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The Toronto Maple Leafs crashed out of the 2024 Stanley Cup playoffs after losing Game 7 2-1 in overtime to the Boston Bruins. The Leafs' exit marked the seventh time in eight years that the Canadian franchise has exited the playoffs in the first round.
After the Game 7 loss, the Toronto Maple Leafs have added yet another unfortunate record to their books - losing all seven of their elimination games. Their record in these seven winner-takes-all games?
Trending
(via Sportsnet Stats)
In addition to the above stats, star duo Mitch Marner and Auston Matthews have had zero goals and five assists in the six win-or-go-home games that they have played.
5 Toronto Maple Leafs players who may be departing this offseason
Once they recover from Game 7 loss and their subsequent end to the season, General Manager Brad Treliving and President of Hockey Operations Brendan Shanahan have some very important offseason decisions to make.
The Toronto Maple Leafs' 'Core Four' experiment has revolved around superstars Auston Matthews, William Nylander, Mitch Marner and John Tavares since the 2018 season when Tavares joined as the final piece.
The Leafs have failed to make a deep playoff run since then with their best performance coming in last year when they reached the Conference Semi-Finals. It's time to ditch the "Core Four" idealogy and bring new faces into the squad.
#1. Mitch Marner
The 27-year-old winger signed a $65,408,000 contract in 2019 but has never come in clutch and stepped up in the postseason when the Toronto Maple Leafs needed him to. In 57 career postseason games, Marner has 11 goals and 39 assists. His best campaign was last year when he scored 14 points in 11 games. His overall points in each playoff series between 2016-2022 are: 4, 9, 4, 4, 4 and 8.
In this year's series against the Boston Bruins, Mitch Marner had three points from one goal and two assists in seven games.
Fans have called for trading the forward and although they do not make the final decision, eight years has been a long time for the Core Four project and the first piece to be dropped may be Mitch Marner this upcoming season, following which he will become an unrestricted free agent.
#2. Mark Giordano
The 40-year-old veteran defender may call it a day and hang his skates up now that the Toronto Maple Leafs have officially ended their 2023-24 campaign. Giordano has suffered multiple injuries this season starting with a broken finger in late November 2023.
In February, he missed a couple of games owing to an undisclosed lower-body injury. After returning from the injury, Giordano was away from the team for a while after his father, Paul, died.
In early March, Mark Giordano sustained an apparent head injury during a game against Coyotes. He returned to the team in late March but Sheldon Keefe did not select the veteran for any of the Leafs' seven postseason games against the Bruins.
After having played 1,148 regular season games in 19 NHL seasons, Mark Giordano may retire before the start of next season.
#3. Tyler Bertuzzi
Bertuzzi signed a one-year contract with the Maple Leafs at the start of the 2023-24 season after splitting his time between the Detroit Red Wings and Boston Bruins in the previous season.
The 29-year-old gritty forward was brought into the team to help increase the physicality of the Maple Leafs, who were missing some muscle in their lineup. Bertuzzi showed up in the playoffs against the Bruins, he butt heads with Bruins captain Brad Marchand on multiple occasions and won some important mental battles for the Leafs.
With only three points in seven games, Bertuzzi's spot on the Maple Leafs roster may be replaced next season by a more offensive-minded forward.
#4. Ilya Samsonov
The Russian goaltender has had highs and the lowest of lows this season. Ilya Samsonov was placed on waivers by the Toronto Maple Leafs at the end of December 2023 after his struggles in net had piled up.
Earlier in the season, the Leafs had lowballed their offer for Samsonov's new contract. But the goalie elected to file for salary arbitration and was awarded a one-year/$3.55 million deal.
Given that the Leafs were already unwilling to pay a high price for Ilya Samsonov, the Russian goalie hasn't performed exceptionally well so the Leafs would definitely want to re-sign him.
Joseph Woll has been a solid brick wall for the Leafs when he's not injured and Martin Jones (also on an expiring contract) has been a decent backup and third option. Even 6-foot-7 Toronto Marlies goalie Dennis Hildeby may be a solid option for the Leafs as a third goalie.
#5. Ilya Lyubushkin
Lyubushkin was a trade deadline pickup for the Toronto Maple Leafs. The 30-year-old defenseman was traded from the Anaheim Ducks in a three-team trade involving the Carolina Hurricanes.
In the Leafs-Bruins Round 1 series, Lyubushkin had an approximate TOI of 16 minutes, a total of 30 hits and seven blocks across seven games. In the 19 regular season games he played for the Maple Leafs, he had 64 total hits and 30 blocks.
Although these numbers may seem good on paper, the Toronto Maple Leafs' defense has struggled all season and they might revamp their D-core entirely, pushing Ilya Lyubushkin out of the team for next season.
