There is a lot of talk about the Maple Leafs top six these days, and most of it surrounds Sheldon Keefe very occasionally splitting up Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner. Every time they play together and don’t score, the chorus of “split them up” bursts out. Every time the Leafs lose, we hear it. When they win, we hear it. What’s going on?
I could psychoanalyze an entire fanbase and say that because these two were not that hot in the playoffs against Montréal and struggled at times against Tampa last year, there is a predisposition to blame them for everything that’s wrong.