Toronto Maple Leafs Like to Make Life Hard on Themselves

The Toronto Maple Leafs love to make life hard on themselves.

The Toronto Maple Leafs can be a maddening team to watch. Head coach Sheldon Keefe, who has been underrated in his Toronto tenure, has consistently rolled out his atrocious, sub-par fourth line after his team celebrates a goal. The result is just as surprising as giving a drunk friend the keys to his car.

Superfluous forward Ryan Reaves, the worst forward in the NHL, gets trotted out, and the Leafs proceed to surrender a tying goal within five minutes or less on many occasions. Momentum squashed for no apparent reason and a continual train wreck on defense.

Compound that baffling decision making by Keefe with general manager Brad Treliving’s reluctance to ice the best roster available at his disposal and it’s no wonder why the Leafs had given up four or more goals in four straight games going into Saturday night’s game against the Vancouver Canucks.

Toronto Maple Leafs: Why Did it Take so Long for Matthew Knies to Play on Top Line?

In his first game on a line with center Auston Matthews and his wingman Mitch Marner, rookie forward Matthew Knies potted a beauty of a goal to give the Leafs a 1-0 lead. He then went on to pick up two assists in the Leafs 6-5 overtime win over the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Keefe had tried Tyler Bertuzzi on Matthews’ left side. Calle Järnkrok was given some run, too. The chemistry experiment didn’t win the professional contest. It didn’t even warrant a participation trophy. It’s not like Matthews slowed down – the only Kryptonite for the Leafs’ star would be for him to jump over the boards without any skates on. Matthews’ stick is hotter than Hopper’s sword on fire inside that Russian prison in Stranger Things.

It’s just that the line needed the final piece to be more consistent and dominant. Ultimately, Knies slotted in and provided the Leafs with immediate dividends. It was a lineup change so obvious that even Stevie Wonder could see it.

 Why Were Nicholas Robertson and Bobby McMann Marlies Until Now?

Leafs forward Nicholas Robertson has played in four games this season after not making the team out of camp and being sent to the Toronto Marlies for – well, not quite sure why, again. He has four points and has brought instant energy. He looks like he can do something magical at any moment and has one of the best shots on the team.

Robertson has solidified the Leafs third-line with Max Domi moving to center, where he can better utilize his speed and passing skills, and Järnkrok, who has woken up with some determined play, which has translated into secondary scoring.

Bobby McMann was finally called up from the AHL and was a force with two assists in the Leafs 5-2 win over the Canucks. The Leafs new fourth-line, thankfully sans Reaves, accounted for two key markers and was not a defensive liability.

 Make Life Easier on Yourselves

The good news is that through it all the Leafs still sit tied for third in the Atlantic Division even though they do not deserve to be there. If the season could somehow start with the victory over Vancouver, then the future looks less bleak than most fans and media have been led to accept.

Without Reaves, who was specifically signed to ‘stick up for his teammates’, the Leafs took two instigating penalties, one by 40-year-old Mark Giordano, which was a horrible call, and the other to Domi. Both fights were a natural reaction to clean, but hard hits to William Nylander and Robertson, respectively.

The Toronto Maple Leafs have a pulse, but they could be way more vibrant if they would make the painfully obvious decisions that would make their lives easier.

To that end, here’s hoping that Treliving will alleviate the stress that defenseman John Klingberg exerts on this team by removing him from the Leafs roster, which will make life easier for the fans of this team.