The Maple Leafs Biopsy

The underachieving Toronto Maple Leafs strike again. Matthews, Tavaras, and last but not least, Marner forgot there was a game. One more time, the Maple Leafs had no answer to tough defence.  

Same old, same old. The Maple Leafs get outworked every series. No one wants to get their hands dirty. There is no grit on this team when push comes to shove. They just really get shoved.  

There seems to be a lack of leadership. When the Maple Leafs needed some emotion, there was none. They seemed to satisfied with the loss. When Marner, Matthews, Tavaras could not score, everyone gave up. Apparently, if you stop the big three from making a play, no one else can make it.  

The biggest problem—the elephant in the room—is a lack of depth on the defence. When Muzzin went down, it was catastrophic. There was no depth to replace him.  Let's face facts; no one wants to admit there is no easy fix. The frustrating thing is that this has been a problem for years. The Leafs had a weak defence this year, two years ago, three years ago, and so on. Yet the Leafs do not address this issue. Why? It is a casualty to the cap. They continue to pour money into the offence and have none left for defensive dept. Oh, they acquired defensemen and offensive d-men, but not the ones they needed. Trading Kadri was the right decision; what they got from the Avs was not. They need a stay-home defenseman. What they got was Barrie. He is a valuable player, but he is too sloppy in the defensive end. 

Until the Maple Leafs decide to fix the defence and bring in someone to help Reilly and Muzzin, expect the same old, same old. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. It is time to clear out the deadwood. Should they cut Nylander? Marner? Get a top-six forward and a stud defenceman in return. 

Hard decisions have to be made. Does Dubas have what it takes to pull it off? 

Only time will tell.