Some Thoughts So Far in November

 

Photo From CTV Toronto

 

The Leafs concluded a five-game homestand last night sweeping their first back-to-back in the schedule. Friday night saw Toronto beat the struggling Calgary Flames in a shootout and then Saturday night Toronto picked up a convincing 5-2 win over the red-hot Vancouver Canucks. These five games however were a rollercoaster of emotions for Leaf fans. It started with a frustrating 6-4 loss to Buffalo followed by an overtime win against Tampa. Toronto would fall 6-3 to Ottawa Wednesday in a game where nothing seemed to go right sending the fanbase spiralling out of control.

Has it been smooth sailing for the Leafs this season? No some areas need improving. Defensively the Leafs had been giving up at least four goals during every home game. I have seen fans dump on John Klingberg and deservedly so because he has struggled in the last stretch of games. However, last night after sitting out the game against Calgary Klingberg returned to the lineup and had a positive game. He kept things simple making quick outlet passes in the defensive zone. Last night I found there were times when I didn’t hear Klingberg’s name mentioned and when it comes to a defender that is a positive sign because it means he isn’t breaking down defensively his game is quiet, it’s simple, it’s successful. Does last night mean that Klingberg won’t have off nights from here on out? Of course, he’ll have struggles, as every player does but hopefully, Saturday’s performance is a step in the right direction for John.

Throughout the early portion of this season, we fans have seen that the fourth line for the Leafs has been unplayable. Ryan Reaves signed with Toronto and let everyone know that opponents would have to deal with him. He was supposed to be a player who is physical and will drop the gloves when it's needed.  In the first two games of the season, we saw plenty of that since then we have seen Reaves forget how to throw hits. A perfect example of this would be the first game of November, the Leafs were in Boston they ended up losing in a shootout, but Timothy Liljegren would go down with a high ankle sprain after Brad Marchand slew-footed him into the boards. What was Reaves response? Sitting on the bench he told Brad “Get away from our bench”. No, Ryan what you should have done the next time you were on the ice you tell the Boston bench “Whoever you line up beside me we’re fighting, and I am taking his head off” Then you do exactly that. With Ryan chirping from the bench and then doing nothing it told the Bruins and the other 31 opponents around the NHL that the Leafs can still be pushed around. Ryan would end up being scratched against the Canucks with Bobby McMann taking his spot and what a difference that one change would make. The fourth line spent little to no time in their end and even scored 2 goals in last night’s win. Ryan will very likely return to the lineup but if his struggles continue then Sheldon has to sit him and Brad Treliving to either put him on Waivers or somehow trade him either way Toronto may need to look at cutting ties with Reaves and his 3-year contract.

The last thing I want to talk about is the fans of the Maple Leafs. Some call them passionate I call them frustrating. This fanbase is up and down game by game. I see fans harp on Sheldon Keefe when the team loses a game but when they win those same people don’t have the stones to say anything. After the Ottawa loss fans were understandably frustrated, but I saw fans and had people telling me “Sheldon is an AHL Coach” or “Sheldon needs to be fired”. First off, 99% of the NHL’s coaches have come from the American Hockey League so really complaining about that is simply irrelevant because John Cooper spent a handful of seasons in the AHL before spending 7.5 seasons as Lightning coach before winning anything. Bruce Cassidy spent 8 seasons as an NHL head coach before winning a cup last year with Vegas. Sheldon is in his 5^th season as Leafs bench boss. In those four-plus seasons, he has done well. Sheldon has a .647 points percentage the best in franchise history. Sheldon has 175 wins good enough for 5^th all-time. In the playoffs, Sheldon is 6^th all-time with 13 wins and he’s the first coach since Pat Quinn to see the 2^nd round. Firing Keefe at this point in the season would make zero sense at all. Last year when the team wasn’t scoring enough fans wanted Keefe gone and Barry Trotz to replace him ignoring the fact that the scoring issues would still be there. What happened? The Leafs picked up 2 out of 4 points that Hall of Fame weekend and went on to have their best month of November in franchise history and it continued for the rest of the regular season. If Brad Treliving were to fire Sheldon Keefe who he just signed to a 2-year extension after this season, then the new coach would still have issues on the 4^th line the new coach would still have injuries on the Blueline. I have had so many people tell me that Sheldon only wins games because of the talent in his lineup. Of course, if you have a talented lineup, you’re going to win more games than you lose. What people are ignoring is it’s the way you get your message across to your players. Mike Babcock coached the same core players and didn’t get the results he lost the room. Sheldon Keefe is the right coach for this team, and it shows because he has made adjustments throughout his years here and we have seen Toronto come back and win games that teams in the past would fold up and lose.

 

Last season after the Hall of Fame weekend Toronto had 19 points in the standings and this season after the weekend the Leafs have 18 points they are virtually in the same spot. I think as the blueline gets healthy, McCabe recently returned, and Conor Timmins is travelling with the team as they leave for Sweden this week. Once the blueline gets healthy we will see more positive results from our Maple Leafs. Besides there are rumours aplenty that say the Leafs are the favourites to land Zadorov and Chris Tanev if the price is right. For now, lets just trust the process and trust that the Leafs will continue to develop into the contenders that we know they are.

Thanks as always for reading.