Yesterday there was discussion about the past. Did Brad Treliving try to trade for Brayden Schenn? And did he offer Easton Cowan, Ben Danford, all the stars in the sky and all the salt in the sea? Nick Kypreos seemed to claim so.

As I reflected on this later, three little letters appeared in my mind: NMC. As in Schenn had one, and any trade would have needed his okay, and he has said he didn't give that, so any talk was talk about talking.

A trade is not a trade if it didn't happen. If the talks took place, okay, they talked. But this putative Schenn trade is as real as the Marner for Rantanen deal. As in it's not. So we will never know what a final deal would look like if Schenn had been willing.

And Darren Dreger says it wasn't a thing. Which is not why I'd like you to watch this. I'd like you to watch this because this is very "grown-ups talking" about the Leafs and what they should do, the situation they're in, and what they need.

I am not overly fond of talk radio, but this was very good. Dreger and the Overdrive guys are joined by Jonas Siegel and Pierre LeBrun. Siegel's facial expression and his kind of yes/no head nod during LeBrun's bit is worth it.

For the record, I agree with the Overdrive guys and Jeff O'Neill on the pregame last night when they said that while the Leafs are playing well right now, you can't take this as real just yet.

I mean, you can, or not. You can bemoan the lost opportunity to tank and get draft picks or other bad ideas. You can buy in on a goal-scoring streak and claim that Auston is "fixed". But the Leafs have got to wait until after the Olympic trade freeze to decide if they want to add, subtract or press hold until June.

But, yes, obviously the first thing on the shopping list actually is a defender, and this is irrespective of this season, because OEL is 34 years old. Tanev is... well, we don't know. But looking towards the future, a defender is necessary.

And you'll see headlines related to this video about Luke Schenn, but this one time, actually watch it because Dreger is saying that Luke Schenn is affordable for the Leafs, but is that what the Leafs need? They want to do better.

The real point of contention here is what LeBrun has to say (and what Siegel seems dubious about) where the Leafs could miss out by not acting now. LeBrun thinks that's not worth considering, but ignoring the choices you made to do nothing is actually one of the biggest flaws in most people's analysis of their past acts, and it's a huge problem in the NHL. What you didn't do takes longer to get you fired.

Should they or shouldn't they? Let's just keep waiting. The season rolls on, and we will see where it ends up. There aren't any points for guessing now about the final result. No moral high ground for optimism or pessimism. No right, no wrong. It's all just equally bullshit.

Right, so here's the thing. I don't frequent the troll hives of the internet. I don't read gossip or the more unpleasant varieties of fanfic out there. So I have no idea what this is about, and while I get that Steve Staios is mad online here... maybe just rising above it, and not deigning to notice would have kept the lid on tighter. Because now it's a news story. (And was covered on the intermission panel last night.)

There are passionate believers in the most dramatic and mean-spirited view of any situation. You can't make them shut up, but you can make everyone else wonder what fresh hell this is and head to Google. I direct you to the truly horrendous and misogynistic bullshit about Corey Perry that many chose to believe because it excited them.

Or maybe you should just sue some of these mooks, I don't know.

I do know this, if you want to discuss the details of this there is a big ole elsewhere on the internet to do it in, not here. Linus Ullmark deserves the same respect you'd give anyone. He is a real person, not a character in some soap opera.

And this is now a two bullshits FTB and I haven't even talked about the game.

About last night...

This was a very low event game if you focused on Shots on Goal, but it was about normal in Corsi. There were just a lot of blocks and some misses. This has variously been assigned to each coach as evidence they are bad and should feel bad, or are a genius.

This extremely weak call was about the only drama in the first:

In the second the Flyers got one:

And this should have tied the game:

After two, it was fairly even, and the score was pretty representative of the five-on-five chances.

The Leafs were not very exciting on their power plays.

The third was a lot faster if not necessarily involving more shots. And then Scott Laughton tied it up.

Overtime, and you know, it was nothing like the game. Or like hockey. Or made sense.

Every Leafs player looked horrible, falling down, making stupid passes, giving the puck up. And Max Domi never played!

Not Dennis Hildeby, though, he was great.

And then... Morgan Rielly with a great defensive dive and John Tavares with a cheeky pass, and Easton Cowan brought it home.

2-1 Leafs. Two points in the can.

And now here we are. The Leafs need to play at .551 the rest of the season to get to 92 points. They are currently at .570, and this means one thing. Raise the bar.

The Leafs need to play at .590 the rest of the season to get to 95 points. If they get to that, Ill raise the bar again.

Have a great Friday, everyone.

From The Branches