Now What?

image via the4thperiod.com

I have been following the team wholeheartedly for over 30 years and been through all of the ups and downs. I remember cheering for the Leafs in the late 80s and one of my lasting memories was Ken Wregget's amazing glove save off Paul Cavallini during the 1987 playoffs. It was the best save I had ever seen and to this day I like to repeat the call by the legendary Bob Cole to myself to refresh the magnitude of that save.

Since then I have seen the team be successful during the 90s with a couple of Conference Finals appearances, but pretty much since then, the team has been a complete dud with all due respect to Mat Sundin's time here.

Over the past nine years the team has been out of the first round twice with all of the expectations in the world and all the talent to get it done. So what has been wrong? The teams in the 90s and early 2000s were known to have that "IT" factor and whatever they lacked in talent, they made up for with a roster full of players that would go that extra mile and get the job done. The likes of Bill Berg and Peter Zezel and all of their star players dug deep to make it to where they got to and this current regime of players do not have that attribute. Players follow the leads of their top guys and with this current team I do not remember Matthews, Marner, Tavares or even Nylander going out there and going that extra mile to get a puck or win a board battle. Sure, these guys are talented and can score goals and make plays, but it takes true character to win in the playoffs and that has been lacking. One player is not to blame here either and it is a collective effort of failure. Marner is the poster boy of how bad this team has been during the playoffs and choking when it matters most, but everyone seems to vanish during clinching and elimination games. I looked over all the stats and it is sadly everyone and it is finally time for this roster to get gutted. Adding Berube this year was a major plus and I will not ignore the success he has had in a very short time. He did wonderful things with the defence and made the boys achieve things during the regular season and winning the division was huge. It set up the team to make a deep playoff and then everything went wrong. I pin point the Leaf's failure to Game 3 against the Panthers. Even during games 4 and 5 against the Senators they had a chance to bury a far less superior team, but they failed and nearly went to a Game 7. Imagine how confident the team would have been going into the second round after a sweep or a quick series in the first round? Hockey, like any sport is about confidence and how you feel about yourself and the team dropped the ball.

Back to Game 3 against the Panthers, the team was up 3-1 and in classic Leaf's fashion they blew it. They blew it again in games 4 and 5, came back with a strong performance in Game 6 and absoultely pooped the bed in Game 7. I went through all the emotions for a day or so after that pitiful performance and came to the conclusion that I have never during all my years of watching this team, seen a more upsetting performance during a clutch game in my life. Nobody showed up. The team somehow survived the first, but the complete no shows for two periods was almost laughable.

Matthews was bad and did not generate any scoring chances and. Nylander did at least two fly bys during Panther goals. Something that is unexceptable and during the regular season might have cost him a benching. Marner for all the hate he gets seemed to be trying but for the fourth game in a row did not generate a shot on net. How does that even happen? That is why he is the poster boy for failure during this era. Getting shots are all about going that extra mile and getting into an area where you can get a decent scoring chance. Sure, he is not a goal scorer, but even on one of his goals in the playoffs, he just shot the puck at the net and it went in. None of that when it mattered most. It is just impossible to be how someone who has the puck as he does, can not register a single shot in any game. Unbelievable. So, what should Brad Tree do moving forward? I looked into the team's budget and they have enough money to keep J.T, Knies and a couple of other cogs in the wheel and go after a couple of playoff tested players such as Benett, Duchene, Benn and God forbid Marchand. I believe Marchand will go to the highest bidder and if the Leaf's have enough money to get him here, then management should do whatever they can to get him here.

image via clutchpoints.com

That being said, this upcoming off season will be an interesting one as it always is. Even though there is a small chance that Marner takes a major discount to stay here, I strongly believe that it is time for him to move on for his own sake. He is an excellent player and one of my favorite players to watch in the entire NHL, but this is a production driven business at the end of the day and he simply is not good enough to move this team further in the playoffs. I have faith in the management and the coaching to get the team there because what other choice do I have?. GO Leafs GO????