With the Maple Leafs looking for change behind the bench, the club has announced that they have parted ways with assistant coach Marc Savard.
It might not be the seismic change that many have been clamouring for but the Toronto Maple Leafs have decided it’s time to part ways with assistant coach Marc Savard, who was in charge of the disastrous Leafs power play that currently sits dead last in the league.
Power play struggles the main reason for Savard’s termination
Savard has been behind the Maple Leafs bench for the last 2 seasons as he oversaw the power play. He did a good job last year when they finished 9th league-wide with a 24.77% success rate, but the wheels have fallen off this year with a 13.33% success rate.
Although they lost arguably their most important piece of the power play in Mitch Marner this summer, that doesn’t excuse the fact that they still have the likes of Auston Matthews, William Nylander, Morgan Rielly, and John Tavares, who have combined for just 7 power play goals this year.
Additionally the Leafs power play is 4 for their last 44 over a stretch of 18 games, where they’ve sported a mediocre 7-7-4 record.
They’ve attempted to make changes by going to a 5-forward top unit, they’ve alternated between Rielly and Oliver Ekman-Larsson as the quarterback, and even gave rookie Easton Cowan an opportunity, but nothing seemed to work.
The writing was on the wall and it’s a fairly important change midway through the season. With the club sitting at the bottom of the Eastern Conference, it could be the kick in the pants they needed to get their game back on track and perhaps strike some fear that they’re not going to sit idly by.
It will be interesting to see who takes over the power play in the interim, but the main story to continue to follow is whether or not he’s the only casualty in a very disappointing season.
The seats are hot in Toronto and changes will be afoot if the team continues to lose points in the standings.
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Big domino falls as Maple Leafs announce their first firing of the season
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