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LeBrun: What rival NHL executives are saying about the simmering Maple Leafs powder keg

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2 years ago

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TORONTO — The problem, of course, is that you can’t evaluate the Maple Leafs’ start to the 2022-23 season in a vacuum.

Whether it’s fair or not, the team’s 4-4-2 record isn’t just about the first 10 games of the season.

It’s about a powder keg that has always been sitting there because, for this organization as it’s currently constructed, this is the do-or-die season.

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It’s about general manager Kyle Dubas not being offered a contract extension this past summer, which came after the team lost in the first round of the playoffs — which came after other first-round fumbles in the years prior. No one’s panicking about the Lightning’s so-so start. For obvious reasons. When the Leafs decided not to extend Dubas, it put everyone in the organization on notice, including the players. And they can’t help but feel it, whether they admit it or not.

And it’s about Auston Matthews, who likely has to decide by the end of this season if he intends to extend with the Leafs. His current contract expires and he becomes an unrestricted free agent after the 2023-24 season. I still think he will want to re-sign with the Leafs. But the point is, that’s another major franchise decision looming, and wouldn’t that decision be easier to make if the team finally does something in the playoffs?

There’s so much riding on this season for so many people, and from the offseason into camp, people from other organizations relayed to me that they could sense that tension in the Toronto front office. And I mean, it’s understandable. People’s jobs are on the line.

What I didn’t see coming, and maybe I should have given what’s at stake, was this level of drama so early this season. I figured this team would more or less steamroll through the regular season, finish first or second in the Atlantic, and then we would get set for the playoff drama, regardless of the final outcome.

But since training camp, head coach Sheldon Keefe has been hinting at his level of concern through his actions, whether it’s dropping an F-bomb during a drill in camp or directing a number of postgame comments at his players right from opening night in Montreal.

Some of his comments early this season have certainly been noted around the league.

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I asked Keefe during his daily media availability on the morning of an Oct. 20 game against the Stars if he intended to approach the season this way or if it was spur-of-the-moment reactions.

He responded: “Well, it’s a little bit of both. It’s a combination of the fact that we had talked before the season began about the importance of being really consistent and having our game, as often as we can, look like ourselves. Right from Game 1, that wasn’t the case. Even though you have a lot of good things happening in preseason and you got a lot of confidence going, you go out there and it doesn’t look that way.

“For a team that’s been together as long as ours has — I know we have new players and stuff like that — but obviously the identity of our team and the core of our team has remained the same. So there’s an expectation that you would start at a really high level. And you don’t. So that was disappointing.”

Specifically, at the time, he was referring to losses to the Habs and Coyotes.

“We’ve been talking about not leaving those points on the table and it just so happens (with) the schedule, we get two opponents there that were the type of teams we struggled with last season,” Keefe continued. “And the expectation (is) that we’ve improved there, and we didn’t. So, I think (the sharp criticisms of players are) more just a symptom of that than anything.

“I don’t know if I had a game plan to how I was going to approach the early going here other than to say that there’s a high expectation that our group would continue to grow and have a good start to the season (and), particularly in those types of games, we would be better. And we haven’t been.”

First of all, I appreciate the honesty in that answer.

And since then, there have been losses to San Jose and Anaheim, which presumably would again be the type of teams Keefe was referring to.

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What I make of Keefe’s edgy behavior with his players so early in the season is that he’s trying to get the foundation as right as possible for playoff time as opposed to waiting until then to raise the decibel level.

Which I get. Don’t cram last minute for your final exam. Do the work ahead of time.

But in the process, he obviously risks alienating his top players, as our intrepid Leafs beat writer Jonas Siegel wondered about after the Ducks loss and the Mitch Marner benching heard around the world.

All of which, of course, has Toronto media and fans alike wondering how hot a seat Keefe is on.

One thing to consider: Not that Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment is counting its pennies, but remember that MLSE is still paying Mike Babcock this season through June 30 for one last year at $5.8 million. Keefe makes just under $2 million in salary for each of this season and next. If you fire Keefe, you’re paying two guys just south of $7.8 million this season not to coach. Gulp. It’s MLSE, so maybe that’s a drop in the bucket, but then also add on whatever salary is attached to a new coach, especially if it’s a new coach with a brand name. MLSE would be in double digits overall this year between the new coach and the two former coaches.

For example, Barry Trotz isn’t coming to Toronto for anything less than $5 million per year, in my mind anyway. Speaking to Trotz back in September, it was clear that while he eventually wanted to return to an NHL bench, he wasn’t quite ready yet. He needs more time to attend to things in his personal life. My understanding is that Trotz wouldn’t be ready to entertain an NHL return until December at the earliest.

In any case, I don’t believe a coaching change is the first thing the Leafs should look at if things don’t improve.

Instead, I agree with our Leafs columnist James Mirtle that the first thing I would look at, as difficult as it is so far away from the March 3 trade deadline, is making a transaction to help the roster.

I get that it’s hard in a flat cap world this early in the season, but look at those two Vancouver deals last week. Nothing big, but they’re tweaks that could help the team.

Personally? I think it’s too early for this level of panic in the Toronto market. I think this team will get going.

I reached out to several rival front-office executives to see if they agreed, asking them for their honest takes on the Leafs. Some politely declined to comment because it’s too early, but others responded (via text message and under the condition of anonymity, of course):

Team exec No. 1: “Playing .500 10 games in and two points out of a playoff spot … let’s not panic here!! They obviously need to figure it out but way too early to panic.”

Team exec No. 2: “I would be a little bit nervous if I were them. … They haven’t looked great so far. I still think they are very likely to make the playoffs, but I don’t think it is guaranteed, and the bar for them is higher than that.”

Team exec No. 3: “There are 72 games to go, lots of runway. That group will get going.”

Team exec No. 4: “It’s too early to panic. The games I’ve watched, it really was how inconsistent they were during the game. They looked great then just awful. I thought before the season goaltending was a concern but (Ilya) Samsonov has been solid. Offensively they have a top-five team in the league maybe even top-three. Defensively they need to defend as a five-man unit and take pride in it. Also losing to all these weak teams just shows me they don’t have a killer instinct. They go into games thinking it’s going to be easy. So that’s on the coaches to get them ready. With all that, I totally think they will be fine.”

The reality of the situation is that the kind of major changes that some Leafs fans are clamoring for don’t normally happen in-season. Those who want Dubas fired, for example, and want a new GM in place, to me that’s an offseason project when you have access to a larger field of candidates.

And more profound roster changes are easier to pull off in June than they are midseason. There are just more teams willing to talk about things when there’s more flexibility.

That’s not saying changes aren’t coming if the season goes off the rails. They most likely will be.

But I still think the likeliest scenario is the Leafs get back on track and we wait until springtime for that true final exam for the organization, one way or another.

(Top photo: Debora Robinson / NHLI via Getty Images)

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Washington Capitals 3-2 win ends Dallas Stars’ winning streak

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12 hours ago

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October 18, 2024

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WASHINGTON (AP) — Tom Wilson, Dylan Strome and Taylor Raddysh scored to help the Washington Capitals end the Dallas Stars’ season-opening winning streak at four with a 3-2 victory Thursday night.

Wilson’s goal was his third in three games, Strome his second of the season and Raddysh his first since joining the team in free agency last summer. Charlie Lindgren made 22 saves as the Capitals wrapped up this early homestand with back-to-back wins.

The Stars fell from the ranks of the league’s unbeaten teams despite a short-handed goal by Colin Blackwell and one at even strength from Jason Robertson. Rookie Oskar Bäck set up Blackwell for his first NHL point.

Casey DeSmith was screened on two of the three goals he allowed on 26 shots.

LIGHTNING 4, GOLDEN KNIGHTS 3

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Nikita Kucherov scored the winning goal with less than a minute to play just 1:27 after Brandon Hagel had tied it and Tampa Bay rallied to beat Vegas.

Kucherov’s second goal of the game with 55 seconds left was his sixth of the season.

Janis Moser had a goal and two assists for the Lightning, who remain unbeaten. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 22 saves.

Brayden McNabb, Pavel Dorofeyev and Ivan Barbashev had goals for Vegas. Adin Hill turned aside 21 shots.

Jack Eichel, with two assists on Thursday, now has 10 points this season in five games and reached reached double-digit points faster than any other player in Vegas history. He is the 10th U.S.-born player to accomplish the feat.

After Barbashev put Vegas up 3-2 early in the second, Hagel pulled Tampa Bay even at 3 with 2:22 remaining in the third.

BLUE JACKETS 6, SABRES 4

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Kirill Marchenko and Mathieu Olivier each had a goal and an assist and Daniil Tarasov made 21 saves to help Columbus to a win over Buffalo.

Yegor Chinakhov, Adam Fantilli, Zachary Aston-Reese and Damon Severson also scored for Columbus, and Zach Werenski added two assists.

Ryan McLeod, Owen Power and JJ Peterka scored for Buffalo, and Jiri Kulich added his first NHL goal. Devon Lev stopped 19 shots for the Sabres (1-5-1), who have lost two straight road games and five of their first six overall.

CANUCKS 3, FLORIDA 2, OT

SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — J.T. Miller scored 2:09 into overtime and Vancouver got their first win of the season, beating Florida.

Teddy Blueger and Quinn Hughes had goals for Vancouver, with Kevin Lankinen stopping 26 shots.

Anton Lundell got his fourth goal in the last three games for Florida and Jesper Boqvist also scored for the Panthers, who got 30 saves from Sergei Bobrovsky.

Florida remained without forwards Aleksander Barkov (lower body) and Matthew Tkachuk (illness).

DEVILS 3, SENATORS 1

OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) — Jacob Markstrom stopped 30 shots and lost his shutout bid in the final minutes as New Jersey beat Ottawa.

Erik Haula, Nathan Bastian and Paul Cotter scored for the Devils, who won for the third time in four games and improved to 5-2-0.

The Senators, who were coming off an 8-7 overtime victory against Los Angeles on Monday, struggled to beat Markstrom.

Brady Tkachuk was the only scorer for the Senators, beating Markstrom, with a power-play goal with 65 seconds remaining in the third period.

Anton Forsberg, making his second straight start and hoping to rebound after getting pulled Monday, made 32 saves in the loss.

Haula opened the scoring early in the second period and Bastian added a short-handed goal, giving New Jersey a 2-0 lead after 40 minutes. Cotter scored midway through the third.

RANGERS 5, RED WING 2

DETROIT (AP) — Artemi Panarin had his eighth career hat trick and New York rolled to a victory over Detroit.

Panarin became the first Rangers player to have multiple points in the first four games of a season. He scored twice on the power play. Vincent Trocheck also had a power- play goal and assisted on all of Panarin’s goals.

Jonathan Quick made 29 saves in his season debut. Victor Mancini also scored.

The Rangers have won the last five meetings, including twice this week. New York had a 4-1 home victory over Detroit on Monday night.

Moritz Seider and J.T. Compher scored for Detroit. Red Wings goalie Cam Talbot was pulled in the second period after allowing five goals.

KINGS 4, CANADIENS 1

MONTREAL (AP) — David Rittich made 26 saves a night after being benched in the second period in Toronto, helping road-weary Los Angeles snap a three-game losing streak with a victory over Montreal.

Los Angeles improved to 2-1-2 on a season-opening, seven-game trip necessitated by arena renovations.

Rittich rebounded after allowing four goals on 14 shots in a 6-2 loss to the Maple Leafs. Alex Laferriere, Mikey Anderson, Andreas Englund and Adrian Kempe scored.

Justin Barron scored for Montreal (2-3-0). Sam Montembeault stopped 28 shots. He made a save on Kevin Fiala on a penalty shot.

BLUES 1, ISLANDERS 0, OT

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Joel Hofer made 34 saves and assisted on Jake Neighbours’ goal at 2:04 of overtime in St. Louis victory over New York.

Hofer had his second career shutout in his and the team’s second overtime victory of the season.

Philip Broberg carried the puck into the New York zone and made a centering pass to Neighbours for the winner.

Islanders goalie Ilya Sorkin made 29 saves.

Blues defenseman Nick Leddy sat out because of a lower-body injury, the first game he has missed this season. Leddy played in all 82 games last season.

OILERS 4, PREDATORS 2

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Brett Kulak scored twice and Connor McDavid added his first goal of the season to lead Edmonton to a victory over reeling Nashville.

Jeff Skinner also scored and Calvin Pickard made 25 saves for the defending Western Conference champion Oilers, who have won consecutive games after beginning the season with a three-game skid.

Filip Forsberg and Jonathan Marchessault scored and Juuse Saros made 32 saves for Nashville (0-4).

Forsberg’s goal midway through the first period gave Nashville its first lead of the season. That lasted less than six minutes before Kulak tied it.

Kulak sealed it with an empty-netter in the final minute for the defenseman’s first career two-goal game.

BLACKHAWKS 4, SHARKS 2

CHICAGO (AP) — Tyler Bertuzzi and Nick Foligno each scored a power-play goal, and Chicago beat San Jose.

Taylor Hall and Jason Dickinson also scored for Chicago. Connor Bedard and Teuvo Teravainen each had two assists.

Hall, who missed most of last season because of right knee surgery, put the Blackhawks in front 4:20 into the first period. It was Hall’s first goal since Nov. 5 and No. 267 for his career.

Tyler Toffoli and Fabian Zetterlund scored for San Jose, which trailed 3-0 early in the second. William Eklund and Mikael Granlund had two assists each.

The Sharks dropped to 0-2-2 under Ryan Warsofsky, who was promoted to head coach in June.

Petr Mrazek had 20 saves for Chicago, and Vitek Vanecek made 23 stops for San Jose.

KRAKEN 6, FLYERS 4

SEATTLE (AP) — Eeli Tolvanen, Jordan Eberle, and Shane Wright scored three goals in less than three minutes in the second period and Seattle held off a Philadelphia rally in a victory.

Tolvanen’s goal broke a 2-2 tie at the 14:57 mark. Eberle made it a two-goal game with a goal at 17:44. Eight seconds later, Wright scored to give Seattle a three-goal lead.

Jared McCann tied the game at 2-2 with the first of Seattle’s four second-period goals.

Cam York and Jamie Drysdale scored to pull Philadelphia within 5-4 in the third period, but Oliver Bjorkstrand responded with a goal to push Seattle’s lead to two with just over five minutes left in the game.

Scott Laughton scored twice for the Flyers in the first period, while Brandon Montour scored one in for the Kraken.

Chandler Stephenson had an assist in his 500th NHL game. Seattle’s Philipp Grubauer had 21 saves.

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Canada’s Dabrowski, New Zealand’s Routliffe out of Japan Women’s Open after walkover

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22 hours ago

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October 17, 2024

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OSAKA, Japan – Canada’s Gabriela Dabrowski and New Zealand’s Erin Routliffe are out of the Japan Women’s Open tennis tournament.

Spain’s Cristina Bucsa and Romania’s Monica Niculescu advanced to the final on Thursday by way of walkover.

The fourth seeds were supposed to play the top-seeded Dabrowski and Routliffe in the semifinals.

Bucsa and Niculescu will next face third-seeded Ena Shibahara of Japan and Laura Siegemund of Germany in the final.

Dabrowski and Routliffe defeated Japan’s Shuko Aoyama and Eri Hozumi in the quarterfinals 6-2, 6-4 on Wednesday to advance.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 17, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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Mountain West commissioner says she’s heartbroken over turmoil surrounding San Jose State volleyball

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22 hours ago

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October 17, 2024

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LAS VEGAS (AP) — Mountain West Conference Commissioner Gloria Nevarez said Thursday the forfeitures that volleyball teams are willing to take to avoid playing San Jose State is “not what we celebrate in college athletics” and that she is heartbroken over what has transpired this season surrounding the Spartans and their opponents.

Four teams have canceled games against San Jose State: Boise State, Southern Utah, Utah State and Wyoming, with none of the schools explicitly saying why they were forfeiting.

A group of Nevada players issued a statement saying they will not take the floor when the Wolf Pack are scheduled to host the Spartans on Oct. 26. They cited their “right to safety and fair competition,” though their school reaffirmed Thursday that the match is still planned and that state law bars forfeiture “for reasons related to gender identity or expression.”

All those schools, except Southern Utah, are in the Mountain West. New Mexico, also in the MWC, went ahead with its home match on Thursday night, which was won by the Spartans, 3-1, the team’s first victory since Sept. 24.

“It breaks my heart because they’re human beings, young people, student-athletes on both sides of this issue that are getting a lot of national negative attention,” Nevarez said in an interview with The Associated Press at Mountain West basketball media days. “It just doesn’t feel right to me.”

Republican governors of Idaho, Nevada, Utah and Wyoming have made public statements in support of the cancellations, citing a need for fairness in women’s sports. Former President Donald Trump, the GOP nominee in this year’s presidential race, this week referenced an unidentified volleyball match when he was asked during a Fox News town hall about transgender athletes in women’s sports.

“I saw the slam, it was a slam. I never saw a ball hit so hard, hit the girl in the head,” Trump replied before he was asked what can be done. “You just ban it. The president bans it. You just don’t let it happen.”

After Trump’s comment, San Diego State issued a statement that said “it has been incorrectly reported that an San Diego State University student-athlete was hit in the face with a volleyball during match play with San Jose State University. The ball bounced off the shoulder of the student-athlete, and the athlete was uninjured and did not miss a play.”

San Jose State has not made any direct comments about the politicians’ “fairness” references, and Nevarez did not go into details.

“I’m learning a lot about the issue,” Nevarez said. “I don’t know a lot of the language yet or the science or the understanding nationally of how this issue plays out. The external influences are so far on either side. We have an election year. It’s political, so, yeah, it feels like a no-win based on all the external pressure.”

The cancellations could mean some teams will not qualify for the conference tournament Nov. 27-30 in Las Vegas, where the top six schools are slated to compete for the league championship.

“The student-athlete (in question) meets the eligibility standard, so if a team does not play them, it’s a forfeit, meaning they take a loss,” Nevarez said.

Ahead of the Oct. 26 match in Reno. Nevada released a statement acknowledging that “a majority of the Wolf Pack women’s volleyball team” had decided to forfeit against San Jose State. The school said only the university can take that step but any player who decides not to play would face no punishment.

___

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