Toronto Maple Leafs Bomb: An Absolute Disgusting Display of Hockey

The Toronto Maple Leafs captain John Tavares needs a new pair of pajamas.

I am not sure what I just watched, but it wasn’t the Toronto Maple Leafs team I had in mind when I declared they would win this year’s Stanley Cup.

It was the worst game of hockey I’ve seen since the Leafs fired Randy Carlyle.

It was the only game I shut-off halfway through this year.

I will always stay tuned for a great comeback or the possibility of a bench clearing brawl.  When I was a kid, we lived an hour and a half from the Sky Dome, and my dad made us leave early in the 7th inning of a game where the Jay were getting crushed – to beat traffic, of course.

We listened to the Jays comeback on the radio all the way home, and sat in our driveway listening to Tom Cheek and Jerry Howarth describe one of the best comebacks in Jays history.

So I don’t quit early.  But I did last night.

Many F words were involved. My wife and I watched a romantic comedy.

Toronto Maple Leafs Need a New Coach

I expected the Leafs to give a great performance last night, with their back against the wall.  I am an eternal optimist.  I love this team. I think the roster is great.

Having Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, John Tavares, Morgan Rielly and William Nylander  is amazing- it’s the team I always dreamed the Leafs would have.

But something’s got to give. Five losses in a row, and a listlessness that was absolutely pathetic.

They played without four players, two of them superstars.  They were playing their fifth game in eight nights, and their second back-to-back in a week.

There are excuses.

But at a certain point, you’ve got to look like you give a ____.

This is a team that doesn’t play to its strengths.  Say what you want about Kyle Dubas, he is putting together one team, and Mike Babcock is coaching another.

I know a lot of people resist change.  They tell me every day.  They aren’t interested in a skill only team.  They  live in the town that made Tie Domi a bigger star than Mats Sundin.

I get it.

I hate it, and it frustrates the heck out of me, but I get it.

When you’re challenging the system, there will be pushback.

Maybe it works, maybe it doesn’t.  But we know two things:

1. Kyle Dubas will get at least one coach of his own before they give up on him and his iconoclastic approach to being the GM of the Toronto Maple Leafs.
2. Mike Babcock is not the progressive New NHL coach to implement this vision.

So let’s just get on with the inevitable and make the change that we all know is coming.

The Leafs still have time to turn this thing around, and despite my better judgment I believe they can.

Just not with Mike Babcock.