There have been a lot of factors behind the Toronto Maple Leafs‘ dreadful season thus far. One of the most putrid facets of the team has been its NHL-worst power play. And with that, the Leafs have made their first major move to try to change their fortunes by firing assistant coach Marc Savard. The power play was his responsibility.
It’s extremely rare to see an NHL team fire just one assistant coach mid-season, but the front office needed to do something to at least make it look like there’s an attempt to try to right this sinking ship. At 12-for-90 through 35 games, a success rate of 13.3%, the Toronto power play has been so anemic, it’s actually been hard to watch. Dead last in the league.
They went 0-for-10 with the man advantage on their just-concluded winless road trip through Washington, Nashville and Dallas.
Savard’s firing should be seen as ‘a warning shot’ to others around the Maple Leafs
“One of the first dominoes is falling,” was how insider Chris Johnston put it on TSN Overdrive, while suggesting that head coach Craig Berube is “facing some significant questions as well… It’s almost like a warning shot of what might still be to come… I see this as kind of a first step of what they hope will lead to better results. And if not, there’s either going to be players out the door, or management people out the door, or another coach out the door. It’s that simple.”
Savard was hired when the team brought in Berube before the 2024-25 season. He had worked under Berube previously with the St. Louis Blues. In Savard’s first year in charge of the power play in Toronto last season, the Leafs were ninth in the league at 24.8%. But of course, they had some guy named Mitch Marner as the main facilitator on the special teams unit. They can fire and hire as many coaches as they want, but finding an offensive creator like Marner is not happening anytime in the near future.
The Leafs are now 15-15-5 on the season. That leaves them in last place in the Atlantic Division and just one point up on the Columbus Blue Jackets for the worst mark in the entire Eastern Conference.
The first shoe has dropped in Toronto… Hold on to your bootstraps, however. Unless this one adjustment drastically and miraculously changes the Leafs’ fortunes, more moves could be on the horizon.