No matter who you point the finger at or what you think the problems are with this current Toronto Maple Leafs team, this west coast roadie was supposed to help solve those issues. With three games of four coming against .500 or sub .500 teams, on paper, the Leafs should be 2-1 at worst.
But, in true Toronto fashion, the Leafs find themselves 0-3 so far, being outscored 11-6 with still one game versus the Anaheim Ducks on Sunday night left to be played.
Erik Källgren will get the call for the Maple Leafs Sunday with Ilya Samsonov playing on the losing side of a 4-2 game against the Los Angeles Kings Saturday night. Källgren is coming off an overtime loss to the San Jose Sharks last Thursday, allowing four goals on 31 shots.
Individual stats don’t matter
The offensive quadruple of Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, John Tavares, and William Nylander has been leading the way in points throughout the Maple Leafs’ first nine games despite what some are calling a slow or poor start, but fans know that personal stats don’t mean anything without results in the standings.
With 10 points through his first nine games, Tavares leads the Maple Leafs with four goals and five assists. Last season’s 60 goal scorer Matthews has only two goals and five assists through nine games.
With an overall record of 4-4-1, the team is desperately searching for consistency in its winning form. The team’s three wins this year have all been 3-2 wins either in regulation or overtime, and all came within a seven-day span.
The inability to compete for a full sixty-minute game ultimately comes down to the players execution on the ice, but it seems like head coach Sheldon Keefe is losing control of the locker room. Keep in mind the Maple Leafs fired former head coach Mike Babcock after an 0-5-1 stretch in November 2019.
They say history repeats itself and it would appear as though this current Maple Leafs team is headed toward that same fate with its recent losing streak. If the team can’t rally for a win against the Kings on Sunday, it may be only a matter of time before fans see a new coach behind the bench of their Toronto Maple Leafs.
Andrew Stuetz