Sid was chatting on Leafs Morning Take, dropping some truth bombs.
Sid's not off the mark here. The Leafs keep sticking to the core five players, leaving no room for the supporting cast. If they want to shake things up, it must come from the men in suits, starting with president Brendan Shanahan.
Leafs fans aren't always in agreement with Sid, but this time, he has Toronto thinking. Shanahan's been around for all the Leafs' ups and downs, and the common factor in all those flops? Him. Matthews is doing his superstar thing, but what's Shanahan's play?
Toronto's spending $40.5 million on their top four offensive wizards this season, yet they have a power play in a 1-20 rut.
Putting it into perspective, it's more than Winnipeg's top 13 forwards, who make $37 million. The Jets are also atop the Central Division, while the Leafs are a wild-card team.
The foursome's putrid play led to a benching by coach Sheldon Keefe.
The bench boss was furious about them giving up a 2-on-0 break.
The comments are pretty telling. Luckily, Ilya Samsonov stepped up with two stellar saves, part of a 32-save shutout with a 2.88 goals saved above expected in a 1-0 overtime victory, courtesy of Mathews's game-winner.
If the Leafs have trouble on the powerplay early tonight, don't be shocked if Keefe mixes things up, splitting the stars to spark some 5-on-4 success.
POLL | ||
JANVIER 28 | 1242 ANSWERS Toronto Media Knows How to Fix the Leafs: Someone Needs to Go - But It's Not Coach Keefe Who should the Toronto Maple Leafs prioritize shaking up to improve their performance? | ||
Brendan Shanahan | 503 | 40.5 % |
Sheldon Keefe | 360 | 29 % |
Player roster | 301 | 24.2 % |
No changes needed | 78 | 6.3 % |
List of polls |