On the heels of a frustrating loss to the Boston Bruins on Monday, it's clear that the Leafs are going to have to take a good long look in the mirror and decide if they want to compete for a Stanley Cup or bow out in the first round again.
Through the first 13 minutes of he 1st period of last night's game against Boston, the Leafs were down 11 shots to 2 to the Bruins and had already surrendered 2 goals to their Atlantic Division counterpart, en route to a 4-1 loss on home ice. The team had some good moments in the game, but ultimately, the same problem continues to rear its ugly head in Toronto; they don't seem to want to start on time and aren't providing a full 60-minute effort.
Following the loss to the Bruins, Leafs captain John Tavares spoke with the media and admitted that his team simply wasn't good enough last night. While his sentiments indicated that the team takes full responsibility for not being ready to compete last night, his choice of words did not sit well with the fans.
The issue that most seem to have with Tavares' comments is that he referred to the loss as "a good lesson", as if the team's previous losses to the Bruins in back-to-back series in 2018 and 2019 weren't enough of a lesson in their own right. Then, there was the loss to Columbus in the bubble in 2020. Then there was the "lesson" they learned against the Montreal Canadiens in 2021. Are you starting to see a trend?
Lessons are only lessons if you learn from them. Clearly, this team hasn't learned a thing and the unfortunate part is that they've now committed to the Core 4 (Matthews, Marner, Nylander, Tavares) and Morgan Rielly for a number of years, with all of them owning full no movement clauses, so even if they want to make a change, they can't - at least until Marner and Tavares come off the books in the summer of 2025.
The Leafs still have 21 games remaining and the trade deadline coming up on Friday, so there's still time to help this team overcome some of their issues, but if they happen to draw Boston in round 1 again, it could be another short postseason in Toronto.
