This Year Was Supposed to Be Different

This year, the Toronto Maple Leafs gave their fans the highest hopes for success. The Leafs won their division, and finished the regular season with 52 wins. They had made a lot of changes in the off-season with new head coach Craig Berube and additional goalie Anthony Stolarz. Some last-minute additions also include Brandon Carlo from the Boston Bruins and Scott Laughton from the Philadelphia Flyers. While trades and signings happen every day, a big shift was Auston Matthews becoming captain and taking over for John Tavares at the start of the season. 

The Leafs have been known for folding under pressure, with their last playoff run against Boston ending in their first-round elimination after they were able to force a Game 7. The Leafs took on the Ottawa Senators in the first round of the playoffs this year.  They came out strong and added to the idea that this year was going to be different for them. They went up 3-0 and went to Game 6, where they secured their ticket to the second round. 

The Leafs were set to take on the Florida Panthers in the second round. With the Florida Panthers signing Brad Marchand and being the reigning Stanley Cup champions, everyone knew this was not going to be an easy battle. Although it was gonna be tough, the Leafs were different this year, they went up 2-0 in the series against Florida. Those Games were not without any struggle, Anthony Stolarz who had a .907% save percentage, and was previous Florida Panthers goalie, was injured during the first Game of this series. 

The injury not only changed the trajectory of the series, but could not have happened at a worse time. With him injured, Joseph Woll had to play catch-up during the playoffs, he hadn’t been in the net in 18 Games. Woll was sent in halfway through the first Game of the second round.  With Stolarz’s injury it was a blow it seems the Leafs never truly recovered from. 

Unfortunately, it just went downhill from there, The Leafs lost in overtime in Game 3, then went on to lose Games 4 and 5. After winning Game 6 with a Joseph Woll shutout, they tied the series forcing Game 7. It was a Game that could’ve rewritten history and send them to the conference finals against the Hurricanes. 

Game 7 was a slow start, but the Florida Panthers dominated with their o-zone time and shots on goal. The first period ended scoreless on both sides. Where some teams lose momentum, it seems the Florida Panthers found a spark and scored 3 unanswered goals in the second period, they followed that up with 3 more in the third period. Max Domi scored Toronto's only goal in the third period. 

 This season, the Leafs had home ice advantage, which would normally be an advantage for any team unless you’re the Toronto Maple Leafs. Leaf fans have done nothing but have their hopes raised just to be crushed when it comes down to it. After the Leafs went down 5-1, so-called Leaf fans started to make their way home as they had seen enough. Others had started to throw their jerseys and drinks on the ice. The final act to show just how disappointed they were was to boo every time Mitch Marner touched the puck. This would be the second time in this series where the fans had booed the Leafs in their own arena, the first being the Panthers 6-1 win in Game 5. 

The question everyone asked this series was “where was the core four?” Auston Matthews, William Nylander, Mitch Marner and John Tavares. All of them seemed to have disappeared once the second round started, fans were wondering if they were ever planning to show up. Auston Matthews answered this call in Game 6 as he scored the first goal in the third period to give Toronto their 1-0 lead.

Now with the season over some serious questions loom

 Is this the end of the core 4? Did we just witness Mitch Marner's last Game as a Leaf?

After the Game 7 loss, this puts an end to the 2024-2025 season for the Toronto Maple Leafs, which also is the end of Mitch Marner's contract. In 2019, Marner signed a 6-year, $10.9 million contract and has made no comments on an extension. Along with Marner, John Tavares’ contract is also up with the close of the 2024-2025 season. In 2018, Tavares signed a 7-year, $77 million contract, but he has not signed an extension. 

While we can expect a lot of changes to come Toronto's way, everyone has made it clear how big of an impact Marner and Tavares make. They both have spoken of wanting to stay with the Leafs and that they have loved every moment they’ve had with the franchise. 

Even though history seems to be repeating itself when it comes to the Leafs one has to say that this year has felt more different than most. True fans will remain patient as it seems the Leafs are finally coming into their own and learning to work past their weak points. They went through a lot of changes in the span of one season, to adjust that quickly and get this far is nothing for this team to be ashamed of. 

While this year ended in a hard fought loss, next year is a whole different story.