Damien Cox: The Maple Leafs signing of Tyler Bertuzzi is a marriage of convenience. But those are all the rage these days

This is another of those bet-on-himself scenarios that we’re seeing as salary-cap dollars remain scarce, Damien Cox writes.

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Damien Cox: The Leafs suddenly have several options in net. But the best way forward is a riddle

The Leafs must settle on a GM, and fast, before sorting out what to do with Ilya Samsonov, Joseph Woll and Matt Murray. They might need to add a free agent.

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Damien Cox: The Maple Leafs used to be a chaotic franchise. It was more interesting but stability works

Over the past nine years, Shanahan has sometimes been mocked for failing to win with his “Shanaplan,” but he didn’t veer off in another direction.

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Damien Cox: NHL referees have made some disastrous calls in the playoffs. It’s time to expand video review

The NHL needs to spend less time defending its officials and more time helping them avoid wrong calls by giving them more tools to work with.

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Damien Cox: The Leafs playing an amateur goalie in an ‘emergency’ isn’t charming. It threatens the integrity of the NHL

One can never imagine an NFL team deciding to bring in a local high school star to play backup quarterback in a pinch.

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Damien Cox: It’s time for the Maple Leafs to fire coach Sheldon Keefe and bring in Bruce Boudreau

This team clearly needs a jolt. On five occasions this century, a coaching change has taken a team over the top and right to the Stanley Cup.

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Damien Cox: The Jack Adams curse is nothing Sheldon Keefe and Jim Montgomery couldn’t handle

To say Montgomery and Keefe are front-runners for NHL coach of the year is both a compliment and a warning. Then again, both are well aware that today’s hero can quickly become tomorrow’s outcast and vice versa.

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Damien Cox: Börje Salming was the soul of the Leafs. He overcame so much

Forces from without and within prevented Salming from fully realizing his greatness, yet he managed a Hall of Fame career. He competed and endured, without complaint.

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Damien Cox: Leafs star Auston Matthews might be hockey’s most fascinating player. He gets to pick his battles

Not everybody can play like Matthews. So why should he be expected to play the same way as everybody else?

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Damien Cox: Fire Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe? After 10 games? Don’t be ridiculous

It’s still early, and the Leafs had a record year after a slow start under Keefe last season. But if they get worse over the next 10 games, eight at home, Kyle Dubas might have to consider a move clearly does not want to make.

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Damien Cox: It’s game time (or game show time). Let the Patrick Kane-to-Toronto talk begin

It’s a regular thing to look to put someone else’s star in a Leafs uniform, at least by the water cooler.

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Damien Cox: With the Leafs’ long-term future unclear, expect Kyle Dubas to make a big-time addition

It’s impossible to look at where the Leafs were last season and not get the feeling something pretty big is going to happen, writes Damien Cox.

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Damien Cox: The Leafs’ big goal this off-season? Don’t get any worse

There can only be so many splashes in a salary cap world.

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Damien Cox: You think history is the Leafs’ biggest foe? You’re probably selling the Lightning short

There aren’t many series in which a record-setting, 115-point club like Toronto is the underdog, Damien Cox writes, but that’s the case against Tampa Bay.

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Damien Cox: Another first-round exit by the Leafs isn’t inevitable. Far from it. This is a different team

Offence and creativity are trending. The style of hockey the Leafs are playing is on the same swing plane as the rest of the league for the first time in the Kyle Dubas era.

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Damien Cox: The Raptors are the only underdogs here. The Leafs and Jays can’t play that card with a straight face

Nick Nurse, Sheldon Keefe and Charlie Montoyo will all seek to portray their teams as embattled. That doesn’t mean fans have to buy it.

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Damien Cox: Rick Vaive is the goal scorer that Leafs fans — or Leafs history — appears to have forgotten

Vaive had the misfortune of playing for bad teams under a bad owner, and he has gone unappreciated because of it.

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Damien Cox: The Leafs will bring questionable goaltending to the playoffs — but they aren’t the only ones

But before you target the Leafs for early playoff dismissal solely on the basis of their battered and suspect goaltending situation, you might have a look around the rest of the Eastern Conference first.

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Damien Cox: Auston Matthews sent the hockey world a message with one cross-check. It could pay off in the playoffs

The question for the post-season will be whether Matthews pushes back when he is pushed and then rises above the fray to deliver something special offensively, like Sidney Crosby has done so many times.

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Damien Cox: The Leafs-Sabres rivalry has lost its spark. Maybe taking it outdoors will light a fire

Sunday’s Heritage Classic in Hamilton also falls nine days before the NHL’s trade deadline, and both teams have though choices to make.

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