Solid start to 2025 for the Toronto Maple Leafs.

For my money, there’s no better feeling than sticking it to the New York Islanders —two games in a row, no less. For some reason, there’s still booing John Tavares. It’s been seven years! Move on!

At any rate, we kicked off the Friday edition of Leafs Morning Take on a disappointing note. Canada lost to Czechia at the World Juniors in the quarters, so they’re done. Understandably so, Hockey Canada is taking a lot of heat today for the terrible performance. Simply put, it’s just not good enough for a country that should be a medal contender year in and year out. They’ve been nowhere close the best two years.

After that, we had a fun talk about Jonathan Toews. Now 36, the three-time Stanley Cup champion is back skating and has legitimate aspirations of a potential return to the NHL. Furthermore, Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli linked the Leafs as well as the Jets and Avalanche to Toews on Thursday night’s Amazon Prime broadcast. On paper, Captain Serious would make a lot of sense for Toronto, who covet a centre between now and the trade deadline.

Then, we got into the 2-1 victory over the Islanders. Bobby McMann scored twice. He now has 12 goals on the season and is on pace for 29. Not bad for a guy who makes $1.35 million per season. What a value deal. Also, Joseph Woll was incredible making 32 stops. A lot of them were difficult. The Leafs made a lot of mistakes in front of him. Additionally, we previewed this weekend’s back-to-back on home ice against Boston and Philadelphia, respectively. Once again, Craig Berube’s squad has a chance to create some real separation in the standings.

During the show, we got some breaking news as the Leafs announced a two-year extension for veteran blueliner Philippe Myers. All in all, we were fine with the deal. At the end of the day, it’s a low risk, low consequence signing. In some respects, Myers has proven to be this year’s Simon Benoit on the back end. He’s looked decent lately.

To wrap, brought to you by Charm Diamond Centres, we played another edition of Take It or Leaf It. We debated whether Steven Lorentz will be handed an extension by the end of the regular season, if the Leafs can still capture the Atlantic Division crown even without Auston Matthews, and if Canada is no longer the No. 1 hockey country in the world.

We’ll be back on Monday at 11 AM ET to recap this weekend’s back-to-back plus look ahead to next week’s three game slate.

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