For the ninth year in a row, the Toronto Maple Leafs have been eliminated within the first two rounds of the NHL playoffs. As they navigate through a very tricky offseason, there is one big question that remains: should the Maple Leafs be okay with Mitch Marner departing in free agency this summer?
Well, the short answer is they really don’t have a choice. Marner holds the cards in this situation. However, if there’s still a chance he would like to come back to Toronto, should they let him walk without a contract offer and go in another direction?
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Let’s dive into it and determine whether the team should let him walk — and if so, who they could look at to fill the void.
Is Letting Marner Walk a Good Idea?
The Maple Leafs need to make a change. That much is clear. But is letting a star player like Marner go a good idea? Unfortunately, they won’t be able to replace what he brings during the regular season. But when the playoffs come around, that’s when they need to bring in player(s) who can replace what he fails to do each and every year. It’s a tough situation. They would be losing a hometown, homegrown star. But sometimes, things just don’t work out. And while Marner has a ton of regular season success and scores 95–105 points, when the pressure is on in the playoffs, he’s a shell of himself — and it’s hurt the team time and time again.
Yes, the same can be said for Auston Matthews and William Nylander, but when their contracts were due for an extension, the team made the decision to re-sign them long-term. As for Marner, he may not be so lucky. But it’s important to remember that he may simply not want to come back and play in this market again. The terrible Game 7 loss against the Florida Panthers may truly have been his last game in the blue and white. It might be the best decision for both sides if he walks to free agency and signs elsewhere. That way, the team can look at other options and potentially make a legitimate push for a Stanley Cup at least once or twice before Matthews’ contract expires.
Changes Are Needed
At the end of the day, it’s time for the Maple Leafs to make a change. They can’t keep running it back and expecting a different result. They’ve tried that for far too many years. Now, almost a decade later, they’re finally in a position to make real changes — and Brad Treliving is going to be the one to do it. He’ll be tasked with finding Marner’s replacement(s) and using the money they would’ve paid him to bring in a few players that better position them for the long run.
Treliving will be leaning heavily on head coach Craig Berube to help guide these moves. He’ll work closely with the management group to bring in players who not only fit his identity but also improve the team. Berube has been there before. He won the Stanley Cup with the St. Louis Blues back in 2019, so he knows what it takes. His ideology on how to build a winner fits very well with Treliving’s approach. That could mean some drastic changes are coming to the Maple Leafs. Changes that may make them a weaker regular season team, but not a weaker playoff team — and that should be the goal. The offseason priority should be to make this team better suited for playoff hockey, similar to how the Panthers, Boston Bruins, or Tampa Bay Lightning have built their teams over the last decade.
