How should we start this one? How could we start this one? On May 4, the Toronto Maple Leafs lost another heartbreaking Game 7 to the Boston Bruins, 2-1 in overtime of their first-round matchup in the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
After coming back from a 3-1 series deficit, many thought this would be the year the Maple Leafs got over the hump to slay their proverbial dragon. “They have to do it this year — it’s destiny! No team can lose four straight deciding games to the same team. Can they? Can they?!”
Related: Pastrnak Lifts Bruins to Game 7 Overtime Win Over the Maple Leafs
Of course, they can. This is the Maple Leafs we’re talking about; the same team that makes atheists believe a higher power is affecting the team, that as Kevin Garnett said, “Anything is possible” … except the Maple Leafs winning a Game 7. So, for the fourth time in 11 seasons, Toronto found themselves on the wrong side of the handshake line, flying home and preparing to clear out their lockers.
Maple Leafs Played Well Enough to Lose Game 7
If this was December, we could look at this game and think, “What a valiant effort from the group.”
A 31-save performance from Ilya Samsonov, stepping in after the late announcement that starting goalie Joseph Woll would be out with injury; the return of three-time Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy-winning sniper Auston Matthews; a massive third-period goal from William Nylander to take the lead, a consistent and solid effort from their defence through the game, and a coin-flip loss in overtime. This had every ingredient of a hard-fought performance.
But that’s not how the playoffs work. Offseason decisions aren’t made based on players “doing their best.” To quote Gord Downie, “No one’s interested in something you didn’t do,” and, again, the Maple Leafs didn’t do the one thing fans have been begging them to do for years: win a damn Game 7 and beat the Bruins.
Maple Leafs Are a Broken Franchise
First-round elimination; stars unable to produce when it matters most; coaches who make mind-boggling decisions at the most critical times. Let’s just say it: the Maple Leafs are broken. For years, fans and management thought the core four of Matthews, Nylander, John Tavares and Mitch Marner would take them to the promised land. How could a franchise with so much talent at the top of the roster keep losing? It must be luck or a bad bounce or the refs – the refs! There’s no way it could be as simple as the team is broken.
But maybe it is. When Maple Leafs president Brendan Shanahan and former general manager Kyle Dubas decided to lock up this group to long-term deals, maybe they sealed their fate. The lack of a true-blue No. 1 defender, or even a No. 2 defender (no offence to Morgan Rielly, who has emerged as the de facto leader of the group), plus a desperate need for talent on their third and fourth lines, has turned Toronto into regular-season glory hounds instead of playoff thoroughbreds.
Related: Maple Leafs Were Better, But Not Good Enough…Things Need to Change
The way this series played out and how it ended was more disappointing than their previous playoff failures. After going down 3-1 in the series, especially after a horrible Game 4 performance when they lost 3-1, only to come back to tie the series and lose in Game 7 is the worst feeling for a sports fan: despondency.
No matter how bad the previous losses were, there was always next year. The talent on the roster is too good not to win and advance deep into the Stanley Cup Playoffs. But this loss, with a lacklustre effort from Marner and uninspired coaching from head coach Sheldon Keefe, is a sign that this is who they are: perennial losers with nothing to look forward to.
Without major changes, what is there to be excited about? There are many talented players around the league, teams with heart that give everything they have every night. Why waste our time watching whatever dribble comes out of the so-called “Centre of the Hockey Universe”?
What to Expect During Maple Leafs’ 2024 Offseason
Keefe has likely coached his last game for the Maple Leafs, and judging by his body language at the post-game press conference after Game 7, he knows it. “When teams play the Leafs, they set up the game for the Leafs to beat themselves,” Keefe said.
Look at that. He already sounds like an analyst. With two years remaining on his contract, maybe Keefe will get to provide that sharp wit for one of the networks while he waits for his next job behind the bench or whenever Dubas, now president and GM of the Pittsburgh Penguins, decides to hire his best buddy.
Related: Sheldon Keefe’s Odd Quote Points a Finger at His Coaching Ability
When it comes to the players, things get a bit more complicated. Tavares has one year remaining on the seven-year, $77 million deal he signed in July 2018, and a trade or buyout seems virtually impossible. Matthews and Nylander signed long-term extensions earlier this season, so they’re not going anywhere.
That leaves Marner, who has one season left on his six-year, $65.4 million deal and a full no-movement clause (NMC). During his time in Toronto, the narrative around the 27-year-old winger has been that he’s failed to produce in the playoffs, and while his 50 points in 57 career postseason games suggests otherwise, it’s the timing, or lack thereof, of those points that’s killed both him and the team.
Marner scored one goal and two assists in the seven games vs. the Bruins this spring and was a virtual no-show in nearly every contest. Considering that he’s already one of the highest-paid players in the league, and he’ll want a considerable raise from the $10.9 million he makes right now, the Maple Leafs have to decide how to handle this.
From this writer’s perspective, there’s only one way: sit down with Marner and explain that they’re not going to extend him and he should provide a list of teams he’d accept a trade to.
Last Word on the Maple Leafs
Changes are coming. How big the changes and how impactful they will be is anyone’s guess. Who will replace Keefe? Will the Maple Leafs try to bring in a top defenseman in exchange for Marner? Will the team look like a playoff team in any capacity next season?
Related: Insider Suggests Changes Coming for Maple Leafs After Game 7 Loss
Whatever happens, I’m sure many fans won’t want to be part of it. The whole point of cheering for a team is to enjoy the experience, to hope and root for your favourite players. But the way this team has performed in the last six or seven seasons, they no longer have the benefit of the doubt. The regular season is nothing but a precursor for, “Yeah, but what about the playoffs?” Matthews just completed one of the greatest offensive seasons in NHL history, and yet many were still thinking, “Can the Maple Leafs win four games against the Bruins or the Florida Panthers?”
I get it. It’s not fun anymore, and it feels like something cataclysmic will have to happen before many will crawl back and wear the wrinkled ball cap with the team logo on it again.
Who are we kidding? Let’s face it. We’ll all be reading every draft preview and story this offseason.