Friday night’s Game 6 could be the last time the Toronto Maple Leafs’ Core Four plays together. If the Leafs are eliminated from the 2025 Stanley Cup playoffs, Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, William Nylander, and John Tavares could be saying goodbye after nearly a decade of wild times.
While Matthews and Nylander will return next season, Marner and Tavares are serious question marks. In my estimation, the team will do everything it can to keep both.
But the epic tidal wave that will be unleashed on the Maple Leafs’ brass could dramatically reshape the club’s landscape.
The potential for both Brendan Shanahan and Brad Treliving to be on the outs could influence Marner and Tavares’ decisions to remain in Toronto. Moreover, the uncertainty that another disappointing playoff exit would unleash could prompt Marner and Tavares to take a step back and re-evaluate their desire to remain in Toronto after this season.
Now, if the Leafs rally to advance to the Eastern Conference Final against the Carolina Hurricanes, it could delay the inevitable. The Core Four could still break up during the offseason, but at least it would be on a positive note.
Toronto fans could make peace with losing Marner if he left the team as a Stanley Cup champion. A Cup would ease the loss of one of the team’s best players in history.
But I cannot begin to fathom the amount of backlash that would ensue if the Leafs cannot at least force a Game 7. I don’t think there’s enough Advil in the world that alleviate the headache that Leafs’ ownership will get if Friday night is the end of the Toronto Maple Leafs’ 2024-25 season.
Toronto Maple Leafs cannot afford another stinker in Game 6 against Panthers
So, win or lose, the Toronto Maple Leafs cannot afford another stinker in Game 6 against the Panthers.
I say “win or lose” because another blowout loss like Game 5 would likely cost Craig Berube his job. Following Wednesday night’s debacle, Berube stated that he didn’t have an answer for what happened.
That’s not the sort of thing the media and fans want to hear. It’s like listening to government officials say they don’t know why they weren’t prepared to help victims following a disaster.
In fact, I was surprised to see Berube’s nonchalant attitude toward the end of the game. Perhaps Berube is just a really good poker player and can maintain a cool exterior despite the disaster unfolding in front of him.
Perhaps I’m just a lot more emotional than Berube is. Maybe I need some lessons from him on how to keep a cool exterior despite getting ready to peel the paint off the walls.
Whatever Berube’s demeanor may or may not suggest, the Leafs need to have a come-to-Jesus moment following Game 5. A team as talented as the Toronto Maple Leafs cannot simply fold and call it a night.
This group owes it to the city, and the fans, to play like someone is holding a gun to their kids’ heads. Again, win or lose, fans and the media want to see the Leafs come out and give it their best shot.
I would like to close off this commentary with the following reflection. If the Leafs rally and get past the Panthers, Mitch Marner and John Tavares stand to rake in the dough on the free-agent market.
But if they go out with a whimper, that could cost them millions of dollars on the open market. I know that sounds selfish. But if professional athletes need any additional motivation, that would be it.
If I was Marner’s agent, I would be telling him that. If Marner and/or Tavares rise to the occasion in Games 6 and potentially 7, their stock will shoot through the roof. Go out with a thud and kiss a potentially record-breaking contract goodbye.