Leading up to last night’s game against the Los Angeles Kings I could smell a stinker coming. The Leafs gave the Kings their first loss of the season not too long ago and the Kings wanted to make them pay for it. They did just that as they dominated the Leafs in the first half of the game scoring five straight goals.
It wasn’t pretty, nor was the Leafs goaltending or defense. Even the forward were doing a half-assed job of picking up a man on the back check, you can bet Babcock was not pleased with the effort. At least the boys made the score somewhat respectable as they turned it up as the game went on and the Kings sat back with their healthy lead.
Sure it was a back to back game and a late one at that but the overall effort simply wasn’t there for the Buds. They need to be better overall; it’s really as simple as that.
These calls to trade players like Marner, Nylander or even Connor Brown are asinine. Don’t think for a second the Leafs are going to trade one of their best offensive players in Mitch Marner just because he’s off to a slow start here in his sophomore season. Marner is 20 years old, most players are not even in the National Hockey League at his age let alone already setting a franchise record for most assists in a season. Marner has 6 points in 14 games and has played reduced minutes this season. It’s somewhat concerning he’s not playing with the same spunk that he was last year, but the season is still young, just like little Mitch.
There is plenty of time for Marner to turn his season around. Personally I think his stint on the fourth line should end now, or at least soon. He’s way too skilled to be playing with his buddy Martin and Moore. Even last season when he was playing with JVR and Bozak I felt he was too good for them, but at least James was able to cash in a number of fancy dishes that Marner put on his tape.
I’d like to see:
Hyman-Matthews-Nylander JVR-Bozak-Brown Marleau-Kadri-Marner Martin-Moore-Komarov
- Keeps our Matthews line together which has been solid all season and last season
- Brown adds some defensive/offensive speed and hustle along the boards
- Marner adds some quality passing to both Marleau and Kadri who are responsible defensively and can both receive a pass and put it in the net
- Martin and Komarov on the same line let’s Komarov stay well rested for the PK and he and Martin can eat people alive out there with body checks yet still keep the puck in the offensive zone and grind out some goals with Moore being very solid both ways
That’s my thoughts on how the Leafs can freshen up the lines and try to get more than just the Matthews line going every night. Don’t get me wrong, Komarov is a beauty but the Leafs have better skilled players to put with Kadri and Marleau and it may just be time to bump him down to the fourth line. He would still get lots of penalty killing time and some power play time but that’s one change I can see Babs making in the near future.
The Leafs will have another difficult team to face 7pm on Saturday when they face off against the St Louis Blues.
Congratulations to Auston Matthews scoring his tenth goal of the season on a nifty deke on the penalty shot which beat Jonathan Quick. I'm sure the two will have a chat about the move when they play together for team USA in the future.
Thanks for reading, have a great weekend.