Toronto, the most populous city in Canada, located on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario, is just now emerging into that gentle season when the transition to an urban winter wonderland, replete with beautiful views and holiday celebrations, begins.
The beauty of their fair city aside, the news - and the view - is not all wondrous and pleasing for Torontonians. On the contrary, at an almost perfect juxtaposition to their beautiful home is the currently harsh and, no doubt, aggravation-inducing product their once-proud hockey team has been icing of late.
The Toronto Maple Leafs (9-8-2) have been something much worse than bad recently - they've been, as head coach Randy Carlyle put it, "erratic."
"I'm sure it's mental," Carlyle said, according to Michael Traikos of The National Post. "It's all-inclusive. It's a lot of things. We tried to plead to the pride of the group and what we need to do to have success. And obviously, tonight was a prime example of straying away from the structure that we're trying to create."
Only three nights after losing 6-2 to the lowest-of-the-low Buffalo Sabres, the Leafs went out and laid an enormous, sickeningly noxious egg against the Nashville Predators, succumbing eventually to a 9-2 defeat when the dust had settled.
The inconsistency coupled with an often lackluster approach has left many, including Traikos, to wonder if changes won't soon be afoot, possibly starting with none other than the head coach.
With a 9-8-2 record - on pace for 86 points - now is the time to make a change. Whether that means firing the coach, the general manager or making a trade is up to Leafs president Brendan Shanahan. But something has to give.
Defenseman Cody Franson, after remarking that it feels like "the walls are caving in," was asked by another reporter if the team is maybe/possibly/probably tanking in effort to get its head coach fired - he responded in a rather - emphatic - manner.
Leafs general manager Dave Nonis told reporters today that he doesn't think the team should overreact and make a move born of panic. Instead, he thinks the current group simply needs to breathe and work out the (erratic) kinks in their game.
"We talked about it in the beginning of the year. Consistency is probably the biggest issue that we've had," Nonis said per David Alter of MapleLeafs.com. "It's not that we can't raise our level of play, because we've seen the team do it. ... Over that eight-game period, we played some pretty good hockey against some pretty good teams."
After the Nashville game, Franson and the rest of the players took the brunt of the blame for their recent string of poor performances.
But Toronto's inconsistent play belies a team that is not Stanley Cup-worthy, and that erratic and oftentimes poor effort may portend changes somewhere within the organization.
