Compounding the disgraceful effort, it came on the heels of back-to-back losses to division rivals: one game in which the Leafs<\/a> didn\u2019t belong on the ice with their opponent, and the other in which they were blitzed early and never even threatened to be competitive.\u00a0<\/p>\n How bad was this 5-2 loss to Ottawa by comparison? Orders of magnitude worse.\u00a0<\/p>\n I debated with myself for half of the game, wondering what Leaf loss in recent history was worse than this performance. The only one that sprang to mind was the 6-1 loss to Pittsburgh, marking the Leafs<\/a>\u2018 fifth straight loss, right before the firing of Mike Babcock. The Zamboni driver game against Carolina is also up there.<\/p>\n The Leafs<\/a> started this game by receiving a gift of a power play, creating absolutely nothing with it, and scoring a goal out of thin air as the man advantage expired.\u00a0Normally, when playing a division rival (one the Leafs<\/a> met in the playoffs last spring) while mired in a run of poor results, it should go to the players\u2019 legs.\u00a0 Instead, the Leafs did not put another shot on net the rest of the period (17+ minutes). Their opponent, who likely won\u2019t make the playoffs this season, recorded 16 and tied the game.\u00a0<\/p>\n It was about as uninspiring a period as you could possibly play, but if you wanted to remain optimistic, it was still technically 1-1 after the first period. When a team is completely tilted for a period in any situation \u2014 much less this one (at home, against a division rival, during a losing streak, etc.), pride usually kicks in.<\/p>\n Instead, Ottawa scored four times in the second period, outshot the Leafs 15-8, and by the end of the middle frame, the Leafs were out-attempted 56-19.\u00a0 I honestly can\u2019t believe the fans weren\u2019t booing earlier. There was a smattering of them in the final few minutes of the period, but it was actually tame relative to the lack of effort on the ice. Perhaps the fan base\u2019s anger or frustration has morphed into indifference, the most damning emotion of all.<\/p>\n Without getting into a full analysis of the state of this team in a post-game review, I will at least say this: You cannot convince me this roster is this bad. You could argue it has huge holes, players are playing injured or underperforming, or whatever else, but it\u2019s not \u201ccan\u2019t even touch the puck against Ottawa\u201d bad.\u00a0<\/p>\n This team has zero system or structure. They are routinely outplayed, with no clue what to do about it. Even when they stumble onto changes that work \u2014 like the defense pairings before the Olympic break \u2014 they walk them right back (all due to Morgan Rielly\u2019s return?). The most basic deployment and usage decisions are completely baffling, and now they\u2019re about to make trades under this guise.\u00a0<\/p>\n The lack of effort put forward tonight would and should not be tolerated by even a semi-serious organization. If they accept this effort tonight \u2014 and no, a depth player move or assistant coach firing isn\u2019t sufficient \u2014 there are no standards, and there is no accountability in the Maple Leafs organization.\u00a0<\/p>\n Post-Game Notes <\/p>\n \u2013 To the surprise of nobody other than those on the Leafs coaching staff and management group, Easton Cowan looked exactly like a player who hasn\u2019t played in a month. This is not a criticism of Cowan; the organization is letting him down so far this season. Somehow, the Leafs\u2019 attempt to reinvent player development \u2014 in which 20-year-old rookies practice instead of playing games \u2014 did not result in improvement. Frankly, his agent should probably have stepped in at some point to advocate for his client.<\/p>\n \u2013 I am not sure a single Leafs defenseman or forward can leave the arena with their head held high. Joseph Woll was pulled, and while I wouldn\u2019t suggest he was downright bad, he wasn\u2019t good, either. Anthony Stolarz is about the only Leaf who can leave the arena feeling good about his game. He stopped all 12 shots he faced, including a number of grade As and a breakaway.<\/p>\n \u2013 Once again, it was ridiculous to watch opposing players running the Leafs\u2019 goalies with impunity. Stolarz rightfully took exception to Ridly Greig, but this has been the culture all season, starting in preseason: free runs on the Leafs\u2019 goalie, and maybe, if the score is bad enough or whatever, they may sort of respond. It\u2019s not like any Leaf returned favour on Linus Ullmark. Meanwhile, Brady Tkachuk ran around finishing every hit, and nobody was remotely interested in (or capable of?) doing anything about it.<\/p>\n \u2013 I am not sure how the Leafs could possibly return the same team and staff to work after this one. Yes, it\u2019s trade deadline week. Yes, something will eventually happen. Yes, there\u2019s no point in hiring a new head coach at this point. But this was painfully awful. It cannot be stressed enough that the Leafs need to uphold professional standards and begin making changes that signal to the players and the fans that this is unacceptable and will not be tolerated by the organization.<\/p>\n