from Luke Fox of Sportsnet,
Stop crying, bro.
Start trading. Start firing.
The 2023-24 Toronto Maple Leafs are crumbling into pieces in front of our eyes, their belief morphing into frustration, their greatest strengths dissolving into weaknesses.
Time and again, this era of the hockey team's core — loaded with high-end talent and blessed with financial security — finds a way to underwhelm and underachieve when the city that cares so deeply wants it the most.
So, as the boo birds flew inside Scotiabank Arena and the scoring chances dried like hope, and the organized but hardly insurmountable Boston Bruins executed a tidy 3-1 road win to match their series lead, the superstars began bickering on the bench.
The clip spread around the Internet faster than the latest Drake diss, and the lip-readers had a field day:
Below watch Marner and Nylander discuss the frustration and watch the game highlights here.
from Terry Koshan of the Toronto Sun,
Theres ugly, and then theres the Maple Leafs effort in Game 4 on Saturday.
For much of the night at Scotiabank Arena, the Leafs played like they knew that if they lost, they still would have another game against the Boston Bruins in the best-of-seven, first-round series.
Its a fact, and its also true that if the Leafs play in Game 5 on Tuesday in Boston like they did on Saturday their season will be over.
Youve seen the lack of urgency from the Leafs in the playoffs before, and there it was again in all its glory in a 3-1 loss against the Bruins.
Boston holds a 3-1 lead in the series and can send the Leafs home for the summer with a win at TD Garden on Tuesday.
Dont go commending the Leafs for turning it on in the third period, when they finally beat goalie Jeremy Swayman on a goal by Mitch Marner before the six-minute mark. Had the Leafs demonstrated that kind of desperation from the opening faceoff, we would probably be talking about a series that was tied 2-2.
continued
from Mike Zeisberger of NHL.com,
Consider this: The Maple Leafs have devoted almost half of their NHL salary cap to four players: Matthews, Marner, Nylander and Tavares. They are being paid handsomely, for the most part, to put pucks in the net. Its what the team is known for.
At least in the regular season, anyway.
Come the postseason however, that penchant evaporates. The proof is in the numbers.
Toronto has now gone 10 of its past 11 playoff games scoring two goals or fewer. The exception was their victory in Game 2. They scored three in a 3-2 win. Thats hardly an offensive explosion.
In the meantime, while the Maple Leafs marquee players continue to sputter, Bostons best players keep performing as such. Forwards Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak scored Saturday and have now combined for five goals in the series. Thats just two fewer than the entire Toronto team has accrued in four games.
In fact, the entire Maple Leafs team has scored just seven times in the series. Compare that to Edmonton Oilers forward Zach Hyman, formerly of the Maple Leafs. He alone already has six goals in three games in the Western Conference First Round against the Los Angeles Kings.
more on the game
It's great to have Mike Zeisberger back.
Fine for the regular season; marshmallows in the playoffs.
My take the last few years is Okeefe is not a good coach - he was Dubas's boy and I was surprised they didn't show him the door once Dubas's was out.
Their defense stinks, we all know that. But contrast this Toronto team to the Oilers and the Leafs really should be better (which is why I think it goes back to coaching).
MLSE now has a CEO for the first time in years, so now Shanny has someone to answer to/fire him. If they go out in 5, I can't see him being around much longer than that.
If they go out in anything less than a Stanley Cup Finals appearance both Shanny and Keefe are gone. This was their team must be broken up series.
Fans are calling on Shanny to fire Keefe on the spot and replace him himself if Keefe announces Ilya Samsonov as the starting goalie in game 5.
Remember that Shanny fired the GM, Dubas, after Dubas announced due to playoff failures the team was going to have to change direction with the core 4. Shanny not only stopped that from happening, but essentially ensured the same team would be brought back with marginal improvements around team toughness.
The meltdown on the bench will provide the new management team all the cover they need to move a player out. Unfortunately, since these players have full NMC's they will simply have to accept where would you like to go and take what we can get scenarios or we are prepared to bench you all season long.
Tavares in the last year of his contract (and a Toronto native) with a cap hit that won't come close to his production isn't going anywhere.
Matthews having scored 69 goals isn't leaving either.
That leaves Marner or Nylander. Nylander is signed long-term and Marner is in the last year of his contract (why the benching would matter).
That means Marner is on his way out the door and the Leafs could even eat salary to facilitate his departure (not many have 11M in cap space). Samsonov, Tyler Bertuzzi and Max Domi are leaving too.
was the actual quote.
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