Another season has come to an end sooner than the Toronto Maple Leafs expected and it was exit interview time once again.
With another first-round exit from the NHL playoffs, the media had a ton of questions for both the Toronto Maple Leafs players and management.
The main roster has 12 players who will become Unrestricted Free Agents (UFA) on July 28th and one Restricted Free Agent (RFA).
Those players along with management were asked about the future of this team and how to fix the problem of routine first-round exits. In this article, I will highlight what the players had to say.
Highlights Toronto Maple Leafs Player Exit Interviews:
John Tavares
When John Tavares was asked about the hit from Corey Perry, he said he doesn’t remember the hit. He remembers his first couple of shifts, remembers parts of being down on the ice, and being on the stretcher, but “it was very vague.”
Tavares also confirmed that Perry did reach out to him that night. “Sent me a nice message, and I would like to think that there was no intent.” From everyone Tavares has talked to about the incident, “it just seemed like an unfortunate set of circumstances.”
When asked about his recovery, Tavares said “I’m doing really well. Continuing to progress. I feel very fortunate.” He also pointed out that he has not watched a replay of the incident.
He also talked about the team’s failure in the playoffs and said “Hard to put into context the disappointment (of first round loss) – we all take significant responsibility for not meeting expectations.” “We feel like we have let our fanbase down.” ( All Quotes from youtube.com).
Mitch Marner
Here is how Mitch Marner responded to a question about the team’s playoff failure. “The end result is terrible. It’s not what we wanted. No one is feeling good about this. It’s awful – what we didn’t accomplish is a really shitty feeling.”
When asked about the rumor regarding him not wanting to play a specific role on the power play, he responded with “It’s a complete lie.” and then added “I’d play any role to help this team win.”