DISASTER

BY MIKE RIFKIN

Monday night’s shootout loss to the Philadelphia Flyers put the Toronto Maple Leafs at 0-3-1 since the Olympic break. The Leafs sit seven points back of the second wild card position in the Eastern Conference, but every team in front of them outside of the Capitals actually have games in hand. But, with the trade deadline looming it’s no secret that the Leafs need to be sellers, the question is how deep can they sell? You’ll hear names like Scott Laughton, Simon Benoit, Brandon Carlo potentially on the move, but would that solve all of the Leafs’ issues?

The Leafs don’t have a first round pick each of the next two drafts (unless this draft is in the top 5), and this draft only have a third, fifth and a sixth. If you look ahead to 2027 they have a second, fourth, fifth, two sixths, and seventh. So the Leafs need to use this deadline to help them get some draft capital. But that’s what they need to do at the deadline, the offseason there’s an even bigger question to be answered?

After Saturday’s loss to Province rival Ottawa Senators, Head Coach Craig Berube essentially said his team has no heart. Berube, probably sealed his fate for after the season, which many expect him to be fired. But this raises a bigger question, the pass that the bulk of this team has gotten over the years, did they get rid of the wrong people? Kyle Dubas, was a punching bag for fans, now look at what he’s doing in Pittsburgh with acquiring draft capital while still being successful. Mitch Marner right now would be leading the team in points and is a point per game player. After this season, Auston Matthews has two years left on his contract, should the Leafs explore the possibility of moving Matthews?

My answer, is yes they should look into moving Matthews. Think of the haul you can get back for a Center and one of the best goal scorers on the planet. Matthews has scored at least 30 goals every year of his career, and is on his way to doing it again this season (he sits with 26). The Leafs have won two playoff series in the Matthews era, is that all his fault? No, but right now where the Leafs stand they might be better looking into the future, because how many coaches and general managers can a team honestly go through. 

But there’s a bigger disservice the Leafs have pulled in the last month plus and that is what they’ve done with Easton Cowan. In Monday’s game against the Flyers Cowan played a total of eight minutes and 23 seconds, the game Saturday against the Senators he played 13:34. Prior to that the two games in Florida, Cowan was a healthy scratch, which comes after he didn’t play during the Olympic break, because they didn’t even send him to the AHL. There are a lot of negatives about the Leafs this season, but this sits at the top. After the deadline Cowan needs to play big minutes to truly get evaluated. 

The Leafs need to do some soul searching here at the deadline and into the offseason. The people of Toronto have already witnessed the Raptors winning an NBA Finals and the Blue Jays went to the World Series, while the Leafs have won two playoff series over the last 20 years, and haven’t won the Stanley Cup since 1967.