On Wednesday’s edition of Leafs Morning Take, T. J. Oshie came in with a positive player’s perspective, saying he expects the team to use this adversity as fuel for a playoff push. But on Thursday, it was former Maple Leaf and longtime NHL bench boss Bruce Boudreau joining the show, and the Toronto native was not feeling as optimistic.

Boudreau is not happy with how the team is looking right now, and it seems like neither is Craig Berube, highlight by an outburst behind the bench on Tuesday. Speaking from his own coaching experience, Boudreau expressed sympathy for how Berube is feeling considering the effort he’s seen from the team.

“As a coach we’ve all been there, frustrated over the play of the team,” Boudreau said. “I look at the players, they don’t look like they’re playing with any energy.”

That lack of effort was especially dismal on Tuesday through the first two periods against the Chicago Blackhawks. After Berube called out team leadership on Saturday following the loss to the Edmonton Oilers, he said he expected a strong response against Chicago. Instead, they looked flat once again. Of course they pulled out the win in the end, but that’s multiple times now that Berube has directly called out the team to minimal results. It’s a tough situation to navigate, Boudreau said.

“You can only call out your best players so often,” he said. “I think that was about the fourth time this year. After a while, to me it’s like telling a six-year-old, ‘you better clean your room or you’re gonna be in trouble!’ After a while it’s going in one ear and out the other.”

It does seem like there’s some disconnect between Berube and the players this season, in that the style of play he talks about is not what we’re seeing from them on the ice. And while some have begun to speculate that this group maybe doesn’t want to play Berube hockey anymore, Boudreau said he doesn’t think that’s the case.

“I don’t think they’ve quit on Craig at all, I just don’t know what it is,” he said. “It’s like they’re taking sleeping pills before the games. Instead of sniffers on the bench, they’re taking Ambien. That’s how they look sometimes, there’s just no energy. … When they get behind, for the most part, it’s like jeez, here we go again. And they don’t have that fight to get better. It’s pretty frustrating as a fan.”

Listen to Nick Alberga and Jay Rosehill’s full interview with Bruce Boudreau here and be sure to tune into Leafs Morning Take weekdays at 11am!

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