Jean-Sébastien Giguère points to leadership as root of Maple Leafs’ downfall: Leafs Morning Take

The Toronto Maple Leafs haven’t won a game in 36 days.

Sure, there was an Olympic break sandwiched in there, but damn, that’s ugly.

Thanks to their 3-1 loss in Montreal on Tuesday night, Toronto’s winless skid is now up to eight games (0-6-2). Incredibly, Craig Berube and company now find themselves with the seventh worst record in the NHL. Suddenly, a bottom-five pick in the draft seems very much attainable. St. Louis picked up a point and the Rangers won for the second straight night, which means Toronto’s only five points back of being in position for a top-5 pick. The Leafs have 17 games left.

At any rate, we kicked off the Wednesday edition of Leafs Morning Take by discussing Bam Adeybayo’s legendary 83 point night for the Miami Heat. This is not a basketball show but, boy oh boy, is it ever fun to hear Rosey talk about basketball, or what? Truthfully, we were just stalling so that we didn’t have to talk about the Leafs.

Speaking of which, we did dive deeper into the loss in Montreal. As noted, the Leafs haven’t won a game since February 3rd. On top of that, Auston Matthews hasn’t scored since January 27th; a span of 12 games. Furthermore, the captain has mustered just one goal in his past 16 outings. Easton Cowan played well. The rookie picked up a beautiful assist on William Nylander’s goal, logging 18:21 of ice. Meantime, we were fired up to see Nick Robertson almost drop the mitts. Rosey broke down Brendan Gallagher’s hit on Cowan, and the fight with Jake McCabe that followed it. If you take a closer look, Robertson dropped his stick and was ready to throw down, but unfortunately, McCabe beat him to the punch. Additionally, we broke down Bo Groulx’s Maple Leafs debut. The 26-year-old, who suited up in his 66th career NHL game, looked good tallying two shots on goal in 14:13 of action. He definitely brought some spice to the bottom-six.

After that, 2003 Conn Smythe Trophy winner and former Leafs netminder Jean-Sébastien Giguère joined us. First, Giggy weighed in on the game against Montreal, highlighting Joseph Woll’s sparkling performance. Naturally, we dove into Toronto’s crease situation, where Giguère suggested the Leafs actually have three formidable options moving forward—and that the team should consider dealing whichever goalie could bring back the biggest return in a trade this summer. When asked about what led to Toronto’s downfall this season, Giguère pointed directly at leadership. He also reflected on his time in Toronto, what it was like playing on a losing team, and how he handled difficult situations behind the scenes. As always, Giggy delivered plenty of insight.

Next up for the Maple Leafs is a home date with the Anaheim Ducks. We’ll have a full game preview on Thursday’s edition of Leafs Morning Take, as David Pagnotta fills in for Jay Rosehill. Speaking of Rosey, we caught up with Ducks head coach Joel Quenneville—you’ll be able to hear that interview on Thursday’s show as well.