SIMMONS SAYS: Same record, new success for the Maple Leafs

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Essentially, the Maple Leafs have the same record after 20 games as they’ve had most of the past five regular seasons.

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They have 26 points right now. Last year they had 25. The year before they had 25. The year before that, 27.

All of it looks basically the same in the standings.

But these Leafs have a different look to them and a different feel. They’re better in goal than they’ve been in years. They’re deeper on defence. They’re less prone to individual mistakes. And slowly they’re adapting to Craig Berube’s north-south, old school style of hockey – no longer circling desperately to retain possession of the puck – and it makes them look tougher and harder to play against.

It is still a long time until April. Three quarters of a regular season to go. But the win the other against Vegas, a tight 1-0 game that became a 3-0 win, is the kind of maturity general manager Brad Treliving and coach Berube are searching for from the team.

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Learning to win tight games is important for this group. Learning to win tight games against quality opponents, just as important. With the on-ice leadership of Chris Tanev a clear factor, the superb play of Mitch Marner and William Nylander with Auston Matthews out with a mystery injury, has been huge, and former captain John Tavares competing with he kind of verve he’s rarely shown before, there are more reasons for optimism as the first quarter of the NHL season passes than there have been in most of the Brendan Shanahan years.

With Matthews still out, Max Domi, Max Pacioretty, David Kampf, and Matthew Knies all injured, and Ryan Reaves suspended, the Leafs will play Sunday night against Utah without six 12 regular forwards.

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That’s a kick few teams can survive. But the 6-1 won-loss record with Matthews missing is a sign of growth that has to be appreciated.

Even if the standings, right now, don’t look a whole lot different from other years.

THIS AND THAT

Definition of desperate: Team Canada has expanded its search for three goaltenders as the deadline approaches in early December for the Four Nations tournament in Montreal and Boston. The new flavour of the day is Joey Daccord of the Seattle Kraken, who isn’t even a Canadian. He’s from outside Boston. His father was born in Canada. His mother is from Switzerland. But they can manipulate the rules, as the Canadian Olympic Committee has done on numerous occasions, to get him in. So it’s probably Daccord and St.. Louis netminder Jordan Binnington and one of Adin Hill, Sam Montembeault, Cam Talbot, Logan Thompson, and Mackenzie Blackwood as the third goalie. I’m told there’s no interest in Edmonton’s Stuart Skinner. The truth on the third goalie, no matter who it is: It’s a short tournament as will be the Olympics one year later. If you need to play your third goalie, it means you’re not contending … The GMs for the Four Nations event are not happy about the Dec. 4 deadline to name their roster. They’d like more time, six more weeks maybe, but they’re not going to get it. The date was negotiated by the NHL and NHL Players’ Association, ostensibly to give the majority of players who aren’t involved with the event time to book time to book their vacations … That wasn’t Auston Matthews’s first trip to Germany to see the mystery doctor about his mystery injury. He previously went in the summer, along with friend and rival Connor McDavid. If I’m guessing on the Matthews injury, I’m guessing back … When Shanahan took over as Leafs president a decade ago he met with each of the newspapers and television stations individually to talk about his open approach to building a hockey team. The Leafs, he said, would be more available and more accessible than ever before. It was a new era. And right after he said that, the Leafs cut off interviews with assistant coaches, scouts and front office personnel, hid their players more often than any team in hockey, and avoided the truth as often as possible. The Leafs now operate like a political party, attempting to control the media rather than allow it to do its job. That wasn’t the way Shanahan behaved as a player at all. He was open and available. Somehow he’s left all that behind … There should be an NHL rule. Leafs must play on Saturday night. It throws my weekend off completely when they no Saturday game.

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HEAR AND THERE

Tom Henke had 217 saves with the Blue Jays, the most in team history. No one will ever come close to that number again. Henke should be on the Level of Excellence at Rogers Centre … There is nothing wrong with the Blue Jays walking away from hometown boy Jordan Romano so long as they find a replacement for him who is better. That’s the challenge. And you’re trusting Mark Shapiro and Ross Atkins to do that? … There was a time when the Raptors didn’t want homegrown players on their roster. They thought it would be a distraction. It was no distraction for Romano in his time pitching for the Jays. He embraced being the hometown guy. He loved talking about it. He welcomed the challenge. Not only will it be difficult to replace Romano the pitcher, third overall in saves in history, it will just as difficult to replace Romano the person from the Blue Jays clubhouse … By the way, the top Canadian on the Raptors, R.J. Barrett is playing the best basketball of his life right now … Raptors are caught in an unusual squeeze of sorts. The better they play, the more games they win, the more they damage their draft position. The best thing for the Raptors: Find a way to lose close games and excite the fanbase all at the same time. Players won’t naturally tank. That’s not how athletes work. But management can help push in one direction or the other … So if you’re Masai Ujiri, what do you do – keep Jacob Poeltl long-term or trade him now when his value is about as high as it will ever be … And yes, that was Raptors general manager Bobby Webster at the Argos Grey Cup celebration at Maple Leaf Square, wearing an Argos baseball cap. This is all part of the new MLSE: All teams supporting each other …This Vince Carter celebration has gone just a little too far. There are Carter T-shirts for sale, Carter jerseys, and the tournament court is in Carter’s colours. The Raptors are celebrating mediocrity: Carter played 418 games for the Raptors, winning one playoff series, and never finishing higher than 10th in MVP voting, the team averaged 44 wins a season with Carter. Pretty low bar for all that’s being spent on this … Kawhi Leonard played 84 games for the Raptors. They won a championship in his only season. He won the Finals MVP. The team won 58 of the games he played in. He was won and done, playing just under .700 basketball here. Now, that’s something worth selling T-shirts and retiring jerseys about …If you combine the Jets and the Giants, could you make one competent NFL team? Or are they still lacking at quarterback?

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SCENE AND HEARD

If the vote for the Hart Trophy was taken today, Kirill Kaprizov of the Minnesota Wild would win the NHL’s MVP. Which is something completely new. No Minnesota player, not a North Star or a Wild, has won the Hart Trophy or even been close. Bobby Smith did finish 10th in Hart voting 42 years ago. So there is that … The usual contenders around Kaprizov through the first quarter of the season: The regulars, Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makar, Connor Hellebuyck, and Nikita Kucherov. And Connor McDavid, nine points behind the scoring leader, hasn’t really gotten going yet … I don’t see how you find a place for veterans John Tavares or Steven Stamkos on Team Canada much as you sentimentally want to. Tavares can’t play centre ahead of MacKinnon, McDavid, Sidney Crosby, Brayden Point, Sam Bennett or Mark Scheifele. And Stamkos can’t play wing ahead of Sam Reinhart, Marner, Travis Konecny, Alexis Lafreniere, Anthony Cirelli, or even those who might not get picked like Wyatt Johnston, Matt Barzal or Zach Hyman. Be interesting to see what Canada does with Brad Marchand, who was an early pick for the roster, but hasn’t played to form in this rather disappointing Bruins season … What a time to need a coach in hockey: Joel Quenneville is available. The recently fired Jim Montgomery is available. The soon to be fired, Mike Sullivan, will likely be available. So those who are waiting for jobs, like Gerard Gallant or Jay Woodcroft or Bruce Boudreau, might be waiting for a while … Outside of David Pastrnak, do the Bruins have a single dangerous forward? And the coach gets fired because the roster isn’t good enough … What to do with Tavares in the future: Bring in a $7 million centre. Pay Tavares $4 million a year. That means you’ll be his $11 million on two centres instead of one … Best athletic performers I’ve ever watched live, in no particular order: Bobby Orr, Michael Jordan, Wayne Gretzky, Connor McDavid, Patrick Mahomes, LeBron James, Shohei Ohtani, Aaron Judge, Mike Trout, Sugar Ray Leonard, Barry Bonds, Usain Bolt, Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, John Elway, Joe Montana, Jerry Rice, Steph Curry, Guy Lafleur, Crosby, Barry Sanders, Mario Lemieux. And I’m leaving out way too man.

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AND ANOTHER THING

What you don’t see much of in hockey today — pencil thin goaltenders. Dustin Wolf weighs 166 pounds soaking wet. He’s 8-2-1 as a rookie with the Calgary Flames, the early runaway leader for the Calder Trophy. The Flames have 25 points after 20 games, way more than expected and the same numbers as the Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers and defending President’s Trophy-winning New York Rangers … An NHL coach on why so many teams are great one night, not so great the next: “You can’t do it every night over the season. Almost every team drifts in and out during the season. All of them except Carolina, really. And this year, Winnipeg.” … Canadian tennis in decline: Felix Auger-Aliassime, once ranked sixth in the world, will finish this year at 29. Denis Shapovalov, once as high as No. 10, is now at 56. The almost always-injured Milos Raonic and Bianca Andreescu, both former Top 10 players, are not in the Top 100 anymore. Leylah Annie Fernandez will end the year at 31st after a high of 13th … How and when did 50-yard field goals become chip shots? Like when did this happen? … So Joel Embiid seems more concerned about who leaked the fact the Philadelphia 76ers had a players-only meeting to discuss Joel Embiid than he is with the fact the Sixers are 3-12 to start the season. Nick Nurse might be operating on borrowed time in Philly … If personnel man John Murphy is leaving the Argos, and that seems apparent, then the club would be smart to avoid having Grey Cup coach Ryan Dinwiddie serve as general manager. Dinwiddie would like the GM job. But most coaches can’t seem to pull off the double anymore – there’s too much work to be done in either one of those jobs to stay on top of everything … Grey Cup MVP Nick Arbuckle can stay with the Argos next season behind Chad Kelly but the team can’t afford, salary cap wise, to pay him much. Odds are, Arbuckle will play elsewhere in the CFL next season then return to the Argos later to coach with Dinwiddie … Do you become a legend if you beat a legend in the Grey Cup twice? The championship scorecard in head-to-head matches: Coach Dinwiddie 2, Mike O’Shea 0. O’Shea is far and away and the most successful coach in the CFL … How hard is it for a Canadian to rush for 1,000 yards in the NFL? Well, it’s only happened once. Ever. Thirty-eight years ago. Rueben Mayes of North Battleford, Sask, ran for 1,353 yards with the New Orleans Saints as a rookie. Since then, nobody has. But here’s Chuba Hubbard, from outside Edmonton, close to becoming the second Canadian to hit the 1,000-yard mark. He’s at 811 yards in Carolina with seven games to play … Happy birthday to Oscar Robertson (86), Jeremy Swayman (26), Billie Jean King (81), Arland Bruce (47), Justin Turner (40) Jack McKeon (94), Eddie Johnston (89), Saku Koivu (50), Todd Brooker (65), Asafa Powell (42), Keith Primeau (53) and Gabriel Landeskog (32) … And hey, whatever became of Gregg Zaun?

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