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Leafs hit rock bottom, bounce now or never

February 19, 2020, 9:18 AM ET [748 Comments]
Lucas Neilson
Blogger •Atlantic Division Writer • RSSArchiveCONTACT
You better believe the Maple leafs were embarrassed in last nights game against the Pittsburgh Penguins. If they weren’t ashamed of their performance then we are in a lot more trouble than adding or subtracting a coach or player.

It was laughable when the score got to five to nothing. Usually I’d have turned off the game by this point, but I wanted to see what was going to happen next. They responded, with a bit of a bounce back, scoring a couple goals, including Kyle Clifford’s first goal as a bud. But that was about it. The Leafs stunk, and I don’t know how this can be with such a quality roster.

Not to point any fingers but Tyson Barrie has looked awful in the blue and white for the Leafs. His defensive play is weak and his offense isn’t enough to make up for his flaws as someone who is supposed to be playing defense.

As a whole it seems as if the Leafs defense is hemmed in and pressured they simply cannot get the puck out. Have teams figured this out? Why haven’t the boys adapted yet?

There are certainly some questions piling up from the media, fans and certainly the upper brass of the Leafs management team. What’s next?

Monday February 24th (next Monday) is trade deadline. I’m not sure what Dubas has in mind but it’s certainly hard to keep the faith in a turn around after watching the last few games. Zero desperation is shown in these games and it’s as if they just expect to win with talent instead of hard work. It’s a boiling point in terms of frustration for the Leafs; I truthfully believe this Pittsburgh loss will be a drop off rock bottom.

Will the Leafs bounce back now and go on a run after realizing they are going to have to crank it up a few notches if they ever want to do anything, or will they fall into the abyss and miss the playoffs for the first time in four seasons? It’s been three first round exits in a row, a missed playoffs could be call for some bigger changes than expected.

Clifford – UFA
Spezza – UFA
Marchment – RFA
Timashov – RFA
Gauthier – RFA
Muzzin – UFA (sounds like the Leafs will resign)
Barrie – UFA
Dermott – UFA

So you can see there are some pieces that could go out the door which opens up roster spots to be filled. The Leafs will have both Andersen and Campbell for another year before Andersen’s contract is up, there are a lot of variables that could vastly change the Leafs outlook in the short term.

It’s not all doom and gloom, us Leafs fans we expected a lot bigger and better results than we have seen all season. Yes the Leafs have been absolutely pathetic for far too long, but they are still sitting in a playoff spot as of now, it’s not as if the Panthers are red hot, (3-6-1) in their last ten. Nevertheless the Leafs have 21 games left and are sitting at 70 points. The bottom line is they are going to need around 25 points in the 21 games and if they can’t do that they will be fishing and golfing in the spring.

What a waste of a season it would be.

They better pull it together and quit dogging it out there. The talent the Leafs have and it seems to me the only players worth the money at this point are Matthews, Hyman, Nylander and a couple of others. I’m not exactly thrilled with the play of Marner and Tavares; combined 22 million I’d expect a whole hell of a lot more than they are offering.

The Leafs have 213 goals, that’s second in the NHL. Only Tampa Bay has more goals with 215, the difference is they only have 159 goals against where the Leafs have 204. Our defense sucks, and it’s been visibly worse since losing Morgan Rielly to injury.

Will Dubas add at deadline or sell? The next two games could change their strategy for the deadline plan.

It’s not over yet.

It just may come to the last game of the season against Montreal.

Thanks for reading.
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