Bruce Boudreau Shares his Thoughts on the Leafs' Current Struggles

I think they're good fits. Let's face it, I may be different, but I think I watch teams in the summer all the time for the last 20 years, NHL teams and they retool, they're going to lose players, so they get players to replace their players. And every now and again you go out and you get somebody that is above and beyond a replacement. Like, I mean, for example, they went and got Bertuzzi for Bunting. Okay, both similar players, I think they should be the same.

Is Max Domi better than Ryan O'Rilley? I would go to say that Ryan O'Reilly is the better fit for that.

I mean. Ryan Reaves is a fourth line guy.

They've lost some guys and they've gained some guys but the one thing is the core of their mean wall has come to us a huge surprise and a positive surprise so that's better. But I think the Leafs are the Leafs. They're the same Leafs.

I mean, the top six, it's all a scramble.

I mean, they can change in game, so I'm not worried about that. And you're going to find, okay, the first ten games, Mitch Marner is going to end up with nine points. If he gets one point next game, okay, but the next ten games he might get 25. Everybody goes, he's on fire, he's got that kind of capabilities.

And that's the whole thing about statistics.

I love reading statistics, like in baseball, well, he's only three for the last 30, and then all of a sudden he goes 15 for 25 and the average comes up again. It's the same as in hockey. If you're a goal scorer, you might go eight to ten games without a goal, and then the next ten games you might get ten.

Auston Matthews, he's got six in his first two. Nobody says he's only got one, I think, in his last seven. Him, but he looks like he's got a lot of goals, seven and nine. So, I mean, I'm not worried about Mitch Marner. I think he's one of the best players in the league.