In the offseason, the Leafs decided to part with James van Riemsdyk after six seasons in the blue & white. With upcoming contracts for Mitch Marner, William Nylander and Auston Matthews, the Leafs simply couldn’t afford them in their pursuit of John Tavares.

He was the obvious casualty, if you can even really call it that. Back with the team who originally drafted him, JVR is now scoring at a 0.44 goals per game rate, tied for his career high mark set last season.

Here are JVR’s goals. What a player.

JVR scored three, and he deserved to. It’s gotta feel a little rough seeing the team you spent so long playing for mediocre and downright bad teams rise to the cream of the crop, while you’re on pace to miss the playoffs. Even if he’s having a great year in Philadelphia, he’d probably still be in Toronto… right?

The rest of his team scored three, but hey.

The Leafs scored SEVEN. I mean, check out this heatmap.

Goals from your dad… Good?

No huge mistakes here.

Good move, Kyle.

GREAT MOVE, KYLE!

Shades of “Connor Carrick’s goal in Ottawa.”

What else can ya say about that? Incredible.

Kid’s sick.

They were a few knucklers, but let’s give it to #8 for throwing the puck on net. Good work, Muzz.

Onto Ottawa tonight.