Toronto Maple Leafs: 5 Things Every Hockey Fan Should Agree On

The Toronto Maple Leafs are going to resume their season against the Columbus Blue Jackets later this summer.

Despite the fact that the Blue Jackets overachieved, the Toronto Maple Leafs couldn’t have asked for a better matchup.  

Of all the teams in the east that are going to play for the Stanley Cup, the Blue Jackets are close to the worst.

But since that isn’t going to happen for a while, I thought it would be fun to talk about things everyone should agree on – but probably doesn’t.

5 Things Everyone Should Agree On

Racism Has to Be Removed from the League

Black Live Matter and the NHL has a social responsibility to rid itself of racism.  This means that we must confront the problem that a disproportionate amount of black players have been labeled as “problems in the room”  or “difficult.”

Also, the NHL has  Trump problem. As nice as it as to see many of the normally silent NHL players speak out against racism, their statements were made severely weak by their cowardly silence toward the racism of Donald Trump and his supporters.

You cannot confront this issue of racism without confronting the fact that Trump rose to popularity through Birtherism (saying the first black President wasn’t born in America) and racist rhetoric about Mexicans, or that he engages constantly in the racist rhetoric of the far right nationalism movement.

With dozens of the league’s stars releasing statements about racism this week, the silence about Trump is astounding, worrisome, weak-kneed.

The league as a whole needs to do a better job going forward.  And the words of players like Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner need to be followed up with action.

Safety 

The NHL needs to be a safer league.   Players should be forced to wear Kevlar sleeves to protect against skate blades.  They should also all be wearing neck protection and full facial shields.

The league should continue to harshly punish head shots, but should expand their safety protocols to include slashing and cross checking, which is problem that plagues the league.

In the NHL you usually only get a penalty for the fourth slash or the eleventh cross check to the back or neck, and this is obviously pretty stupid and unsafe.

5v5 Stats Are More Important

It’s just math!

In the NHL scoring at 5v5 is harder, rarer, and more repeatable.  Power-Play scoring is mostly about opportunity.

Auston Matthews didn’t win the Rocket Richard trophy, but he did lead the NHL in the more important category of 5v5 goals.

He is the NHL’s best goal scorer, and we should all agree on that.

Jake Gardiner is the NHL’s Most Under Rated Player

I think we can all agree on this.  The guy just continues to have season after season of excellent on-ice statistics and he gets no love!   

Jake Gardiner is one of the best defenseman in Toronto Maple Leafs history and also the most underrated player in team and league history.

The NHL Needs to Ban Fighting

How can a sport continue to allow bare knuckle boxing, on ice, in a world that is now fully cognizant of what concussions do to people?

It’s sick.

I used to love hockey fights, and I used to think NHL teams needed enforcers, but I was wrong.  Hockey fighting is dumb, dangerous and the macho attitude that accompanies it is ridiculous and immature.

Fighting is stupid, dangerous, and contributes to life-long problems long after the player is done playing.

That’s it.  Five things we can all agree on.

And one bonus one: The NHL needs to end the practice of even-up penalties.