Ultimately, the “Core Four” era for the Toronto Maple Leafs collapsed like a low-quality online purchase – looking great in the picture, but its plastic parts snapping under pressure.
At least the conclusion was definitive.
There were no significant injuries, no weak goaltending letting down a supposedly destined team, no poor calls or fortunate bounces for the opponent, no excuses about being “a hair`s breadth away from beating the defending champions.” There were no “almosts,” “ifs,” or “maybes” within sight.
Goodbye.
Luke Fox wrote an excellent piece confirming this is the definitive end, so I won`t dwell further on that specific point. He`s correct: if you keep using the same four ingredients to bake a failed cake, simply changing the candles won`t improve the next one.
The problem now is that it`s not entirely clear which core components they should seek, and it`s even more challenging to figure out which ones are actually available.
How can you improve your team by shedding a prime-aged Selke Trophy nominee who consistently scores 100 points?
This exact question – “What now?” – has been the central theme of my text message exchanges with people I believe have a solid understanding of the Leafs situation.
Player-wise, the only certain change is that Mitch Marner will be playing somewhere else. Perhaps he`ll eventually win a Stanley Cup, much like Phil Kessel did in Pittsburgh, but it`s abundantly clear he cannot be the primary engine driving playoff success, at least not in Toronto.
Maybe in a market with less intense pressure, he`ll be able to attack more directly, avoiding the tendency to shuffle sideways and simply dump pucks into the neutral zone. Perhaps a new environment will free him from the fear of taking risks.
But even if that scenario plays out, the responsibility won`t fall on the Leafs for letting him go; it will rest solely on the player himself. The question won`t be, “How did the Leafs fail to foresee this playoff success?” but rather, “Why couldn`t he achieve this when he was playing there?”
In that sense, making the decision to move on seems relatively low-stress.
Nevertheless, they are likely to be weaker without him, at least during the regular season. The hope hinges on their ability to significantly improve their performance under pressure, because you simply cannot navigate the fiery path to winning a Cup without getting your feet scorched along the way.
