Should Auston Matthews play on the penalty kill?

Auston Matthews is, without a doubt, the face of the Toronto Maple Leafs franchise. Alongside his powerful skating, elite strength, slick puck handling, and otherworldly shot, he has recently added another layer to his game, becoming an incredibly strong defensive player. His defensive prowess has developed to the point that he’s found his way into the Selke trophy conversation, finishing 10th in the voting this past season. One of the biggest arguments against his Selke case, however, is that he does all of his work defensively at 5 on 5. In the 2021-22 season, Matthews logged just three seconds of shorthanded ice time per game.
So why hasn’t Sheldon Keefe been willing to put Matthews on the penalty kill? The Leafs have struggled to find centres who can play shorthanded, sometimes being forced to put wingers in the faceoff dot in crucial 4v5 situations. The addition of David Kampf helped this past season, but Matthews is a strong centre who won 56% of his draws last year, and had the most takeaways of any forward in the league with 92.
Perhaps the biggest downside of putting Matthews on the penalty kill is load management. While the Leafs’ superstar is far from injury prone, he has had some …

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Author: Jaden Ho / The Leafs Nation

Never in doubt, eh?

The Toronto Blue Jays defeated the Minnesota Twins 3-2 on Sunday afternoon in a game that seemingly lasted all day. It had a little bit of everything, including a controversial call in the top of the 10th inning that will be talked about for the next few days. It’ll be a great time for Twitter umps to get their opinions out there. Let’s go ahead and break this down:
With Whit Merrifield as the ghost runner on second base, Santiago Espinal moved him to third with a fly out to right center. The next batter, Cavan Biggio, aggressively swung at the first pitch, lifting the ball to shallow left field. Merrifield tagged up and ran, but Tim Beckham’s throw gunned down Merrifield at the plate. It was close, but Merrifield’s lead foot ran straight into Twins catcher Gary Sanchez before he was able to touch home plate. While the call on the field was “out”, it was evident that Sanchez did not allow a sliding lane for Merrifield. The umpires reviewed it upon John Schneider’s request, and they ruled that Merrifield was safe.
Twins manager Rocco Baldelli was infuriated, as was the rest of the Twins crowd. It ruined an opportunity for his team to win the game, and as Dan …

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Author: Evan Stack / Blue Jays Nation

Blue doubt eh The Jays never Toronto