Insider Throws Shade At Leafs Newcomer: "His Game Is Gone"


The Toronto Maple Leafs brought in three notable newcomers (we won't count 4th-liner Ryan Reaves for this discussion) in the offseason, signing free agents Tyler Bertuzzi, Max Domi and Jonh Klingberg to one-year deals, hoping to propel the Leafs up another notch closer to the promised land. 

And while none of them have yet to have the kind of impact Toronto was hoping for, NHL Insider Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff, appearing on Toronto radio Sportsnet 590, had a savage assessment of Klingberg, in particular, at this stage of his career:

I think his game's gone and it's never coming back... I think his game has passed him by. 

He was a power play specialist that, going back three seasons now, was a very effective player, but since then has kind of been proven through multiple stops that he isn't. 

I think they were hoping that they could have someone to take the responsibility away from Morgan Rielly on PP1 and... he's really struggled. I think we've seen enough of a sample size to know now that, at age 31, you're probably not finding a fountain of youth again.

Yikes. That is one harsh reckoning. 

Klingberg has seen most of his time on the first power play unit, but he was replaced by Rielly on PP1 in Monday night's wild 6-5 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning, demoted to the second unit. He does have five assists in 12 games thus far this season, but is also a minus-5. 

Bertuzzi, to be clear, has also struggled finding his place in the lineup, and has just one goal and three points, while Domi has five assists in the dozen games. Reaves is... well, Reaves, averaging just seven minutes a night, yet to pick up a point.

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