Over the last week, the Toronto Maple Leafs returned home from a successful 4-1-0 road trip to home games against the Montreal Canadiens and Edmonton Oilers. It’s not uncommon for visiting fans to be seen at Scotiabank Arena, but they Habs and Oilers fans were especially loud and into it. David Alter gives his thoughts.
Canadiens fans being vocal in Toronto is nothing new. It’s a right of passage for Toronto and Montreal games on a Saturday night to see a divided crowd. But it certainly was for the home game against the Edmonton Oilers.
When Connor McDavid dazzled crowd with his speed burst from his own blue line to deke the pants off of Dennis Hildeby, the Oilers fans in attendance roar. They were loud. They were orange. But they were plentiful.
Leafs fans, however, were quiet. Despite the club taking a 2-1 lead on Edmonton, the Oilers took over the game late in the second period and into the third period to win 6-3. Fans of the Maple Leafs left the arena bemused at the slowness of the team. The lack of fight. But it’s also the style of play.
Craig Berube has been preaching a defensively-sound game ever since he had become head coach of the Maple Leafs in the summer of 2024. When everyone was buying in during the 2024-25 season, it resulted in a team that finished first in the Atlantic Division. But a lot of things went their way that season. For one, they got elite-level tandem goaltending from both Anthony Stolarz and Joseph Woll. While Woll has been sharp, he’s missed most of the season due to personal reasons and most recently due to a lower-body injury. Meanwhile, Anthony Stolarz has been out since Nov. 11 with a mysterious upper-body injury with no timeline for a return.
Defensemen Chris Tanev and Brandon Carlo have been out. And while every team deals with these issues, it has had a major impact on the quality of hockey that has been seen. Auston Matthews hasn’t regained the form to a point many expected after down year last season as the player dealt with an upper-body injury. The style of play can be quite boring compared to how the Leafs used to play under previous head coach Sheldon Keefe. But nobody complains about it when they are winning. It’s only when they are losing.
It comes down to their best players being their best players to attract buy-in and Berube isn’t seeing it right now.
“Our leaders got to take control of it a lot more than they are right now,” Berube said following to loss to Edmonton. “It’s all a mindset, you know. Whether you’re down a goal or up in the San Jose game, like you just got to have more urgency and being more direct on how we want to play.”
It’s unlikely to expect Berube to change course in the way the team plays. He’s clearly frustrated but when he refers to leaders he’s strictly pointing the finger at players like Auston Matthews, John Tavares, William Nylander and Morgan Rielly. While they are putting up points, they are pushing the pace of play at an elite level when they find themselves training in games or trying to control one-goal leads. It’s not even a question of the goaltending at this point as Dennis Hildeby performed well enough in a stretch where he had to assume No. 1 duties.
The good news is the Eastern Conference is very mid. The defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers are in a similar spot, but their fans aren’t freaking out. They’ve earned a bit of the benefit of the doubt. But the Leafs have just looked not so great at times and that’s where fans can turn disgust into apathy. That’s when the franchise would truly be in trouble.