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SIMMONS: Maple Leafs in a terrible hole, with no easy fix

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Auston Matthews says it’s time to disregard the surface noise. Possibly it’s time, not only for him, however for all his teammates to concentrate to the noise contained in the Maple Leafs dressing room.

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That’s the sound that issues.

These are the conferences in and across the Maple Leafs that now create additional concern for a crew in decline, a administration group in confession and confusion, the one mates the Leafs have proper now are upcoming video games towards Chicago and Detroit.

The schedule works for them, or does it?

This season thus far is nothing wanting a catastrophe coming off dropping video games 5, six, and 7 to Montreal. The Leafs stay in decline, not exhibiting any actual indicators of development, maturity, management, or power.

Monday night time’s 4-1 loss towards the very well-coached Carolina Hurricanes was not as disgraceful as the sport Saturday night time or the loss Friday night time at house to San Jose. However by means of seven video games now, the supposedly high-flying Leafs, with three of hockey’s highest-paid offensive gamers, have scored 13 objectives in seven video games.

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They’ve misplaced 5 of these video games. The issues, night time after night time, appear considerably the identical. They don’t handle the puck notably nicely. They don’t win unfastened puck battles on the boards or within the corners. They relinquish too many centre-ice turnovers and too many odd-man rushes. And in between, they possess the puck so much — huge effing deal if the possession doesn’t flip into something resembling objectives or scoring probabilities.

When Brendan Shanahan made the tough determination in November of 2019 to fireside Mike Babcock — his coach of selection — he did so as a result of he noticed the identical issues night time after the night time, the identical challenges, nothing being solved. The Leafs misplaced a dreadful recreation in Pittsburgh simply earlier than Babcock was let go and so they misplaced a dreadful recreation in Pittsburgh on Saturday night time and it was onerous to not examine one scenario to the opposite.

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The distinction then: Shanahan and basic supervisor Kyle Dubas had a coach all able to go if Babcock was fired. That was Sheldon Keefe. Now in the event that they need to make the same type of transfer — and it’s nonetheless too early to think about that — they don’t have an apparent selection in ready. There isn’t any Plan B proper now in a season crying out for a Plan B.

No matter it was the Leafs lacked in dropping to Montreal — killer intuition, objectives off turnovers, puck battles, a sensible and secure model of play — they nonetheless lack. Zach Hyman is gone and that doesn’t assist. Zach Bogosian is gone and that doesn’t assist. The Leafs have much less of a roster than they did final playoffs and thus far it appears that manner and it appears dangerous for Dubas, the final supervisor who needs to be on a brief rope.

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Constructing a hockey crew is not only throwing darts on the board and hoping for one of the best simply because it’s not simply accumulating expertise. Placing collectively a bunch of gamers and placing collectively a crew are two completely different workouts. Carolina has a crew, a method, an identification. They play highway video games at house.

The Leafs are trying to find an identification once more after Keefe rebuilt them post-Babcock and now appears in the same funk.

In order that they get Chicago now on Wednesday night time, the one crew within the NHL that has but to guide in a single recreation. They get the eternally rebuilding Crimson Wings after that. After which the schedule will get a little bit extra actual with video games towards Vegas, Tampa Bay, and Boston in succession.

Twelve video games needs to be sufficient to get a way of what this crew is, what it is perhaps, what it may be. There may be a lot to repair over the following whereas, the ability play, the defensive pairings that aren’t working, the dearth of compete, the shortcoming to maintain offence in any manner, the truth that Jason Spezza leads the crew in objective scoring on a crew the place Mitch Marner final scored a century or so in the past.

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They misplaced Monday night time when any individual named Steven Lorentz scored the profitable objective. For all of the numbers freaks, he wanted lower than a second of puck possession to beat Rasmus Sandin and Jack Campbell for the rating. The final three Carolina objectives have been scored with Matthews on the ice.

These are crew defeats — prime to backside. There isn’t an space proper now that’s really working. And Auston Matthews is kind of proper about one factor.

It’s early and this isn’t a blue noise concern or a media concern. This can be a hockey concern. An enormous downside for Brendan Shanahan, Kyle Dubas, and Sheldon Keefe. An enormous downside and not using a easy or single resolution.

ssimmons@postmedia.com

twitter.com/simmonssteve

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