Mercifully, the January slate has come to a close for the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Let’s hope February’s better —because a 7-6-0 just isn’t going to cut it.

At any rate, Carter Hutton was in for Jay Rosehill on the Friday edition of Leafs Morning Take. We kicked off the show by talking some Auston Matthews. In case you missed it, the Leafs captain was named team captain for Team USA for the upcoming 4 Nations Face-Off. Additionally, William Nylander was named an Alternate captain for Team Sweden. In total, Toronto has four players taking part in the festivities.

Speaking of which, the Leafs have four games remaining until the break —all of which will be taking place on the road. It all starts on Saturday night when they visit Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers. During this string of three straight regulation losses, the Leafs have scored a grand total of three goals. That said, they’re expected to get both John Tavares and Matthew Knies back in the lineup for the Oiler game. That’s excellent news! This team is goal starved right now. Additionally, they haven’t been able to draw penalties either. In fact, over the past 13 games, the Leafs have had two power plays or less in nine contests. Absolutely ridiculous!

Courtesy of Charm Diamond Centres, NHL Network Radio’s Gord Stellick dropped by for a chat. We talked everything from Matthews being named American captain to what Harold Ballard was truly like behind closed doors. Of course, Gordo had a stint as Maple Leafs general manager back in the day. At the time, he was the youngest GM in the NHL. Obviously, he has a lot of stories. Gordo’s the best.

We’ll be back in the mix on Monday at 11 AM ET. Join us as we recap Leafs/Oilers plus look ahead to Toronto’s three remaining games on its four game road trip.

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If you haven’t done so already, be sure to get your payments in for the first EVER TLN Nation Vacation. Join us from Thursday, March 20^th to Sunday, March 23^rd as we take our talents to Music City to watch Toronto play Nashville. As part of the unique experience, we will also be offering up some podcast recordings at Love & Exile Winery & Bar in East Nashville. BOOK TODAY!!