Three games to go. Hang in there, it’s almost over. I’m not sure if there is any other way to look at the Leafs season. There are a few nice moments like NHL debuts and first NHL points for AHLers but putting this team out of its misery seems to be in everyone’s best interest.
Here are some thoughts on that.
Craig Berube shouldn’t be here
“I’m playing my team in a way that I can explain in job interviews next winter,” is the Moneyball quote that seems to describe Craig Berube’s approach to the end of the season. Either that or he’s being purposely spiteful as the Maple Leafs acting GMs call up players like Ryan Tverberg and William Villeneuve to get their NHL taste late in the season.
If Craig Berube is still trying to get anything out of this group, a group that no longer has Auston Matthews, Anthony Stolarz, Chris Tanev, and others, a group that he still couldn’t win with, he’s showing an inability to adapt and putting up some absolutely miserable results down the stretch.
Berube’s attempts to win are coming at the cost of giving looks to William Villeneuve and Ryan Tverberg or expanded looks to players like Jacob Quillan and it seems that only out of complete necessity was Luke Haymes given a look on Thursday night.
No one cares if the Maple Leafs win and as the team is on the cusp of determining whether the Leafs are rebuilding or retooling, understanding what the youth in the system can do is critical. Berube is still coaching for today and seems to be operating with the knowledge he’ll be gone otherwise he’d have some vested interest in seeing what these kids can do as well.
That raises the important question, why is he still here? Derek Lalonde would be an acceptable short term interim coach to run out the clock on the season. He might not be an inspiring long term option, but the Leafs have an experienced bench boss on staff that they could have used and instead more focused on selling the illusion that an incoming NHL GM has an exciting plan for the club that will involve a new coach and they are purposely moving on from Berube. The Leafs also seem to be at the mercy of the MLSE board that doesn’t like the idea of paying Berube not to coach and thinks that there is no harm in having him run out the clock in a season where the results are established.
Berube might not be a bad coach, but he’s a bad coach for the Maple Leafs and with a lineup that now includes youth like Cowan, Quillan, Haymes, Tverberg, Groulx, Villeneuve, and Akhtyamov as well as younger veterans like Maccelli and Robertson, a change could have been nice. These games don’t matter for the standings but do matter for the future and the Maple Leafs have once again shot themselves in the foot.
Whether you are trying to win or if you wanting to see what your kids can do, it should be pretty easy to recognize that there isn’t much value in having Michael Pezzetta or Philippe Myers in the lineup at this point, and this seems like Craig Berube doubling down on hockey that hasn’t worked here.
Operation Tanking Update
The Maple Leafs are presently tied for 6th from the bottom in the league. If the Leafs hit 5th from the bottom, they get to use their pick this season, as long as they don’t get bumped by a lower team winning the draft lottery. Moving up to third would have been ideal but isn’t really attainable unless the Flames go on the most poorly timed winning streak of all time. The Rangers at fourth from the bottom might be reachable but unlikely as well. The Kraken are one point behind the Leafs in the standings and have a game at hand, the Leafs could find themselves in fifth as a result.
The Rangers and Panthers playing against each other means that fewer points are available for teams for teams to stay ahead of the Leafs in the standings, but overall the Leafs schedule is one that serves them well in losing their final two games.
Saturday’s game against the Panthers is most critical. This is a most lose game if the Maple Leafs and while no one expects the players on the ice or Craig Berube to purposely tank the game, it wouldn’t hurt.
At this point the Maple Leafs, if they don’t land in the top five of the draft lottery odds are handing the Bruins a pick in the top ten, and giving them an incredible pick. Whether it is sixth or tenth, it should warrant the same level of disgust.
If the Leafs pick, the next couple of years Toronto won’t own their pick. It will be the Bruins followed by the Flyers, and those picks could be very good as well. What a high pick this year might warrant is an attempt at a retool rather than going straight into a rebuild. A top five talent in a strong top heavy draft year on an entry level deal matters and if the Leafs aren’t getting that boost, a rebuild might be the better direction. It’s also worth noting that the pick the Leafs traded to the Flyers is a top 10 protected pick and if the Bruins use the pick this season, the Leafs will have an opportunity to use their own pick next year if things don’t go well for them.
Bob Gainey is an interesting suggestion
I’m not here to advocate for Craig Button’s suggestion of Bob Gainey as either the Maple Leafs GM or as the President of Hockey Operations, but I will admit that it is one of the more interesting old guard suggestions. It’s been over a decade since Bob Gainey has had a front office job in the NHL and over 15 years since he was a GM. Craig Button mentioning him is interesting as Gainey did have some success when he was managing and comes with some coaching experience as well that gives him some interesting perspective. He did however step out at a time when analytics and possession hockey started taking over and might have already been behind the times there with his style passing him by. Where Gainey is at today isn’t something that I can answer and Craig Button advocating for the guy who employed Button as a Director of Scouting and launching his NHL front office career means that several grains of salt are required to overlook the potential for bias here, but Gainey, with the right pitch is interesting and while retreads are not a surefire path to getting a team on track fast, he’s an interesting name to have thrown into a pile that is seemingly weighted towards Mike Gillis at the moment. And for the record, ten times out of ten, I’m choosing Mike Gillis over Gainey as the better option.