A Eulogy for the 2022-23 Toronto Maple Leafs Season

The Toronto Maple Leafs season has once again ended in disappointment.

For the first time in the Auston Matthews Era, the Toronto Maple Leafs won a playoff round, but ultimately finished with a below .500 playoff winning percentage. A 5-6 record is simply not good enough as another season has come and gone.

I’m not going to sit here and be happy with the fact that the Leafs ran into a hot goaltender in Sergei Bobrovsky because it’s the same story every year. For some reason, Toronto’s opponent’s goaltender always turns into vintage Patrick Roy in the playoffs. Year-after-year, whether it’s Carey Price, Andrei Vasilevskiy, Joonas Korpisalo or now Bobrovsky, the opposition is near-perfect.

You could call it unlucky and say you should just run it back, or you can look at a theme and understand you need a change. If the same players, who are some of the best offensive players in the world, are not finding a way to score every playoff series, I’d look at that being the issue, rather than the fact that there happens to be a hot goaltender on the other team.

In five games, Auston Matthews finished with zero goals. The reigning Hart Trophy winner who scored 60 goals last year, put up a goose-egg in the biggest games of his life. I can understand going two games without a goal, but five games is unacceptable for a player who averages 0.62 goals per game in the regular season.

When you look back at his playoff stats in a few years, you’ll see five goals and 11 points in 11 games and be like “he did his part,” however those stats don’t paint the picture. A point per game is fine but if the Leafs have any chance to win a Stanley Cup, those stats need to drastically improve.

Toronto Maple Leafs 2022-23 Season Ends in Dissapointment

if Matthews thinks he’s one of the best players in the world, he needs to put the team on his back like Leon Draisaitl or Connor McDavid. The Oilers may not win a Stanley Cup this year, but at least it won’t be because of their best players not showing up. If your best players continue to not perform at the biggest moments, then it’s time for a change.

I’m not saying that Matthews needs to be traded, but I do think something needs to change. With one year left on Matthews and Nylander’s contract and two more left with Marner and Tavares, a change could naturally be happening before we know it and the team could be a rebuild again.

It’s been seven years since the last rebuild, but the Leafs could be irrelevant again if they run it back and lose again. This team is very good and the best we’ve seen in 20 years, but there needs to be a change to shake things up.

Just because your team is good, doesn’t mean you need to stand pat. For example, look at the Toronto Raptors from a few years ago. They made the Eastern Conference Finals, but instead of being content, they traded DeMar DeRozan for Kawhi Leonard, then fired their coach.

That shake-up brought the Raptors an NBA Championship and the same logic could be applied to the Leafs.

This team needs to trade Mitch Marner, then fire Sheldon Keefe to make the dressing room aware that things like this will continue to happen if they don’t perform. Nobody wants to see the best right-winger in hockey moved, but over the years, he’s shown that his game doesn’t translate as well in the playoffs.

The Leafs don’t need a rebuild, but instead need a shake-up, so let’s hope that Kyle Dubas is still the one making the moves this summer because the Leafs are a good team, but they could be a much better with a few moves.