Craig Berube Sends Last-Minute Message to Max Domi Ahead of His Return
Max Domi looks like he's headed back to the lineup, and ahead of his return there's some advice Craig Berube is giving to him before he steps back on the ice.
Out of the lineup for nearly a month, Max Domi's return to the Maple Leafs lineup is a positive sign that Toronto's wounded are recovering and ready to help make an impact.
The Leafs may see the return of Jake McCabe as well, a great sign their defense will be stronger now he's potentially back.
But with Domi potentially sliding into the lineup against New Jersey and barring any last minute changes, his head coach has some advice for him ahead of Tuesday's matchup:
He's that type of player that. He could score goals there."
Max Domi's Allergic To Taking Shots
It's not the first time that Berube has chastised Domi for being too much of a playmaker, as he called the forward out earlier in the year to shoot more. Berube has a point, as Domi only has 24 shots total this season in 19 games.
He's on pace to have one of the lowest shot outputs of his career, and as obvious as it may be, he needs to shoot to score.
As good a playmaker as Domi can be, he's shown to be capable of scoring 15-20 goals a season.
It also doesn't help that Domi hasn't scored a goal since last April against Montreal, which brings concern that he isn't doing what he can to set himself up for success.
When he scored a career-high 28 goals, he also shot a career-high 203 times; the only time he's hit that mark in his career so he has precedent to let the puck fly a bit more.
Toronto as a whole needs to stop relying so much on Auston Matthews and William Nylander to score goals, and have very capable lower-tier options who have to step it up, like Domi.
Craig Berube has a lot of decision-making to do when it comes to his lineup in the next few games.
Players returning from injury means a lot of lineup shuffling and it'll be hard to argue that Domi should take over for Fraser Minten if they decide to send him back.
Only time will tell how Domi will come back, and for sure it will take a few games to get into the swing of things but if he can learn anything from coming back it's this:
Shoot more Max.
| POLL | ||
Do you think Max Domi needs to focus on shooting the puck more? | ||
| Yes he needs to help the Leafs score! | 881 | 91.9 % |
| No he's a better passer! | 78 | 8.1 % |
| List of polls | ||
