right now. Like they’re doing fine, right? They’re doing completely fine offensively. They can’t get a save and they can’t stop turning the puck over. And when they turn the puck over, they’re not getting back defending. And we go back to the saves. An 879 save percentage. Like all of that screams trouble and that that’s ultimately the crux of I think where the the Maple Leaf season has really really gone bad is the turnovers, the lack of uh the lack of defending and can’t get a save. Like they’re scoring enough, but they’re not keeping the puck out of the net enough. And that’s really the the big difference between last year and this year. Yeah. And like there are players who at certain points in the game like like Dakota Joshua bring him up late against the Habs game is over then he finally decides to take a run at someone. Where was that for the 60 minutes? Yeah. Yeah. Like like Brad Shiv called he and you I don’t think you Yeah. You weren’t here about his comments. He used vanilla. you were the one that brought these guys in. Yeah. Like it it shouldn’t be saying it to the media that these guys have been playing V, you know, their play has been vanilla. It’s going to the guys who are playing right now and saying, “What is this? This is not what you were brought in to do.” Yeah. No, I know. It’s It’s It’s been pathetic. Like that’s that’s the other perplexing thing is all the new guys they brought in that was supposed to help with the overall team defense and and and playing tougher and heavier and and harder to play against both in the offensive zone and in the defensive zone on the forche on the back check. They have not contributed to any of that like any of it. They’re they have not played hard in the defensive end or you know forcheed and and kept things alive or made things difficult for the opposition in the offensive end either whether it’s you know with traffic or a hard for check nothing right they haven’t kept you know doubling up on chances no not many big rebounds that they’re able to get they’re not getting traffic to the net outside of John Tvaris like who’s scoring around the net. nobody on this team. And that’s what Nick Wah and that’s what uh Dakota Joshua like that’s what these guys were supposed to do and they just have not even come close. Um it’s it’s something that has to change if this team wants to get back on on track and and salvage the season. Can it? Yeah, it could. Of course it can. There’s still there’s still time to salvage the season, but uh it’s time is evaporating quick. I can tell you that. What else would you consider to be uh you know part of the negative category when you’re sitting here with the report cards, right? The pros and cons of the season. What’s what’s in the cons list that we haven’t discussed yet? Uh you know, as good as the offense has been from William Dander, there’s been a lot of invisible moments during this stretch, too. Yep. Like I think Craig Barub is trying very hard not to amplify with all this, you know, the way Neander is playing and the things that have frustrated him, but at some point you like again I get it. He’s bringing it offensively and you can’t discount that. like that is super important for, you know, the fact that you don’t have Austin Matthews right now. You need someone that’s going to be able to put up offense, but like he gets he he shows frustration. He shows in that third period against Montreal, he’s going to give a big push. Where was that two periods ago? Where was that in the second period? And that’s always been the issue with Willie is like complacency sets in, inconsistency set in. And the last couple years, I think he’s been a lot better at that where those like the stretches of of really good play were a lot longer than they had been in the years prior earlier in his career. But this season, it’s like, man, the guy puts together as opposed to like multiple games in a row of quality play. It’s like, yeah, you might get a couple shifts of quality play and then it’s invisible and then it gives you another shift and then it’s invisible again. And then he goes invisible for two games. He doesn’t register a single shot on goal. Like how that happens, I I don’t understand. Um, so it’s it’s a bunch of things that really you look at how this team is built, how they’re expected to perform, and how they’re actually performing. So many head scratchers. Um, the results just don’t really make sense for how this team is built, how they want to play. They’re not executing. I think that’s the problem. They’re not executing. And is that a identity problem that this team has? Like they tried to build an identity by bringing in these new players, right? Out goes Mitch Mner. We got to build depth. So we’re going to have depth with guys like Nicolola Wa, guys like Dakota Joshua, right? We’re we’re going to kind of bring in Matias Michelli. We’re going to ask more of Matthew Knives. going to ask more of, you know, all these players and then they just for whatever reason can’t actually execute and they’re not doing what they’re supposed to do and they’ve all been major letdowns. Like that’s another contributing factor to why this has been a failed season to this point. Yeah, there’s been way too much of that going on right now. Yeah, it’s insane. Special teams. That’s another failure. Special teams very much not been special. No. Uh 25th, which actually surprised me. The power plays 15.5% and somehow it’s actually 25th in the NHL. I thought it’d be closer to the bottom than that. just shows how the power plays around the league are uh are are ar are ar are ar are ar are ar are ar are ar are ar are ar are ar are ar are ar are ar are ar are ar are ar are ar are ar are ar are ar are ar are ar are ar are ar are ar are ar are ar are ar are ar are ar are performing very well right now which is interesting and maybe worth looking into from a leaguewide perspective as to you know maybe a lot of power plays are getting a little vanilla or penalty kills are getting so smart I’m not quite sure what it is but it seems like power play success rates are are dropping this season um but the Maple Leafs 15 and a half% power play I this is a team over the last like five years has averaged like a 25% power play, right? And I get it. Mitch Martin is gone. Big big part of it. Arguably, he was the quarterback of it. Um, but I I still would expected Willie and Nvaris and Matthews to produce regardless and they just have not. Um, the penalty kills ranked 18th. So, it’s it’s on the wrong side of the, you know, it’s on the bottom half of the league, right? So, special teams have been brutal. Expect a goals percentage, Dave. In all situations, they rank 27th in the NHL in expected goal percentage, 47.4%. And that’s indicative of how this team’s playing and the results that they’re getting, right? That’s very indicative of where they are in the rankings in the stats at the end of the season, right? or or uh and when you look at the league standings, where are they sitting? 28th. They’re 28th in league standings right now. So, that makes sense, right? That’s that’s the production. That’s the output that they’re giving. They’re only winning 47% of their minutes. So, what happens? You end up in 28th place in the league. That’s where they at least find themselves. Brutal. Yeah, it’s it has not been good. And I can understand the frustration from people like I a lot of people as soon as they I get every time what the heck is going on with this team? Take take a pick. Take a pick. It’s not one thing. Yeah. And and look at the schedule. How easy has this schedule been? Whether it’s it’s the amount that that’s the part that really bothers me is you’ve you’ve had now you’re going to have this long road. Now, obviously, they have a few days probably to go home and kind of try to turn things uh you know, get it some rest, but you’re gonna have a a a long road trip coming up. And they’ve had the worst record on home in the league. They’re one and six on the road this season. One and six on the road. So, so they’ve had twice as many home games as road games to this point in the year. twice as many, more than that, 15 games at home, only seven games on the road. And a majority of these games that they’ve played early this season have been against non-playoff teams as well. And they still have a sub 500 record. So, not only is this favorable schedule because you’re at home, but also the opponents has been pretty easy. Like their strength to schedule has been pretty easy. Yeah. and they’re still sub 500. So, it’s only going to get harder uh from here, you know, when when you look at having to go out on the road now and having to play in other people’s building, not having last change. Um and and the injuries mounting, piling up, continuing to pile up. Oh, it is not a it’s not a good time to be a Leaf fan. Not a good time to be a Leaf fan right now, Dave. All right, let’s take one more break. We’ll come back. Let’s try and talk about a couple positives that we’ve seen from the Maple Leafs this season. There’s very few, but I think we can muster up a couple, try and get out of the funk that we’ve just put ourselves in, and then we’ll give this team an overall grade. So, let’s get to that next. The Locked On Lease Podcast, part of the Locked On podcast network. It’s your team every day. Today’s episode’s brought to you by FanDuel. The NHL is back. There’s no better place to get in on the action than with FanDuel, the official sports betting partner of the Locked on Network. Even if you miss the start of the game or you want to ride the hot hand, FanDuel has live bets on everything from who’s going to score the next goal to third period comebacks. Plus, you can even combine your live bets into a same game parlay for a shot at a bigger payout. It keeps every game exciting, especially when your team’s making that late push. Right now, FanDuel is giving new customers $300 in bonus bets when your first $5 bet wins. So head to fanuel.com to sign up and play your game with FanDuel, the official sports betting partner of the Lockdown Network. The Lockdown Lee’s podcast continues. Mike Dphano, Dave Morasudi, the Maple East. 22 games into the season. We’re at the official quarter mark of the year for Toronto. The team is sub 500 with a record of 910 and three in those games. They are currently sitting 28th in the NHL. They are last place in the Eastern Conference. Um, but Dave, we promised we would we would say a couple nice things about what we’ve seen, a couple of positives about this Maple Leaf season so far. Here’s an easy one. John Tvaris. John Tvaris at least is bringing it seemingly night in night out on both ends of the ice to the best of his ability. He is certainly a guy who’s fighting for a spot on team Canada’s Olympic hockey team for sure. 12 goals, 27 points in 22 games. And he’s been the only consistent producer. I would say him and N to an extent. Only consistent producers on both ends of the ice for the Maple Leafs. Well, that’s it, right? Is it’s the consistency. You know what you’re getting out of John Tafaris each and every night. And the guy is playing so much. Yeah. He’s one of the few that Craig Rubé trusts to play right now. And my only concern is how long can he continue this. Yeah. Well, Matthews with him out, he’s he’s playing over 22 minutes a night, which is probably way too much. And and and you’re right to be like, well, you know, is that going to is he gonna get tired? Essentially, I think this three game three days off is nice because it there’s a stretch there was like game game day off day, game day, off day, game day, off day. There was no like break. So, this three-day stretch, I’m sure for Tvaris specifically, uh hopefully it gives him a, you know, chance to catch his breath and recharge. Um because they they’re going to need that. Uh and and maybe the Olympic break for him if he doesn’t make the team wouldn’t be the worst thing for the Leafs. I still would love for him to be there for himself. Um but if he doesn’t, that’s probably a positive for the Leafs for him to get a week week two weeks to to rest and recover. Yeah, I mean that that’s the big one. I’m just I get worried about the potential for burnout with him because that’s just a lot to ask him to play right now. Yeah. Once Matthews comes back, those numbers will scale back to, you know, 18ish minutes a night. But when Matthews is coming back, it’s a good question. Good question. He was on the ice this weekend, though. He was on the ice taking on the ice. It’s just Yeah, we’re not seeing uh Yeah, he’ll be back by this time. Yeah, I maybe could be back by Wednesday. Could could be back for the game in Columbus. We’ll see. We will see. Um I think Matthew Ny has taken another step in his game in his third year of pro hockey which he wanted to see. So I think that NY is definitely a positive right. He didn’t he hasn’t regressed or stayed stagnant which often can happen for some players. He has taken another step and elevated um with that contract and he’s he’s earning his money and he’s being a leader uh on the ice for the team. So, I would say Matthew Ny has been a positive for the Leafs as well. His his uh absence has been has been big and like they’ve tried so hard to move him around to different areas of the lineup just because of the struggles that have happened lately. And yeah, I mean he he continues again anytime people are wonder like what’s this big thing about Matthew Ny that all these fans are you know very high on him he just continues to show each and every game that there’s a lot to his play that is you know you really appreciate like you you’ve talked about how how often and I was talking with James after our show like try going to get a Matthew N rookie card or anything like that. More people want that card over a William Knander card. Yep. Yep. It’s true. It’s not a It’s not rocket science what Lease fans want. They want a guy that’s going to be, you know, getting into the dirty areas, show some consistency in the way that they’re going to play each and every game. Again, it’s not lease fans. Sometimes we it feels like they ask for a lot. A really ain’t asking for much. Yeah, it really is. At this point, it really isn’t. But it’s just only certain guys have really, you know, I heard one person say they don’t have like that dog eyes is probably the closest maybe to having that mentality. Yeah, I’d agree with you. I would definitely agree with you. Um, outside of that, anything else that we can any other positives here for the Maple Leafs? I thought, you know, Joseph Wool injected a little bit of confidence with the team, but that kind of was a little short-lived. I’m not blaming him for what happened on Saturday, but um, it didn’t give the team the sustained jolt, I guess. No. Ethan Cowan I think has also been like he’s he the only thing is if he starts burying some of the chances that he’s had I think I think he’s one of those players where he’s like the effort’s there he’s doing the right things it’s not all coming together for him well at least he’s got a motor right at least he’s got a motor which is what you want to see hard work right I think Nicki Bobby top six Nikki Bobby emerging has been a positive story. We thought maybe this guy was never going to be able to play on this team again. We would have to get waiverss and gone. I thought waiverss and gone. Top six Robbie Nikki Bobby has been like it’s been a a bit of a revelation in that you know what maybe you don’t give up on your younger players. Maybe you just have to put them in a position to succeed. And look again it’s not leading to wins. Team success hasn’t been there. I get that. that’s a crucial element to all of this. Um, but I mean he’s he’s been again way more consistent than I’ve seen from other people. Yeah. On this team. Yeah, for sure. Um I’m struggling to come up with with any I guess Oel who I don’t has been the most like again good value in the fact that he’s providing that for someone who’s supposed to be a third pair defenseman has been asked to do more and hasn’t really phased him. But that’s also because this guy has had that caliber. He is that type of defenseman. He has been that in the past. It’s just on other teams he hasn’t been asked to do it as much since what Arizona, Vancouver. Like Florida didn’t expect this from him really. Yeah. So, he’s had an excellent month and I guess ever since TANV went down, he’s had to step up and he’s playing some big minutes here. Dave, um, in the month of November, he’s averaging just a hair under 22 minutes a game, 2157. And actually he has he’s currently on a sevengame point streak and he has points in nine of his last 10 games actually. So he’s quietly producing each and every night. Whether it’s a goal, an assist, he’s quietly producing. It’s it’s it’s pretty well all at five on five cuz only has one point on the power play. So he he’s been it’s been very nice to see Oel and that offense kind of shine through. Earlier in his career, he was very much an offensively driven player. Um and and last year didn’t quite see it as much, I guess, for the Maple Leafs. But 16 points through 22 games. Um 15 of them at five on five. Pretty solid. Pretty solid stuff from uh from Oel. So, give him a little shout out as well. But other than that, man, way more way more failures than uh way more negatives than positives. All right. Overall, Dave, what are you giving this team? What grade What grade did the Maple Leafs deserve through the first quarter of the season? A D minus. Yeah, I was going to say I had him at a D. The only reason why he didn’t get a Dminus is because at least they are producing offensively, right? Second in the league in goals at uh you know at five on five that counts for something, right? The finish second highest shooting percentage. But what’s odd about that, the other stat that doesn’t bode well for the Leafs, 2.44 44 expected goals per 60 in comparison to the 3.05 actual goals, which means regression is coming. And I think we’ve seen that over the last couple of games. Um, but that’s the only reason why I didn’t give them a D minus. Gave him a D because the offense is there and guys like Dvarus and N and Willie, they’re producing and they’re over a point per game. So they got the I gave them the old D. Yeah, just again like the only thing the lease have kind of in their favor. East is very close. You can get out of the ba like they’re in the basement. They’re one point out of the basement. They’re four points out of a wild card spot which is kind of crazy. But yeah, like but that that also means you have to put in some consistency over a period of games to even get yourself into the conversation. They win four games in a row and they’re probably only going to be what they might be in a playoff spot, maybe a point or two out of a playoff spot if they can rattle off four in a row at the end of the day. I think that’s that’s kind of where they’re at. Now, it’s not, you know, a rosy schedule obviously now that they’re they’re out on the road for a bit here, right? They’ve got Washington. Actually, there’s some winnable games here. I will say there are winnable games. Columbus, that should be a winnable game. They’re a good team, but you should be able to to compete with Columbus. Washington, they’ve been struggling. That’s a winnable game. Pittsburgh is a winnable game, right? That’s a team that’s starting to fall back a little bit. Florida, they’re beaten, battered, bruised, just like Toronto. Could be a winnable game. You know, they’re only a couple games over 500. And you finish up your road trip in Carolina. You’ll probably get wax there if they play this way. But your next four games, like those are winnable. So, like we said, you rattle off four in a row, all of a sudden you’re right back in the mix. So, you win in Columbus, Washington, Pittsburgh, Florida, very possible. Matthews gets back at the, you know, at some point in this road trip, I would imagine. Um, it’s a different conversation at that point, right? Three weeks from now could be a totally different conversation than it is today. But as we sit here, man, it is not a positive outlook for the Maple Leafs. And uh, yeah, I think we can both agree a D is what the lockdown lease podcast will be grading the Toronto Maple Leafs at the quarter mark. We’ll see if the midway mark if uh if they can improve that grade at all, but they got to improve their play drastically to uh to change those odds. Any final words, man? No. Waste too much of our breath on this team right now. Yeah. For the rest of the week where we have a lot more to talk about. Yeah. Yeah. I there’s a couple other things I wanted to to to dive into, but we we’ve gone we’ve gone way too long. We’ll get into them. I’ve got some we got a few days between the now and the next game. We’ll get a we’ll get a lot of that off our chest. I’m going to tease it right now. I got a Max Doy rant that I’m going to go on tomorrow. So, check back in tomorrow for the Max Doi rant. That’s the new for us here today on the podcast. Like to thank you all for listening and supporting the show. You can subscribe to the Locked On Leafs podcast on all platforms and receive daily Leaf’s content. and follow myself on Twitter, Mickey_uck. Follow Dave at the_uding. Follow the show as well, Lockdown Leafs. Be back with another episode for you guys tomorrow, but until then, keep it locked right here on Locked on Leafs.

The Toronto Maple Leafs have hit rock bottom as embarrassing losses mount, prompting fans to question if drastic moves are imminent. Can the Leafs recover from their worst start in the East? Mike DiStefano and Dave Morassutti scrutinize Toronto’s defensive collapse, special teams woes, and inconsistent play from stars. They highlight John Tavares’ leadership and Matthew Knies’ breakout performance, discussing why new additions have failed to spark a turnaround and which young players are showing real promise. With the Leafs struggling against non-playoff teams and trade rumours swirling, the next stretch of road games could define their season. Will Toronto’s offence be enough to climb back into playoff contention, or is a radical shakeup looming?

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