How the Toronto Maple Leafs Could Regain Their Top-Team Status
By James Tanner
How the Toronto Maple Leafs Could Regain Their Top-Team Status
2. Get a New Coach
The Toronto Maple Leafs aren't realistically going to make me happy and fire Brendan Shanahan and Brad Treliving in the middle of the season. The next best thing is firing Sheldon Keefe.
I'm sick of the way he consistently fails to develop young players, and I think he's terrible at making lines and defensive pairings.
I do not want to watch him overplay TJ Brodie, Mark Giordano and Ryan Reaves for the next five months.
Get rid of Keefe and replace him with Claude Julian.
3. Sign or Trade William Nylander
The Toronto Maple Leafs need to make a decision here, because every day that passes brings us closer to Johnny Gaudreau territory.
The Leafs are not only deep at forward, but they have Matthew Knies on the verge of stardom and it's a pretty good bet that at least one of Nick Robertson, Easton Cowan and Frazer Minten can become stars as well. This means trading Nylander is at least a decent option.
In addition, Nylander is playing at his absolute peak with nowhere to go but down. He is approaching 30 and these contracts never work out. Not at $10 million or whatever.
Finally, the Toronto Maple Leafs don't have anything approaching a #1 defenseman. If you could trade Nylander for a no-doubt #1, it would be smart.
But there is risk in that, and he's just flatout awesome and probably will be for a while. I can see good arguments for both trading and signing him. Either way, make a decision today and get it done tomorrow, because the clock is ticking.