The Maple Leafs desperately need on-ice leadership

Tuesday night’s game against the Chicago Blackhawks was a special night. It was the night that the legendary announcer for the Toronto Maple Leafs, Joe Bowen, was honoured. Bowen has called more than 3,000 Leafs’ games over the course of 44 years. The Leafs even named the broadcast booth “Bowen’s booth” in his honour.

How do the Leafs honour Joe? The Leafs won 3–2 in regulation. However, the effort they displayed through the first 50 minutes was one of the worst efforts we have seen all year, especially against a Blackhawks team without superstar Connor Bedard. On Thursday night, they followed this poor effort with a 4–0 loss against the Washington Capitals. At this point in the Matthews’ era, there are many problems. But I think one of the biggest is on-ice leadership.

Or lack thereof.

Where is the leader?

During the Joe Bowen ceremony, we heard many of his famous calls. We also heard from many former Leafs’ greats expressing their best wishes for Bowen as he enters the new chapter of his life at the conclusion of the season. Who were these former Leafs? Mats Sundin, Doug Gilmour, Wendel Clark, and Darryl Sittler.

Honestly, I was feeling pretty nostalgic. Any Leafs fan can point to the players mentioned above and say, “They were a leader.” After the nostalgia wore off, my next thought was, “Who can hold a candle to these former captains?” It didn’t take me long to realize that there are no current Leafs that can hold these former players’ jock straps, let alone be mentioned in the same conversation.

Even head coach Craig Berube, after the 6–3 loss just three games ago to the Edmonton Oilers, said:

“I talked to the team after the game. Our leaders have to take control of it a lot more than they are right now… It’s all mindset.”

But in the decade during the Matthews’ era, this is nothing new. I understand people (including myself) want a coaching change. However, what we are seeing is that the leaders of this team are not effectively leading. Whether Berube wants a more physical, heavy forechecking game, the leaders should lead the way. Instead, what we’re seeing is that the top players on the Leafs are playing disinterested hockey. And it’s disgraceful.

But the Leafs need a better bottom-six

One of the woes in the Matthews’ era has been that, because of the “Core Four,” there was not enough money to spend on good bottom-six players.

This year, the Leafs have substituted Mitch Marner for a better bottom-six. The bottom-six is scoring, and the third and fourth lines are grinding opposing teams as we have wanted to see for years. Problems solved? Evidently not. The Leafs are one point from being last in the conference.

We’re seeing the same issues that we have seen in the last decade. The superstars seemingly look to the bottom-six for “that spark.” Instead of the superstars leading the way, we’re seeing the bottom-six lead by example. Scott Laughton has revitalized the fourth line and had an excellent game against the Blackhawks. His interview after the Oilers’ game was also very telling:

“It’s hard to understand, we just have to be better… You see those guys, you know how good they are in moments, and it can turn on you that quick. We just gotta know. We don’t have to make the perfect play every shift; it’s a 60-minute game for a reason. You gotta wear the team down and go the other way, play north, make them come to you. I don’t think we did enough of that.”

I understand a bottom-six is very important, and I have said in the past, it’s what wins you championships. But I feel this is a bit of a cop-out and takes the pressure off the superstars to actually lead. It has to start at the top, and the top hasn’t started.

Paging Auston Matthews

When Auston Matthews was drafted first overall in the 2016 NHL Draft, there was a sense of optimism for Leafs fans. The Leafs were coming out of the horrible Brian Burke–Dave Nonis era. Before that was the John Ferguson Jr. era, which also wasn’t very good. I know many of our readers even predate this era, and many of those teams were full of heartbreak.

John Tavares gracefully handed the captaincy over to Matthews before the beginning of the 2024–25 season. It made sense. Tavares was ageing and nearing the end of his seven-year deal. Matthews was young, scored 69 goals and a career-high 107 points in the previous season, and is clearly the face of the Leafs (not only on the ice but corporately).

However, in his first year as captain, he had a career low in goals with 33. He also only scored three goals in 13 playoff games. This year, he’s on pace for 36 goals, assuming he’s healthy for the rest of the year. This has been a recurring problem: Matthews has not been fully healthy, and he just… looks off.

The broadcast during the Blackhawks game posted statistics from his historical 2023–24 season to the current season.

Table 1. Table showing speed and shooting statistics of Auston Matthews.