John E. Sokolowski-Imagn Images
The Toronto Maple Leafs have the best record of any team in the Atlantic Division. But if you thought this year’s edition was any different than the one that lost in Game 7 to the Boston Bruins in last year’s playoffs, you need to get your hearing checked.
A chorus of boos have serenaded the Leafs as they exited the ice in consecutive losses at home to the Vancouver Canucks and Dallas Stars this week.
The Leafs, who head into Thursday night’s game against the New Jersey Devils on a three-game losing streak, have been struggling lately. And the fans are letting them hear it.
“It’s everywhere. They do it in every rink, don’t they? I mean, it’s part of the game,” Leafs coach Craig Berube told reporters following Tuesday’s 4-1 loss to the Stars. “They pay good money, and they come to see hockey, and they want to see us win. So, that’s, you know, that’s the way it goes.”
In other words, it’s no big deal.
And this probably wouldn’t be a big deal if fans were booing in St. Louis, where Berube last coached. But this isn’t St. Louis. This is Toronto. And the main difference between St. Louis and Toronto is the Blues finally ended their championship drought and won a Stanley Cup in 2019, while the Leafs have gone more than 20 years without even reaching the conference final.
That’s why Toronto fans have little patience for a lackluster performance, even if it happens in mid-January, when the Leafs are one of the best teams in the NHL. But the bigger issue is not the three-game losing skid or the fans’ reaction to it.
Rather, it’s the reaction from the Leafs’ leadership group — mainly Mitch Marner and William Nylander.
After the 3-0 loss to Vancouver on Saturday, which Toronto defenseman Chris Tanev described as “not good enough,” Marner took a tone-deaf approach and said he “thought we played well.” A few nights later, Marner said the best approach to getting booed was “just try to ignore it.”
Nylander agreed, downplaying the fans’ response.
“Good teams find their way out of this. It’s only been three games. What’s the big deal, really?”
William Nylander on the Maple Leafs’ losing streak. pic.twitter.com/pHP29Uud1V
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) January 15, 2025
“It doesn’t really matter if they boo,” said Nylander. “I mean, we know we’re a good team, so, yeah… I think all good teams need to go through some stretch where everything’s not clicking and everything like that. So, yeah, I mean, good teams find their way out of this. And, I mean, it’s only been three games, so what’s the big deal, really?”
No big deal?
As Toronto radio host Sam McKee aptly said on Sportsnet’s Real Kyper & Bourne, “It’s not three games, Willy — it’s eight years.”
Actually, it’s longer than eight years. Much longer.
The boos are for one playoff round win in 20 years. The boos are not winning a Stanley Cup since 1967. The boos are for an organization that continues to roll it back with the same “Core Four” despite receiving the same results year after year.
Like it or not, the ghosts of the past hang over this team. Don’t like it, don’t play in Toronto.
And maybe that needs to happen. After all, Marner and Tavares’ contracts are both up at the end of the season. Tavares has already had his captaincy taken from him. Another first-round exit, and there might be no appetite for bringing the 34-year-old back, no matter what sort of hometown discount he’s willing to take.
Marner is in the same position. He’s currently having a career year with 60 points in 45 games. But in a career defined by playoff disappointments, the decision to extend him in Toronto will be determined by what happens in the spring.
That’s what the Leafs still haven’t figured out. It really doesn’t matter what they do in January. Or rather, what matters in January is that the team develops the habit and the mentality to have success in the playoffs.
Right now, it doesn’t appear anything has changed.
And until the team realizes why exactly fans are booing, there’s no reason to believe anything will change when the playoffs begin.
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