It’s Autumn And The Leafs Are Falling

Does this rise to the level of a full blog? Debatable, but it’s a Friday, and we have stories up on the White Sox and A’s. No hat trick of depressing franchises would be complete without the Toronto Maple Leafs. To wit:

That’s Nick Robertson giving a little stick shove to teammate William Nylander, about to start an eight-year, $92 million contract, during Thursday night’s preseason game against the Montreal Canadiens. The slingshot works to give a little speed boost to a player on a breakaway or an odd-man rush—neither of which quite described Nylander here, but no matter—but it does not work when the slingshotee is pushed to the ice and his head collides with a defenseman’s knee.

Nylander was removed from the game and didn’t return, but only for precautionary reasons as head coach Craig Berube declared, “He’ll be OK, he’s fine, nothing to worry about.”

Consider this post your reminder/warning that we are exactly one week away from meaningful hockey games. The Leafs are already in postseason form.