Former Maple Leaf Calling for Assistant Coach to be Fired Immediately
With the Maple Leafs power play sitting below the middle of the pack in the NHL, one former Leaf believes that it's time to get rid of assistant coach Marc Savard.
With the Toronto Maple Leafs sitting in the top spot in the Atlantic Division as we enter play in the middle of January, there aren't too many weaknesses we can detect about this club. However, one thing that does need to change in short order is their struggling power play.
The Maple Leafs have had one of the best power plays in all of hockey over the last 3 seasons with a top-ranked unit in 2021-22, 2nd ranked unit in 2022-23, and 7th ranked in 2023-24. However, they were keen on making some changes and brought in Marc Savard this summer as an assistant coach to run their power play, despite his track record of running struggling power plays.
With the likes of Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, William Nylander, and John Tavares at your disposal, it's unacceptable to be sitting 19th place in the league at the midway point of the season.
Former Toronto Maple Leafs forward Jay Rosehill discussed the Leafs' power play alongside Zack Phillips recently and believes changes need to be made as soon as possible with Savard's dismissal being the first cause for action:
I don't even care, do something that has some structure to it and have everyone buy in. I just still can't believe we're at this point at January 9th, where they don't have a clue what they're doing at the power play to the point where they're at 5 forwards out there getting snipped on."
Their struggles have been well documented all season with stretches of several games where they've gone scoreless with the extra skater. They're 4 for their last 20 opportunities in their last 8 contests, which isn't great, but what's slightly more worrisome is that they've only received 20 power plays across 8 games.
Matthews paced the club last year with 18 power play tallies, and with the former MVP having missed a handful of games already this season, it should come as no surprise that they've struggled. Nevertheless, with players like Marner, Nylander, Tavares, and Morgan Rielly out there game-in and game-out, there should be no excuses.
Nylander and Tavares lead the team with 7 power play goals apiece, Marner has 5, Matthews has 4, and then Matthew Knies, Morgan Rielly, and Bobby McMann each have 1. They need a lot more from the likes of Knies and Rielly as well, but their lack of imagination, creativity, and urgency comes from Savard and his system.
Savard's seat should be extremely hot right now, especially if this power play continues to struggle into the second half of the season. The last thing the Maple Leafs need is a cold and power-less man advantage heading into a playoff matchup against the likes of Boston, Tampa Bay, or Florida.
