With Maple Leafs suffering yet another early playoff exit, it’s time to break up their core

As the Toronto Maple Leafs participated within the handshake line following their Game 7 time beyond regulation loss to the Boston Bruins, a merciless actuality set in. It lastly could also be time to make some vital adjustments to the group’s roster after another opening-round playoff exit.

The Maple Leafs fell to the Bruins in a hard-fought seven-game sequence that culminated Saturday. Obviously, Toronto was with out the providers of star middle Auston Matthews for 2 video games in the course of the sequence as he handled an unknown sickness. 

While the Maple Leafs did win a pair of video games with out Matthews within the lineup, it actually wasn’t due to an offensive barrage over that two-game stretch. In reality, the Maple Leafs averaged simply 1.71 targets over the whole sequence.

Over the years, Toronto has put an excessive amount of religion in their core group of Matthews, William Nylander and Mitch Marner, and it has little or no to present for it.

“We’ve been through a lot together,” Matthews said concerning Toronto’s core group. “I mean, in the end, it’s a game of inches [and] we haven’t quite gotten over that hump. But obviously, through the years, you grow and we’ve come extremely close.”

During their time collectively, the Maple Leafs trio has received only one playoff sequence, which got here in opposition to the Tampa Bay Lightning within the opening spherical of the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs. After all, this was a franchise that hadn’t been victorious in a postseason sequence because the 2003-04 marketing campaign prior to that win.

Matthews and Nylander each signed huge contract extension during the last calendar yr, so it’s apparent neither is packing their luggage to head elsewhere anytime quickly. Still, one thing has obtained to change after another yr of failing to make a deep run at a Stanley Cup.

It’s time to shake issues up and try to transfer on from one of many group’s high property in Marner.

Marner does have a no-movement clause in his contract, so dealing him wouldn’t precisely be the simplest activity to undertake for the Maple Leafs entrance workplace. Still, it could be greatest for each events to half methods at this level.

During the sequence, Marner tallied only one objective and two assists. He registered an help in Games 3 and 5, whereas scoring a third-period objective in Game 4. 

However, Marner’s effort on each ends of the ice left slightly to be desired at numerous factors, together with within the guts of Saturday’s Game 7.

For instance, Marner discovered himself on the defensive finish of the play when Bruins star David Pastrnak scored the game-winning objective in time beyond regulation of Game 7. Marner was back-checking on Pastrnak within the impartial zone, however let Pastrnak blow by him and get in place to rating the game-winning objective off a dump-in from Bruins defenseman Hampus Lindholm.

Pastrnak turned on the jets on the play, and Marner’s teammates actually didn’t do him any favors. There’s no assure Marner would’ve been ready to muscle Pastrnak off the puck if he had slightly little bit of backup, however it nonetheless wasn’t a very good search for Marner to be beat like that.

The 2024-25 season is the ultimate yr of Marner’s contract, and he carries a $10.9 million cap hit in that closing yr. It’s not going to be any straightforward activity to transfer that sort of a contract.

Despite his lackluster postseason, Marner remains to be a sensational top-six ahead able to serving to another group. The veteran winger tallied at the very least 85 factors in every of his previous three seasons, together with recording 26 targets and 59 assists in 2023-24.

Something has to change with the Maple Leafs’ roster, and transferring Marner simply makes an excessive amount of sense. If Toronto can discover a commerce accomplice that Marner is keen to go to, it’s going to be for the perfect for each events.