This is not a time for Kyle Dubas to be worrying about Monday’s trade deadline in the National Hockey League.
This is a time to assess and try to make sense of the disaster that this season is turning out to be for the Maple Leafs — as disappointing a year as I can remember considering the circumstances, the salaries and the expectations.
This is a time for Dubas and his front office and Brendan Shanahan and Sheldon Keefe to do an internal overhaul and examination because this season, unlike any in recent memory, hasn’t unfolded anywhere near where the executives or fans expected them to be.
Dubas fired coach Mike Babcock in November. That had to happen. Initially, the team took off under Keefe, excited about a new style of play, excited that the coach they’d had enough of was gone. Keefe went 14-3-1 from the November day he was hired to the end of December. That was incredible. It was also unsustainable.
In goal differential, a statistic Babcock adores, the Leafs were +22 over that time. Since January, the Leafs have won eight of 20 games, are a minus team in goal differential, haven’t been able to deal with injuries and poor goaltending from Frederik Andersen, and they appear to have little sense of team, sense of occasion, ability to deal with the daily circumstances of their jobs.
That, more than anything, has to upset Dubas — and have fingers of doubt pointed at him. He put so much faith and so many of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment dollars in the hands of the Leafs leadership group and he has to wonder, as they continue to flounder, what precisely he is paying for. And where is the value that comes from building a team around four apparent superstars.
There are different kinds of stars in hockey and always have been. There are the big scorers who change teams, the way the Boston first line of Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak change and mould the Bruins almost every night. And there are, what I call, accumulators of statistics.
At the end of the season, and sometimes during the season, the numbers look fine. But when it matters, when it really matters, where have they been, Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner, John Tavares and William Nylander? Are they changing games the way Sidney Crosby changed that awful game in Pittsburgh — awful if you’re a Leaf fan — on Tuesday night.
Crosby scored the winning goal at the 2010 Olympics in overtime and scored a goal in the gold-medal winning game in Sochi four years later. That wasn’t accidental. Nor was it accidental when Jonathan Toews scored the first goal in Vancouver and Sochi in the gold medal games. That’s what winners do. They change games. They don’t leave it to anyone else.
What kind of superstars is Dubas paying for and banking his reputation and maybe his future on?]
Matthews leads the NHL in goal scoring. Leafs were down 5-0 when he scored on the powerplay Tuesday night. He got his goal. The team got whomped, and the way in which they were defeated, with Evgeni Malkin out of the Penguins lineup, was more than troublesome.
They didn’t compete very hard. They had no sense of purpose or occasion. On penalty kill, Pierre McGuire pointed out regularly on NBCSN players were out of position and often didn’t have their sticks on the ice or sticks in the passing lanes. The Leafs were susceptible to the cross ice pass, not just against the Penguins, but against just about every team with offensive quality they have played of late.
This is supposed to be a playoff race for the final spot in the Atlantic Division. This is supposed to be a team in contention. Shanahan said at the beginning of the season that he wanted the Leafs to be one of eight teams with a chance to win the Stanley Cup. Maybe now they’re Top 16. Maybe.
And almost all the reasons for letting Babcock go have crept back into Maple Leafs games. Babcock’s fate was sealed after a horrible, careless game in Pittsburgh in November. Leafs would have fired him the next day had the Hall of Fame ceremony not been going on. So they waited one more game and let him go.
The Pittsburgh game Tuesday night looked a lot like the game that doomed Babcock. Aside from Zach Hyman, there was almost no one fighting on loose pucks. They had little offensive zone time, few offensive chances, were soft in the neutral zone, bottled up terribly by Penguins forechecking, and were disastrous on the penalty kill, which has been a Leaf difficulty coming on four years now.
What can Dubas do now to change the direction of the team? He’s played his big cards this season. He fired the coach. That worked temporarily. The team is now all over the place, playing the kind of games that got Babcock dismissed. His big trade was to bring in Tyson Barrie and Alex Kerfoot for Nazem Kadri and that hasn’t helped at all. He waited too long to trade for Jack Campbell and bring in a backup goalie. The five or six points they relinquished could be the points that cost them the post season.
Dubas, like his team, hasn’t had a good year. And what the best general managers do — and we still don’t know where he fits in on that scale —when they assess their teams, when they realize that some moves aren’t working, is find a way to fix them. You don’t sit and watch and wait and let the same thing happen over and over again. This isn’t an anomaly of a season. They are what their record says they are — maybe worse — with a bigger problem.
Maple Leafs GM Kyle Dubas watches practice at the Ford Performance Centre in Toronto on November 25, 2019. Craig Robertson/Toronto Sun
When the game seems to matter most — the two games against Florida thus far, the home game against Chicago, the game in Buffalo last week, a clear chance to pick up two points on the Panthers — they have been at their worst and their weakest. And afterwards you get the typical dressing room response. We like our team. We have to play better. We’re better than this. We have to play harder. Blah blah blah for the cameras.
How many times have you heard those same words this season?
How many times have those words fixed the Leafs problems?
Dubas lost Kadri and signed Kasperi Kapanen and Andreas Johnsson for $3 million a year. Before he got hurt, Johnsson hadn’t done much and Kapanen’s season can be filed like the team, under grand disappointment. Before he got hurt, Dubas brought in Cody Ceci. Dubas is below the Mendoza Line is his trading percentage and salary cap management of the past nine months.
And with all the pressure of Monday’s trade deadline, he is probably better off taking a step back than doing anything foolhardy here.
And for all the devout followers of analytics, who laughed with glee when the modern-thinking Dubas was named as GM, ahead of Lou Lamoriello and Mark Hunter, ask yourself this: What exactly did analytics have to do with getting drubbed in Pittsburgh on Tuesday?
Martin Marincin was out of position on two power play goals. Andersen coughed one up on another one. Random plays. Simple mistakes. Players in front of the Toronto net unattended. The goals were mostly tap-ins from in close to empty nets because Leafs seemed clueless without the puck and unable to deal with cross ice passes anywhere in their defensive zone.
The Leafs play Pittsburgh again Thursday night. I expect a better performance. How much better I don’t know. After the Buffalo game on the weekend, they should have been better Tuesday night and weren’t. It was as soft a performance as they’ve had all season. They have players hurt — so does just about everybody. But aside from Morgan Rielly, who was not having a great season to begin with, the Leafs are playing with Matthews, Marner, Tavares and Nylander: Difference makers should be making a difference.
Last year and the year before, there was optimism at the trade deadline. There was a sense the Leafs needed a player, like Jake Muzzin, who could help the team at playoff time. Now it’s not really about contending.
Even if this team makes the playoffs, they’ll be an easy out for somebody. What Dubas and Shanahan and Keefe need to determine is: What is this team now, what is it going forward? Those are the hard questions and the hard answers. And if the trade deadline passes without Leaf activity of consequence, so be it. There is no one-day, one-move solution available.
This team requires a hockey autopsy of sorts. The bodies may not be dead yet. The club looked close to that Tuesday night in Pittsburgh.
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — The Miami Dolphins will bring in another quarterback while starter Tua Tagovailoa deals with his latest concussion, coach Mike McDaniel said Friday.
For now, Skylar Thompson will be considered the Dolphins’ starter while Tagovailoa is sidelined. Tagovailoa left Thursday night’s 31-10 loss to Buffalo in the third quarter with the third known concussion of his NFL career, all of them coming in the last 24 months.
“The team and the organization are very confident in Skylar,” McDaniel said.
McDaniel said the team has not made any decision about whether to place Tagovailoa on injured reserve. Tagovailoa was expected at the team facility on Friday to start the process of being evaluated in earnest.
“We just have to operate in the unknown and be prepared for every situation,” McDaniel said, noting that the only opinions that will matter to the team will be the ones from Tagovailoa and the medical staff.
McDaniel added that he doesn’t see Tagovailoa playing in Miami’s next game at Seattle on Sept. 22.
“I have no idea and I’m not going to all of a sudden start making decisions that I don’t even see myself involved in the most important parts of,” McDaniel added. “All I’m telling Tua is everyone is counting on you to be a dad and be a dad this weekend. And then we’ll move from there. There won’t be any talk about where we’re going in that regard … none of that will happen without doctors’ expertise and the actual player.”
Tagovailoa was 17 for 25 passing for 145 yards, with one touchdown and three interceptions — one of which was returned for a Buffalo score — when he got hurt. Thompson completed eight of 14 passes for 80 yards.
Thompson said he feels “fully equipped” to run the Dolphins’ offense.
“What’s going to lie ahead, who knows, but man, I’m confident, though,” Thompson said after Thursday’s game. “I feel like I’m ready for whatever’s to come. I’m going to prepare and work hard and do everything I can to lead this team and do my job.”
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa sustained a concussion for the third time in his NFL career, leaving his team’s game Thursday night against Buffalo after running into defensive back Damar Hamlin and hitting the back of his head against the turf.
Tagovailoa remained down for about two minutes before getting to his feet and walking to the sideline after the play in the third quarter. He made his way to the tunnel not long afterward, looking into the stands before smiling and departing toward the locker room.
The Dolphins needed almost no time before announcing it was a concussion. The team said he had two during the 2022 season, and Tagovailoa was diagnosed with another concussion when he was a college player at Alabama.
Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel said Tagovailoa would get “proper procedural evaluation” and “appropriate care” on Friday.
“The furthest thing from my mind is, ‘What is the timeline?’ We just need to evaluate and just worry about my teammate, like the rest of the guys are,” McDaniel said. “We’ll get more information tomorrow and take it day by day from here.”
Some players saw Tagovailoa in the locker room after the game and said they were encouraged. Tagovailoa spoke with some players and then went home after the game, McDaniel said.
“I have a lot of love for Tua, built a great relationship with him,” said quarterback Skylar Thompson, who replaced Tagovailoa after the injury. “You care about the person more than the player and everybody in the organization would say the same thing. Just really praying for Tua and hopefully everything will come out all right.”
Tagovailoa signed a four-year, $212 million extension before this season — a deal that makes him one of the highest-paid players in the NFL — and was the NFL’s leading passer in Week 1 this season. Tagovailoa left with the Dolphins trailing 31-10, and that was the final score.
“If you know Tua outside of football, you can’t help but feel for him,” Bills quarterback Josh Allen said on Amazon following the game. “He’s a great football player but he’s an even greater human being. He’s one of the best humans on the planet. I’ve got a lot of love for him and I’m just praying for him and his family, hoping everything’s OK. But it’s tough, man. This game of football that we play, it’s got its highs and it’s got its lows — and this is one of the lows.”
Tagovailoa’s college years and first three NFL seasons were marred by injury, though he positioned himself for a big pay bump with an injury-free and productive 2023 as he led the Dolphins into the playoffs. He threw for 29 touchdowns and a league-best 4,624 yards last year.
When, or if, he can come back this season is anyone’s guess. Tagovailoa said in April 2023 that the concussions he had in the 2022 season left him contemplating his playing future. “I think I considered it for a time,” he said then, when asked if he considered stepping away from the game to protect himself.
McDaniel said it’s not his place to say if Tagovailoa should return to football. “He’ll be evaluated and we’ll have conversations and progress as appropriate,” McDaniel said.
Tagovailoa was hurt Thursday on a fourth-down keeper with about 4:30 left in the third. He went straight ahead into Hamlin and did not slide, leading with his right shoulder instead.
Hamlin was the player who suffered a cardiac arrest after making a tackle during a Monday night game in January 2023 at Cincinnati, causing the NFL to suspend a pivotal game that quickly lost significance in the aftermath of a scary scene that unfolded in front of a national television audience.
Tagovailoa wound up on his back, both his hands in the air and Bills players immediately pointed at him as if to suggest there was an injury. Dolphins center Aaron Brewer quickly did the same, waving to the sideline.
Tagovailoa appeared to be making a fist with his right hand as he lay on the ground. It was movement consistent with something that is referred to as the “fencing response,” which can be common after a traumatic brain injury.
Tagovailoa eventually got to his feet. McDaniel grabbed the side of his quarterback’s head and gave him a kiss on the cheek as Tagovailoa departed. Thompson came into the game to take Tagovailoa’s spot.
“I love Tua on and off the football field,” Bills edge Von Miller said. “I’m a huge fan of him. I can empathize and sympathize with him because I’ve been there. I wish him the best.”
Tagovailoa’s history with concussions — and how he has since worked to avoid them — is a huge part of the story of his career, and now comes to the forefront once again.
He had at least two concussions during the 2022 season. He was hurt in a Week 3 game against Buffalo and cleared concussion protocol, though he appeared disoriented on that play but returned to the game.
The NFL later changed its concussion protocol to mandate that if a player shows possible concussion symptoms — including a lack of balance or stability — he must sit out the rest of the game.
Less than a week later, in a Thursday night game at Cincinnati, Tagovailoa was concussed on a scary hit that briefly knocked him unconscious and led to him being taken off the field on a stretcher.
His second known concussion of that season came in a December game against Green Bay, and he didn’t play for the rest of the 2022 season. After that, Tagovailoa began studying ways where he may be able to fall more safely and protect himself against further injury — including studying jiu-jitsu.
“I’m not worried about anything that’s out of my hands,” McDaniel said. “I’m just worried about the human being.”
Montreal Alouettes wide receiver Tyson Philpot has announced he will be out for the rest of the CFL season.
The Delta, B.C., native posted the news on his Instagram page Thursday.
“To Be Continued. Shoutout my team, the fans of the CFL and the whole city of Montreal! I can’t wait to be back healthy and write this next chapter in 2025,” the statement read.
Philpot, 24, injured his foot in a 33-23 win over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats on Aug. 10 and was placed on the six-game injured list the next week.
The six-foot-one, 195-pound receiver had 58 receptions, 779 yards and five touchdowns in nine games for the league-leading Alouettes in his third season.
Philpot scored the game-winning touchdown in Montreal’s Grey Cup win last season to punctuate a six-reception, 63-yard performance.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
