It’s time to leave 2023 in the rear-view mirror.

It’s been a slice.

First and foremost, Jay Rosehill was back in the mix for the Friday edition of Leafs Morning Take, which was our final get together of the calendar year. We kicked off the show by discussing New Year’s Eve Plans and what we had cooking.

Presented by Door Dash, The Appetizer focused on tonight’s road date in Columbus. Weirdly, this will be Toronto’s third meeting with the Blue Jackets in the past 15 days. Suffice it is to say, it’s been a rather eventful season series with Mike Babcock’s former squad. Furthermore, most of the conversation stemmed around Ilya Samsonov. The much-maligned Russian netminder will start in goal, and considering how he’s looked this season, it could turn out to be another interesting night at the office for Sheldon Keefe and company. Speaking of which, Jay Rosehill, who missed Thursday’s show and didn’t get a chance to vent, went off on another legendary rant about this Leafs team.

Meantime, courtesy the Wendy’s Daily Faceoff Survivor, we got into Michael Bunting’s return to Scotiabank Arena on Saturday night, too. With that in mind, we debated Bunting and Tyler Bertuzzi and what guy’s a better fit in Toronto. Obviously, it’s a bit of an incomplete debate until we see what Bertuzzi can bring to the table in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Lastly, we took a look at 2023 – as a whole – from a Leafs perspective. Fun year, but indisputably, we are both ready to turn the page. At least they finally won a playoff series, right?

Until next year. Join Carter Hutton and me on Tuesday for our first show of 2024. We’ll catch up on the weekend plus look ahead to Toronto’s three-game California trip.