I’m not one for making excuses, mainly for myself as I’m my own worst critic, but also for other people. I’ll double down on that sentiment if we’re talking about a multi-millionaire that’s been pampered and coddled throughout his adult life.
There are no excuses. Unless you’re the undisputed best at your craft and working hard to stay there, you can always improve.
However, I’m finding it a little tough to lump everything on the core 4 right now, as most are doing. I’m finding it hard to use them as the excuse as to why this 2nd round series is tied. We asked them to produce like they do in the regular season and that’s exactly what they’re doing. Does that mean the top 6 has to score 3+ every single night? Of course not. They don’t do that in the regular season, nobody does. What it does mean is keeping up the pace that they set for themselves when the games are less urgent and staying there now that the games are urgent.
William Nylander is leading the charge in Toronto. With 6 goals and 15pts in 10 games, his 82 game pace would be a whopping 123pts. Nobody is complaining about Nylander right now, I assure you, but we can all agree that scoring at that pace over an extended period of time is unlikely for him. The hope is that he can keep this up for another 17 games.
Mitch Marner is next with 2 goals and 12pts in 10 games played. Over an 82 game season that’s a 98pt pace, which means that Mitch is doing exactly what he has always done in the regular season right now in the playoffs. He’s a set up man first, which is why his point totals are heavily weighted in the assist category. For those complaining that he isn’t scoring, I agree, it would be nice for him to pot a few, but to put so much negativity on an individual that, up to this point, has been producing like he’s been asked to do and leads the team in powerplay points seems a bit dramatic.
Auston Matthews is the lone player that I will give fans some leeway on. Matthews isn’t just the highest paid player on the Leafs, he was the highest paid player in the NHL this season and he hasn’t been playing like somebody that holds that title. With 2 goals and 10pts in 10 games, which would put him on an 82pt pace over a full regular season (very low for a player that has surpassed the 100pt mark multiple times), he’s not carrying his weight. To make matters worse, he registered 6pts in the first 4 games of these playoffs against Ottawa, giving him just 1 goal and 4pts over his past 6 contests. He has yet to score in 4 games against the Panthers and at this point he doesn’t just need to score, he needs to get on the board multiple times and take over a game or two in order to win the fanbase over once again.
The issue, for me, is that 10pts in 10 games would be just fine if the Leafs could get any semblance of depth scoring outside of the top 6.
Scott Laughton, who was brought in at the trade deadline after producing 27pts in 60 games for the Philadelphia Flyers, simply hasn’t found any type of scoring touch with the Leafs. With 2 goals and 4pts in 20 regular season games, he now has 2 assists in 10 playoff games. If we continue our regular season vs playoffs theme, that would put him on pace for a whopping 0 goals and 16 points over a regular season. For a player that has regularly produced around the 40pt mark, this isn’t just concerning, it’s inexcusable. Yes, he has Steve Lorentz and Calle Jarnkrok on his wings, but…..
Calle Jarnkrok missed all but 19 games this season, in which he scored 1 goal and 7pts. Over an 82 game stretch that’s a 30pt pace, which is low for him as compared to the rest of his career. However, he now has 1pt in 10 games and the math is very simple on this one, that’s an 8pt pace over a regular season. 1pt in 10 games, no matter how you slice it, is not enough to help the team push their way into round 3 and 4.
As a checking line the Jarnkrok, Laughton, Lorentz line has been just fine though. I will admit that they do a great job of shutting things down, but it’s not as if the storyline stops there.
Bobby McMann, our 6’2″ 220lb grit grinder winger, that managed to score 20 goals and 34pts in 74 games this season, has a single assist in 10 games this post season. Again, a pace that would see him net 8pts over a regular season, less than a quarter of what he produced this year, is far below expectations. In order to match his normal output, he would have to have a couple of goals and another assist as well, which doesn’t sound like much, but those points make a difference over a playoff series.
Lastly we have Pontus Holmberg, who also has a single assist in 10 games, with no goals to show for his efforts. He has managed to become a favourite of Craig Berube, so none of what I’m about to suggest will be done, but I would suggest that it may be time to remove him from the lineup and put our favourite little pouty winger, Nicolas Robertson, back in. Holmberg has never shown much in terms of a scoring touch and what the Leafs are beginning to lack in this series is goals. Robertson, while being far from a scoring phenom, can and has scored more than Holmberg. If not Robertson, then maybe it’s time to give David Kampf his first shot at skating in the 2025 NHL Playoffs? The line of Domi (only slightly below his normal PPG pace, btw), McMann and whoever they have had strapped to them hasn’t produced enough, making it a prime candidate for change. With a PK% below 80%, it may not hurt to give that unit a different look as well, which is something Kampf can provide.
Just for a final count, we have the collective group of Bobby McMann, Scott Laughton, Calle Jarnkrok and Pontus Holmberg combining for 0 goals and 5pts in a combined 40 games of play. This group played a total of 241 games in the NHL this season and produced 91pts. As of right now, if you pro-rated their playoff numbers, they would be on pace to produce 30pts over the same amount of games…. collectively….. 30pts in 241 games collectively!!
Any way you slice it, it appears to me that with the Negotiation Line, Knies, Tavares and Pacioretty doing what they are on the scoresheet, it may be time to start asking the rest of the team to get to the net and make things happen as well. You can’t win when the players that you rely on for secondary scoring go ice cold in the playoffs like they have this season. You need more from that group, yet nobody is talking about it.