Toronto Maple Leafs Win but They Must Move on From Patrick Marleau

The Toronto Maple Leafs held on for a 5-3 victory over the Sabres last night.

The Toronto Maple Leafs once again got off to a bad start, recovered, and pulled a victory out of nowhere.  This wasn’t their best game, but it was highly entertaining.

Anytime you can watch Jack Eichel and Auston Matthews in the same game, you’re going to have a fun time.

Eichel did not disappoint, scoring two goals.  Matthews continued his strong play of late and added a goal.

What a Night!

After a tense day following the extremely boring trade deadline “action” it was a relief to actually watch the game.

The Toronto Maple Leafs were once again extremely bad in the first period, and were lucky to escape down just 1-0.  They turned it on for five minutes in the second, and that was all they needed.

The best part of this game, for my money, was seeing coach Mike Babcock play his defenseman in the proper order.  Morgan Rielly led the team in 5v5 ice time, followed by Jake Muzzin and then Jake Gardiner.

Zaitsev only played for three seconds more than Dermott, and they both played more than Ron Hainsey.   Good job, Mike. (Although maybe don’t play Hainsey so much on the PK there buddy).

All stats from naturalstattrick.com and 5v5 unless otherwise noted.

Of concern: Mitch Marner went pointless for the fourth time in last five games.  Maybe he’ll get an offer sheet, or maybe they’ll trade him in the offseason for Brandon Montour.  Just kidding, since they’re practically the same player 5v5 I got him confused with William Nylander.

One thing I think could really improve the Leafs is to give Nylander some actual wingers, as long as he’s playing centre.  Nylander didn’t have his best game last night, but Marleau and Brown are fourth line wingers, and the Leafs have two much, much better options in Ennis and the recently recalled Trevor Moore.

Ennis, Guathier and Moore had an excellent game.  They were 65% CF and in on two goals.  I love both Ennis and Moore and think they should both get some extra ice time.  It’s really too bad the Leafs seem to “respect” Patrick Marleau too much to demote him, because he has aged out as a quality NHL player.

Marleau is a negative shot-attempt player for just the second  time in his career, and while he’s only just below 50% he’s spent the majority of his season being centred by Auston Matthews, who jumps to a 55% player whenever he gets a different left winger.

Marleau has only 13 goals and 31 points despite first line minutes and constant power-play time.  He has just two 5v5 goals since January 1st, a span of 23 games.

It’s time to move on for the Toronto Maple Leafs who simply must find ways to improve their team internally from here on in.  One way to do that is to get the young, hungry players more ice time at the expense of veteran players who aren’t bring what they’re paid to bring.