Hiller BLASTS Leafs... - Multiple injury updates | Maple Leafs News

Toronto Maple Leafs have hit rock bottom, folks, following yet another loss against the Avalanche. Everyone is speaking out about one player in William Nylander. There's some wild reports, rumors about his lack of work ethic. We're going to break down that, but also discuss how this team is in one of the worst spots as of right now because they cannot make a trade. They're losing games. They are in a very difficult position, and we're going to break it all down before we get into it. A very quick thank you for all your guys' support. It has been unbelievable. We have a lot to dive into today, and we can dive right into it here. They have one win in the last seven games, which is insane, and it was against the Vancouver Canucks. You look at the injuries. They've definitely hit rock bottom, but it's at a point now where I said in the intro they can't make trades. They can make trades. It's just it doesn't seem like it's going to happen. the moment, because I feel like they would have already done it, and this is definitely rock bottom for the season now, and I do think, and I'm going to be more optimistic, I think they definitely can fix it and, you know, continue to hopefully improve here, but you can see there, I mean, they've gotten, what, like two points since October 25th, obviously a little more than that, but it's been very, very bad. It's been real bad. And when you're looking on the injury front today, by the way, we just got news at Leafs practice that Zach McEwen's not there. He's injured. He got hurt in last night's game. When you're looking on the injury front, who's coming back, Nick? It's Marchenko. Like, that's it. That is it, right? Like, this is your team. This is who it is. And obviously, Riley didn't play last night either, but I imagine he's going to be back soon. But this is the team. They're in a bad way right now. And you're starting. There's so many questions around the coach. Everyone's looking at the coach going. What are some of these decisions? Nylander is not playing well. Is he sick? Is he hurt? Is he just not performing? If he's just not performing, then we have a major problem here. Matthew still looks really good to me. And that's, that's obviously great, but you know, the rest of the team. It just is not working right now. And like you alluded to off the top, and we've been talking about it a lot with the new tagging rule, this team literally can't make a trade. Like they can, I guess if they wanted to trade for another team's player that had, you know, it is on an expiring contract this year, but why would any other teams throw the leafs of bone right now? I just don't see that happening. So I think it's almost next to impossible to even make a shakeup trade. Right. And then that goes into a whole other. Kind of worms, too, if you want to talk about the rules in the NHL and how the game is developing and stuff like that. But, you know, Jim Hiller had some pretty shocking quotes after the game last night. He's like, you know, the results just aren't there, but he feels like they're in a lot of games. I could agree with that to a degree, but at some point you have to take over a game and win the game. And earlier in the season, there was a couple of games that they won where they were imposing their will. It looks a lot like last year. A lot of the guys are slipping back into bad habits the last couple of games, and some of the lines don't work. And when I say that, I mean the middle six does not work. It does not work. You have one really good line, the top line. And then the fourth line, obviously, you know, they go out and you get pretty much the same thing every shift from them. Outside of that, it's awful. And their defense cannot move the puck. They do not transport the puck efficiently enough. When they get hemmed in, it's really, really ugly. And some of the goals last, Bobrovsky was genuinely good last night, right? What do you say about Bobrovsky last night? He was good. And all of the goals were horrific defensive breakdowns. So it's, uh, You know, it's, it's tough. It's maybe not all the goals, but most of them were defensive breakdowns, but they're in a bad way right now and they have to figure it out and they have to figure it out internally. And by multiple reports from Chris Johnson, other insiders, things are intense right now behind the scenes. Yeah. And Hiller saying that they suck, which is fair because they have sucked lately, or at least the results have sucked. I mean, yesterday we had a goal from Cowan, got a goal from Radish, a great goal from Rossovic. I thought they played okay for a bit. Obviously you'd like to see Bobrovsky. Have a game with less than three goals, but at the same time, it's kind of hard to blame him. I mean, people are now calling for Jim Hiller. And then, of course, we have a touch on William Nylander. Jim Hiller's called him out directly. I know he can play better than he's playing right now. I think that's a pretty fair statement. If you asked him, I think he would agree. I don't think it's just him. I think his line's been great. But if we're talking with him specifically, he's a great player. He'll get us out of it. He's got to be the driver for us. So, I mean, that's obviously another part as well is that he's kind of. I mean, Jim Hiller blasted the Leafs, quite frankly. Saying your team sucks, you don't usually see that that often. And it's rightfully so here. We can look at William Nylander's season. I'm not saying it's directly his fault. 22 points in the 20 games, which is insane, by the way. He's still over a point per game player, even though we're talking about him in such a negative light. It is difficult right now. When you look at with versus without William Nylander, and even with Marchenko, you can see here. I mean, Marchenko is an absolutely critical part of this team that unfortunately isn't around. But at the same time. Will Marcchenko come back and save the team? I think we have to wait and see until he comes back if the team starts to play better. Because let's keep in mind, like he is an extremely important part of this team, like the third or fourth most important player. But I mean, they need to win games without having him right now because you need to at least tread water, which is what they were doing the start of the season. And now they're just completely free falling in that Montreal Canadiens are winning games, the Boston Bruins, the Florida Panthers. Unfortunately, the Leafs are not, and they're going to fall out of a playoff race extremely quickly. Yeah, they are right now. It's happening right now. And they're in danger. Look at the opponents coming up the next two. We can get into the schedule too. It's Minnesota and Edmonton. They're in real danger right now with the way that they're playing of dropping this entire homestand. That would be horrific. I mean, I can't even fathom what that would do for the playoff chances. It would just be horrible. So for lining next Tuesday against the Blackhawks, that should be a win. But anyway, all of that aside, like you mentioned, Marchenko is a huge part of this team, him coming back. But the thing with Nylander for me. Is he hurt? Is he sick? Or is he fine? If he's fine, it is absolutely not good enough. You can look at the point production this year and go, okay, he's over point per game player, right? Everything seems fine. A lot of that is coming on the power play. His five-on-five production, his five-on-five play in general has been awful the last little while. Genuinely awful. And that is without, obviously, they were putting him and Marchenko together on that second line. It looked really good. And even before that, he did look pretty good. But he's been genuinely awful five on five and five on five. He's let in not himself, obviously, the goal, the goal he lets in goals and the whole line. But he's been on for the most goals against in the league, in the league. He's been horrible. So that's something that he has to clean up. He needs to play better and he needs to produce for this team. You're one of the highest paid players on the team. In terms of skill, you are one of the best players on the team. You have to start acting like and conducting yourself that way. So I would just like some transparency, right? If he is dealing with something, just let us know, right? And I don't even know if the Leafs would do that. But if he is dealing with something, an injury, whatever, if he's dealing with an illness still, let us know. If not, it is simply not good enough for Milly and Nylander to last a little while. So that has to get better. And Tavares, too, like that second line, shocking. It's bad. It's really bad. So again, the middle six of this team does not work, and they're in a bad way right now, and they have to figure it out internally. The one thing that I will say, and I've said it, I think, in almost every single video the last two weeks now, Nick, I'm glad that this is happening early in the season because it can lead to some change, first of all. And second of all, other teams are going to start to go on their road trips. Other teams are going to start to deal with their injuries. And hopefully the Leafs are dealing with their little bout of adversity now. And it's more smooth sailing the rest of the way when there's a little bit less travel later in the season. You don't have to go on as many road trips and stuff like that. So hopefully, and Easton Cowan did mention that yesterday too. And I'm going to, you know, continue to think about it positively that way because it's a long season and anything can happen. We've seen, you know, teams go on runs at the end of a season, right? And stuff like that. Um, it's tough. I just don't like people bringing up Joseph Wall and Hildeby and all this type stuff. This is the group that they have, right? They have to play better. They made some good moves this off season, but some of the guys and the coaching decisions have been pretty shocking. Yeah, and obviously trade stuff affects a lot. It limits what Toronto's trying to do. We're going to have full videos on that. There is still avenues you can do it. You can try to find some free agents. There are avenues here, but they're not going to be easy ones. And yeah, it's not very often you see a coach like this blast, I guess, if you want to call your team. And more specifically, I'm not saying you blast a Morgan Raleigh, but it definitely is interesting. Darius, before I wrap up, I know you do have a shout out for someone in the stream yesterday. Yeah, I wanted to shout out Jeff. Thank you for watching every single day with a huge donation. And thank you to everyone who tunes in every single day. I know there's probably like thousands of people that don't comment. Like we see the same people kind of commenting every day, whether it's the videos or hanging out in the streams and stuff like that. But we really appreciate you guys because this doesn't happen. We're not able to do this without you guys. Right. So shout out to Jeff. Thank you for the donation. Everyone who donates Paul as well. But just. Thanks, because we know there's a lot of people that watch every single day, thousands of you that probably don't comment and we probably have no idea. And last thing I'll say is, you know, during the summer and the last couple of months, you know, I'm out and about walking through Toronto and stuff like that, and people will just come up and say hi, and they're really nice, and we'll talk Leafs and stuff like that. So I always appreciate that stuff a lot. Yeah, hopefully the Leafs can actually go ahead and win some games and get back to the playoffs with a little more streams for you. But let us know down below what your thoughts are on all this. See you guys later.