The Toronto Maple Leafs is searching for something greater, something bigger, and this off-season was eventful. They brought in several tough guys, and it was pricy. Guys like Ryan Reaves, Tyler Bertuzzi, and Max Domi were added this summer, but so far, it hasn’t turned out as they’d hoped.
It’s still early in the season, and it would be silly to label them as flops already, but as Toronto’s core four has produced great early on, their depth hasn’t. And here’s a fact: Tyler Bertuzzi and Max Domi started the season in the top six of the roster, and when Game 4 finished, they were in the bottom six.
The Toronto Maple Leafs played against the Florida Panthers, the team they were eliminated against in the playoffs this spring, on Thursday, and they suffered a 3-1 loss as their offense never got going. Several players had a tough game, but none had it worse than Max Domi, son of Toronto Maple Leafs icon Tie Domi.
Domi had a nightmarish game against the Panthers, and it actually had fans in disbelief on social media. Domi’s start to the season has been raising concerns among the Leafs fanbase, as he’s just had one point, an assist, in four games.
But his performance on Thursday was something else, and Scott Wheeler, NHL reporter for The Athletic, could barely believe what he was seeing. Wheeler wrote on X that it’s almost like Domi’s forgotten how to play hockey.
”Max Domi’s start as a Toronto Maple Leaf could not be going worse. It’s like he has forgotten how to play hockey. No idea what to do with the puck and everything he does do with it is the wrong thing,” he said.
One of Wheeler’s sources also said Domi ”looked slow.”
”If you were to track a percentage of puck touches he’s had that are good ones, I’m guessing his rate would be the lowest on the team. Just really fighting it. And as one source texted me immediately after I tweeted the above: ’He looks slow,’ too.”
Some fans on social media even suggested that Domi might actually play with an injury, but many also stated that Domi perhaps just isn’t that great of a hockey player.
”There is a reason that Max Domi continually gets traded,” one fan said.
”He the most traded player in NHL history for a reason,” another added.
