TSN Analyst believes Keefe sent the wrong message in temporarily benching Mitch Marner
Former NHLer and current TSN analyst Dave Poulin was not pleased with how Keefe handled the benching of Mitch Marner against Anaheim. Post game, Poulin was irate with the message that was sent to Marner and the rest of the team.
"One shift benching to me is more frustrating than not benching him at all because if that were a different player it wouldn't have been a one shift benching. To me that just points to the other guys and it says well that's Mitch Marner," said Poulin. He's implying that it tells the rest of the team that Marner can make mistakes and not be held accountable like the rest of them because he's an elite player. Poulin would have benched him for the remainder of the game.
I fully agree with Poulin here, because it was Marner's giveaways that cost the Leafs a 3-1 lead. Nick Robertson was benched the rest of the game in LA because he wasn't performing. What kind of message does that send to him the next night seeing Marner be the cause of two goals against and miss only one or two shifts? If anything, the punishment for the Leafs' elite players should be equally harsh or potentially even more harsh because they are expected to be better than the other guys on the team. Not only that, but they are paid to be elite.
| POLL | ||
OCTOBRE 31 | 629 ANSWERS TSN Analyst believes Keefe sent the wrong message in temporarily benching Mitch Marner Do you agree with Poulin that the Leafs should have benched Marner for the remainder of the game? | ||
| Yes | 502 | 79.8 % |
| No | 127 | 20.2 % |
| List of polls | ||
