Why the Leafs lost

 

On Sunday night, the Toronto Maple Leafs lost the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs to the Florida Panthers. They didn't just lose.  They lost ignominiously.  They played without heart.  What kind of team comes out flat for a decisive seventh game playoff in their home arena?  Thousands of fans were cheering for them.  They should have been pumped.  They were not.

The Maple Leafs, as presently constituted, are not built to prevail in the post-season.  They do very well in the regular season, but they can't seem to get past the second round of the playoffs.  They lack something.  Depth?  A winning spirit?  They certainly lack the ability to rise to the occasion.  

As members of the team pack their bags and head to golf courses, it's time for a post-mortem.  The Leafs' defeat may finally signal the end of the Core Four, and it's about time!  The Leafs were never going to win the Stanley Cup with so much of their cap devoted to four players.  As for team president Brendan Shanahan, his future with the Leaf organization is very much in doubt.  The "Shanaplan" is effectively dead.  It has failed to bring home Lord Stanley's Jug, a feat that has not been accomplished by Toronto's NHL team since 1967.  

Mitch Marner is expected to be the first member of the Core Four to leave the team.  It's doubtful that the Leafs will pay him the kind of money he'll be asking for.  Number 16 (my favourite number) was booed off the ice on Sunday night.  He has likely played his final game in a Leaf uniform and will seek free agency.  However, I don't think Marner deserved so much of the blame for the team's poor performance.  Where was Captain Auston Matthews?  He seemed to be missing in action.  I am not questioning Matthew's talent as a goal scorer.  He's a great player.  He scored 69 goals last season.  Unfortunately, he has never been a prolific scorer in the playoffs.  He has never dominated when it's all on the line.  He's no Sidney Crosby or Mario Lemieux or Wayne Gretzky or Connor McDavid.

On August 23, 2023, Auston Matthews signed a four year, $53,000,000 contract with a cap hit of $13,250,000 per season.  His contract expires at the end of the 2027-28 season, when he will be 30 years old.  So, he's going to be around for a while.

Matthews' performance this season has not been as strong as it was last season because he has been plagued by an injury.  I doubt he is 100 per cent.  However, it is not Matthews' injury that really concerns me.  It's his lack of leadership skills.  He doesn't seem able to rally his team.  I don't understand why he has replaced John Tavaras as team captain.  Tavaras is much more mature and far more experienced,  He demonstrated his maturity by not whining and complaining when the "C" was taken away from him.  He just continued to help the team.  He scored 34 goals as a 34-year-old this season.

Mitch Marner

Auston Matthews

William Nylander will also be around for a while, too.  In January of 2024, Nylander signed an eight year, $92,000,000 contract with a cap hit of $11,500,000 per season.  His contract expires at the end of the 2031-32 season when he will be 36 years old.  

On July 1, 2018, John Tavares signed a seven year, $77,000,000 contract with a cap hit of $11,000,000 per season.  His contract with the Leafs expires at the end of this season.  He will turn 35 in September.  After the Game 7 loss to Florida, Tavares said that he wants to remain in Toronto.  That's not surprising because he's married with a family, and he wouldn't want to uproot them.

When asked about his future, Mitch Marner replied, "Pretty devastated.  I don't have any thoughts right now . . . I've always enjoyed this team.  I haven't thought about anything [with my future].  Just trying to put my best foot forward and come here and try to win hockey games and help try to win that ultimate goal."

Ah, yes.  Mitch knows that ultimate goal is not a great regular season.  The ultimate goal that Marner alluded to is the Stanley Cup.  It has eluded the Toronto Maple Leafs for 58 long years.  Now that they are officially eliminated from this year's competition, I'll be cheering for the Edmonton Oilers.  A Canadian-based team has not won the Cup since the Montreal Canadiens in 1993, almost 32 years ago.  It's about time we brought Stanley home to a city and a country where hockey really matters.

- Joanne

EDITOR'S UPDATE: On May 22, 2025, the Toronto Maple Leafs announced that Brendan Shanahan's contract would not be renewed.