McGuire Monday: Are Leafs Ready for the Panthers?

McGuire Monday: Are Leafs Ready for the Panthers?

You’re watching Toronto Sports Rush on the Bet Rivers Network. Welcome on in to Toronto Sports Rush for the Bet Rivers Network. It is Meuire Mondays. That means we have Pierre Magcguire. I’m Julie Stewart Banks. And Pierre, we just were talking about it. We’re fresh off of a huge Leafs win, their first regulation win since November 5th. And it was a blowout, 7-2 against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Something that it felt like they really needed for their confidence. But really, when you look at the box score, you look at the game and how it all played out, what’s really your your biggest takeaway about how the Leafs looked on Saturday? The bigger guys that they need to play a pile driver kind of a game, ground and pound, whether it’s uh Nick, whether it’s Dakota Joshua, Max Doy, Matthew Nice, the bigger guys that have to pulverize people. Julie, they actually did that on Saturday. So, I thought that was actually a good piece of news playing against Pittsburgh. That’s about as poorly as I’ve seen the Pittsburgh Penguins play in their own zone. In their own zone. I think that’s a byproduct of the Leafs for check game. I think it’s a byproduct of Pittsburgh maybe losing track of where they are in the season. And they’re a young team that I think has a real hard time playing against a ground and pound kind of a team. So, more positive than negative for Toronto. They just have to keep that up now. Right. And those guys that you mentioned off the top, Dakota Joshua, Max Doi, two guys that on this road trip have been healthy scratched. And especially for Max Doi coming back after having not played the game against the Capitals where he was in the press box and Dakota Joshua was in the press box for the Columbus Blue Jackets game. In what way do you think that that being healthy scratched or maybe not not maybe it didn’t have an effect, but did it have an effect on their game, do you think? Oh, I do. I think it does because it creates urgency. The only way you can really punish a player in today’s NHL, because most of these guys require waiverss to get sent to the American League, um, is to take away their ice time. And there’s two ways of doing it. One, embarrass him in the middle of a game and bench them, which I’m not sure always works cuz then that then you make it personal. And the other one is just say, you know what, I don’t think you got it going on right now. So, I’m going to let you go upstairs and watch, and you’re going to report back to me what you saw, what you didn’t see, what we can do better as a group, so you make it more of a positive experience. Now, every coach has their different ways of doing business. I guarantee you mine was different than maybe some other guys was, and a lot of people maybe were different than what I did, but you’ve got to create more of a I think in today’s NHL in particular with the younger players, Julian, and you’re around it a lot, too. If you beat them up and make it a personal thing, I think you’re gonna lose the player. Whereas back in the day, you could create that kind of hostile environment and guys would thrive and maybe even enjoy it. That doesn’t happen anymore or very seldom. So, when they’re in the press box, I liked what you said that you give them sort of um uh an activity, a job, help us by being up there and using your your eyes to be able to watch the game from that vantage point. We do know that there are coaches and scouts that also help the team do this as well. But maybe take me through what you think the mind of the player is in that moment when they are sitting up there, they’re eating some popcorn, they’re around all the media, everyone’s kind of watching them a bit and they’re not on the ice playing in the game that they can play in because they’re not injured. What how is that feeling? Oh, it can’t feel good. I’ll tell you that. Uh cuz you’re not getting paid to sit in the stands, you’re getting paid to play. Um but I think the biggest thing now with a lot of these guys, again, I think it’s really important to talk about is you give them a little assignment and see if they’re going to thrive doing that assignment. And for the player, I think more than anything, it’s like, okay, you took me out. You’re never doing this again. Because when I get back in the lineup, I am going to kick the door down and it’s never going to be closed behind me again. I’m never sitting out. So that’s kind of what you hope the message is and you kind of hope the player responds with. But I I would think now and if I had to do it over, like if I were back coaching, one of the things I’d do is I’d make it more of a positive thing than a negative thing. I wouldn’t want to alienate the player. I know that I did some times with certain guys where I was really hard on them. And I look back at it now, I got the results that I wanted, but I’m not sure they were long-term results. that got short-term results. With one player in particular, I got really long-term results, but again, I don’t think that that’s the healthiest way of doing it. I think it’s better to create more of a positive environment around it. Do you think maybe that the situation, the environment that we’re in right now with social media and the fact that everyone in the world knows when you are healthy scratched and then that is makes its way onto your Instagram, your Twitter, your Facebook, Tik Tok, wherever your friends and family are calling you. Like it’s it’s so much more pronounced that that maybe the embarrassment that they feel just even even if nothing is said just being up there. Do you think maybe that is potentially why it could be more detrimental if it was a negative under negative circumstances versus what you just mentioned having them have like an activity to do versus when you were scratching guys? I love what you just said. I think it’s so appropriate and so spot on. It really more coaches need to pay attention to this and I think a lot of them are. The social media part of this whole thing is really tough. It’s nasty and and I get it. people are allowed. Look, it it’s a it’s a part of life. It is now an accepted part of life. It doesn’t mean it’s right. And it doesn’t mean you can just continually assault people through words. Um where half of the people doing the the vicious takedowns don’t even know what these guys are going through. That’s fine. I get I don’t like I tell players all the time when I talk to them or coaches, don’t take it personal. these people don’t even know who you are, you know, and if they did, they might backtrack, you know, and it’s just one of those things. But I I do think you need to be as an organization sensitive to what’s going on. And in some market places, it’s more harsh than others. You know, Toronto, I think, is a harsh place. Montreal is an amazingly harsh place. Michael Mat. I I’ve said this a million times, Julian, and I mean this as a compliment to Toronto and to John Tvarus and to Michael Mat in Montreal before Michael signed his long-term agreement. You should have seen some of the terrible stuff that was written about him online. Just terrible. This is a guy who’s married. His wife played in the Olympics. They’ve got children living in the West Island of Montreal. They’re an amazing family unit. They’re great people. He’s a college graduate. Like the whole deal, this guy’s got it going on. He’s special. And I kept saying all the time, “This reminds me, he’s the Canadian version of John Tver.” Johnny Tvaris wanted to be a Leaf his whole life. Michael Mat wanted to be a Canadian his whole life. John Tiveras signed a long-term deal to go play in Toronto and then gave up his captaincy and took less money to sign another extension to stay in Toronto. I respect that so much. And look who the most consistent player is for Toronto right now. John Tavveris. You do that. Michael Mat’s the Montreal version of John Tavveris. He just signed a 5-year extension at way less money than what he could have got on the open market cuz he wants to be part of the solution, not part of the problem. I wish when people were writing all these nasty things, they would consider that, right? They would cons like John Tiverus has been unbelievable for Toronto. Julie, he’s been unbelievable. My biggest concern for Toronto now is they got to get Austin Matthews going fulltime. They got to keep Ny hot and Johnny T needs more support on the wings and Willie when Williey’s 100% and he’s back at 100%. They need Willie going like he’s going to have to start to eat up a lot of those points that Marner was getting last year. He has to. Important. We know that he was out with an illness um during this weekend. William Knander that is. And also to your point, Sam Montbo said that he got rid of his Instagram because he just couldn’t deal with the you know the negativity. It really does get to you mentally. I’m I can only imagine at that point. So just looking at all the different things that this team needs to do. Uh Matthews scores uh wrist shot which he had used a lot in that year when he had scored 69 goals. He hasn’t as much maybe how and he also hasn’t been shooting as much either. Obviously we know he’s been injured and he also has some kind of long-term potentially lingering injury that none of us really understand or know about. But how do you get a guy like that to try to get back to the way he was playing? Or was or is that an anomaly? And that maybe isn’t what we should expect. No, I don’t think it’s an anomaly at all. I remember when Donnie Granada was coaching the US National Team Development Program and uh I was at NBC and I did a lot back in those days. Detroit were on NBC a lot just because they were one of the elite teams in in the National Hockey League. And I remember Donnie once saying to me, “Hey, could you come spend the day with us in um Ann Arbor and watch some tape?” I said, “Be my honor, be my pleasure.” So I did. We were going over all these different players. And one of the guys was this 15year-old kid who was about to become 16. And I’m watching I’m going, “This guy’s really good. This guy’s really good. Where’s this guy from?” He said, “Well, he’s actually from uh Scottdale, Arizona.” And I said, “That guy looks like Ronnie Francis, but a better skater and a guy that might produce more offense because his shot, even at that age, was so lethal, it stood out.” It ended up being Austin Matthews. And I’m just telling you, Julia, that’s the first real exposure I had to Austin in that kind of an environment. And I watched them practice that afternoon after I spent the morning watching tape with the coaches at USA Hockey. I’m like, “Whoa, this guy’s really good. This guy’s really good.” One of the things I would try to do as a staff, I try to show him all the things that he did. It wouldn’t be long three minute tape and show him this is what you used to do when you were dominating offensively. And we kind of need to get you back to that point. And I don’t know what the injury is. You don’t know. It’s not smart to play doctor in these environment, this type of environment, but they need him back to what he was three or four or five years ago. That’s what they need him to be back to, right? And to that point, what kind of tape would you show the guys that are his supporting cast in order to be able to um activate him to that level? Well, for check for Matthew in particular, Matthew Ny, I think really important that he established forche. When he’s forchecking and using his size and his speed, he makes a big difference for everybody. If Bobby McMahon gets a chance to be up there or if Willie gets a chance to be up there, it’s really important that you get to your role. Like Willy’s so darn creative and so gifted. He is he’s amazingly gifted and I know people are getting after him a little bit too, but his his offensive gifts are uncanny. They’re amazing. You you don’t teach the stuff that he does. It’s that comes from a higher being. It really does. Um, but I think right now for the entire team, spend less time in your own zone, easier, cleaner breakouts. We talk about this all the time, but getting everybody to play to their identity. I’m watching the Dallas Stars last night. I used them as an example. The two best goal differential teams in the league right now are Colorado plus 48 and Dallas plus 22. And I’m watching Dallas and I’m going, he knows his role. He knows his role. Esso Lindell. Go watch Esso Lindell. He played almost 26 minutes last night. He knows his rules. They shut He doesn’t need points. He’s a shutdown defenseman. But watch them come out of their own zone. They hardly spend any time in their own zone because it’s tape to tape to tape to out. It’s not ringing around the boards. It’s none of that stuff. And I think Toronto needs to get better because once that becomes a cleaner part of their game, then those skilled forwards like Willie and Austin and Matthew and Johnny, their game becomes more pronounced in a positive way, right? Their defensive zone coverage has been, you know, it just hasn’t really improved even with the the 72 win. And so I think exactly what you’re saying. Let’s just though I I really want to touch on goalie situation. Dennis Hobe was in goal. He gets his first win as a Leaf, only just his fourth win as an NHL goalender. He’s had to take on so much more responsibility than we imagined with Stlars being out. Him and Joseph Wool, are they a tandem that you think could be enough for the Leafs this year? Uh, probably not. Mhm. I really think they need Anthony Stolars back and that I think Dennis Hillby will eventually become one of those guys, but I don’t think there yet. And in terms of Joe Wool, I think it’s a lot to ask for him to have missed this much time to come in and carry the mail right away by himself. The Stallar’s injury is pretty significant. And I know he wasn’t playing. I get it. I get it. He wasn’t playing like he was last year. I totally understand that part of it. But he shows he’s got the potential to get it back quicker than maybe some people want to say. I think they met the guy that unfortunately I don’t know how long he’s out, but they miss Chris Tan out a lot. like it’s it’s a pronounced loss to their lineup. And I even think they missed Marshall Rafi. Marshall got hurt in the preseason. I think Marshall was about to have a big breakout and it hasn’t happened yet. I I think if you were to ask me uh if there’s a shopping list that Toronto needs to pursue, puck moving defenseman, which you know how long we’ve been talking about that. You said you that last year too. It really it’s a part of it, right? It’s a big part. And the other part with the team building exercise, I think they need another top six forward. I really do. Right. Okay. And we did see one top one one guy who’s solidified himself in a way in that top six is Eastston Cowan who looks just like he fits in 20 years old. Confidence him and Willie on incredible goal that they that they’ve shared really. Um he he looks like he is he he’s bound for greatness on this team. Oh, I love that. So true. and you’re not playing favorites. The fact is it’s been a slow transition for him. And I think part of that was just, okay, you’re a young guy. We’re an established team. You sit in the back and wait your turn. Well, that all gone now. And uh Eastston’s vision is really good. His peripheral vision is phenomenal. He’s very comfortable with the puck in very difficult situations. I like that part of his game. He’s not afraid to challenge people one-on-one. I like that part of his game. He can clearly shoot the puck, especially in a confined area, which is really important as an undersized guy. There’s a lot to like there. I So, that’s one of the parts of the solution. I think the other part is you’re probably going to have to go outside the organization to find that other top six guy, right? Okay. So, going forward, they take on Florida, who has also been floundering, and they are facing them Tuesday night. What are three things you want to see from this team so that we know that it’s not just a confidencebuilding win, but it’s actually a tangibly a tangibly positive building win that they that they are quote unquote turning things around. You got to be prepared to match the street fight mentality of the Florida Panthers, especially with all the injuries Florida has now. It’s never been more pronounced. the only way they’re going to have a chance to get themselves back in the race talking about Florida is to play with a certain, you know, bite to their game. So Toronto’s got to be prepared to match that intensity level and they also have to be prepared to out outsmart them. Their the guile of this team in Toronto is their ability to dominate the puck when they’re really good like they were against Pittsburgh the other they made the Pittsburgh Penguins look bad. And the reason they made them look bad is they dominated them in the offensive zone. And I watched the entire game. I just come back from Europe and I’m going man Pittsburgh not even in this thing. They’re not even in this thing. And you could see why they weren’t in the thing. They weren’t in the thing because the Toronto uh Maple I was going to call them the blue days. Toronto Maple Leaf pile pile driving on the for check dominating on the cycle, incorporating their defense into the offense. All those things are what you want to see when you go to Florida. They’re all the things you want to see. Yeah, I agree with you on that. And okay, so two questions I want to ask you that are outside of the Leafs situation, but for team Canada, as we know that the Milan Cortina Olympics are fast approaching. Conor Bard factored in on four of his team’s five unanswered goals against as Chicago rallied to beat Anaheim. He’s had five games with four plus points and he now is tied with Mlin Celibbrini 37 points in 26 games. They both are tied for the second highest point total this season. If I was to say to you right now, Bard and Celibbrini, are they on team Canada? I’d say they have legitim they’ve opened the door for themselves and they still have about a 10day period of a runway where they got to figure it out. And if they do, then I think they got a legitimate chance. I’ve been really impressed by Mlin all season long. I think the consistency factor for Mlin’s been huge. Chicago’s got about a two-year advantage on their rebuild over San Jose and that’s why they are where they are and that’s why San they’re both pretty similar in the standings depending on the night. But I’d say both of them have given themselves a fighting chance to be part of this team which I would never have said at the beginning of the year. No way. Um the other guy and we just saw him cuz Toronto played against Washington. Um Tommy Tom Tommy Wilson’s got to be in the discussion. So, it depends on what they’re looking for, but I think you’ll see probably three to five different players from the Foreign Nations last year for Canada than what you saw last uh spring into, you know, with team Canada in the Foreign Nations. Mhm. And we saw some of those holes when they were playing. We definitely know we noticed the absence of someone like Tom Wilson. Last question. Scott Wedgewood, you mentioned Colorado and he has started the season 13-1 and3 with a 2.0 goals against average, 920 save percentage. And Martin Broer said that he thinks he deserves to be on team Canada. What do you think? I agree with Marty. I’ll never ever debate Marty. I’ve known Marty since he’d been 16 years old. Um tried to get him to play for me in college at St. Lawrence University. Big fan of the person, big fan of the player. Um, and he did something that very few people did. 10 straight years of over 60 plus starts. That’s never happening again. That’s just crazy stuff. Marty knows what he’s talking about. The two Woods, Blackwood and Wedgewood, both of them in in Colorado been unbelievable what they did to rebuild their goalending situation on the fly last year is amazing. Um, so yeah, I do think Yeah, I I think Logan Thompson’s got a legitimate chance, too. I really do. I’d be shocked if Sam Montbo were on the team, even though I watched Montbo the other night in Vegas and I thought he played extremely well. Um, but I I think it’s too little too late for him. Uh, the other guy to watch is Darcy Keer in LA. Darcy’s had a real good start to the year and he’s played really well. So, it’s going to be I think Jordan Bennington’s played his way into the confidence of the coaching staff. So, I’d be surprised if he weren’t on there. So, it leaves two more spots. And so I I would say that, you know, it’s going to be interesting to see the three names that I just gave you, uh, Keer and Thompson in particular. I think those two guys are probably fighting it out for one spot. Yeah, very interesting. And also to your point, um, Marty agrees with you on the Binner situation, Jordan Bennington. He said he told him, I guess when they were playing golf last year, that you can’t worry about stats because sometimes numbers don’t show the whole picture because you’re at the mercy of your environment, which is extremely true for a goal. Yeah. I just want to build off that for one second because there’s a Toronto tie and I will never forget at the 2002 Olympics. Uh Curtis Joseph was a starting goalie for Canada in Salt Lake City and he was outstanding as a Leaf. He like he was really really good. And what I remember the most is he had a really tough first game. He had a really tough first game and I remember going out for dinner with a bunch of hockey people and it the dinner got uncomfortable. It did because some of us were saying it’s not about the numbers now. It’s about who’s going to give him the best chance to win. And eventually Marty went in and replaced Curtis and that rest was history. Marty ended up being the starting goalie for the gold medal winning team Canada that got embarrassed in 1998 over Nageno. And that kind of set things up in a good way. But I I will never forget that. Um, and so Marty knows and then to play it forward. Yep. Go to 2010, Marty’s the goalie and has a little bit of a problem and a foilable and all of a sudden Roberto Lewango comes in and stabilizes the situation. So Marty’s had it happen to him on both sides of the ledge. And so I think he’s a really good voice to talk to when it comes to that. Yeah. not much of a runway when it comes to team Canada or t anywhere in an international format, especially when you’re in the Olympics. And we know that there’s not much of a runway for teams like the Toronto Maple Leafs who are trying to get themselves out of that Eastern Conference basement as they’ve won two of their last three on the road. They’ll look to extend that when they take on the Florida Panthers on Tuesday. We’ll have to see if they’re turning things around or if they are still mired in a very difficult situation. Both can be true at this point in this season right now. Pierre Magguire, thank you so much for all your insight and analysis on this Magguire Monday. And guys, make sure to like, subscribe, share this episode. We always appreciate all of your feedback and comments. So, we’ll see you next time for Magguire Monday. Thanks for watching Toronto Sports Rush on the Bet Rivers Network. [Music]

The Toronto Maple Leafs secured a confidence-boosting 7-2 win against the Pittsburgh Penguins Saturday night. Pierre McGuire and Julie Stewart-Binks ponder the team’s momentum as it prepares to battle Florida.

00:00 Leafs beat Penguins
03:00 Current age of player discipline
08:30 Getting Auston Matthews back on track
15:40 Leafs vs Panthers
17:05 Team Canada updates

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