Just a few weeks ago, the Toronto Maple Leafs looked to have gained some ground in the Eastern Conference standings and push for a wild card spot. Going 6-1-2 in their previous nine games, they have stagnated with three straight loses to the Minnesota Wild, Detroit Red Wings and Vegas Golden Knights, allowing six goals in two of the three games.
While it’s a tough stretch given where the Maple Leafs are in the standings compared to their opponents, putting forth a strong effort is once again being brought into question. Needless to say, the trend of not showing up on time and playing a game they can be proud of in a moment where the lights are brighter continues to elude them. Mitch Marner’s return game is just another example of that.
Maple Leafs Effort Coming Into Question
The main talking point for the current era of the Maple Leafs has been more of the same thing; they know how to be consistently inconsistent when it comes to putting forth an effort for long stretches of games, and when they do, they lose that immediately. Some of their losses, like their lackadaisical effort to start the game when Marner returned home for the first time since signing with the Golden Knights proved it.
In their first meeting against the Golden Knights, they came flying out of the gate, but collapsed and lost multiple leads in a 6-5 overtime loss. Upon Marner’s return, it was lifeless from the very beginning, allowing the first goal on the first shot, getting beat to pucks, having poor back-checks and just a lack of overall awareness. They had the advantage in shot attempts (51-46) and scoring chances (27-21), but the first 30 minutes was inexcusable and their last five of the game was disappointing.
The Maple Leafs should’ve had that date circled for months. It should’ve been a game where they were motivated and determined to push forward and prove they’re better off without him. You would think that the Maple Leafs would be ready to prove a point where they came face-to-face with a teammate that had a rough fallout and split with the organization. The only thing that was proven was that once against, during a big momentum-like game, they were nowhere to be seen until they turned on the jets later on.
This has been the same thing over the last 10 years. There was no statement made and given where they are in the standings, they lost points that could’ve pushed them further into a playoff spot. After gaining some momentum and taking positive steps, they’ve taken two massive ones back.
You can point this season to injuries and Marner’s absence playing a part, but those are excuses.
The Tampa Bay Lightning have been without Victor Hedman for most of the season and now Brayden Point and they’re still pushing forward without them as they’re second in the Atlantic Division. Many thought the Boston Bruins would take a step back, but they’re still keeping pace with David Pastrnak leading the way. The Detroit Red Wings and Montreal Canadiens are real threats as they’ve shown the effort to push back to win even when things look tough.
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Where has that consistency and effort been for the Maple Leafs this season, aside from the start of the 2026 calendar year and other short stretches? Where has this been throughout the Matthews era? With Marner’s return, it was supposed to be a game with meaning, urgency and purpose and yet it was treated like the first four or five games of the season. The careless and simple mistakes piled on and forward Scott Laughton was very candid with his team’s assessment and play.
If your fourth line centre is calling out the team’s lack of urgency, it’s something that should resonate with everyone. He has been playing with that emotion and drive all season, scoring in their 6-3 loss to the Golden Knights with 9:28 of ice time. That can’t be said with some on the team. They knew what to expect, they weren’t ready and they paid the price for it.
How Long Before the Message Sinks?
This isn’t just a one-time thing for the Maple Leafs, it’s been consistent for years, be it in the regular season or playoffs. It was even more magnified when Marner was around as his playoff struggles were evident, along with everyone else.
It’s something that head coach Craig Berube said that the team needs to find an answer and “fix it”. Once again, the head coach is saying the right thing, but when it comes to the players, how long are they going to say they need to fix it, before it does get resolved? How long is it going to take for the team to understand that there can’t be any nights taken off? How long is it going to take before the message sinks in?
There have been multiple examples that can be used but the list is long. Marner’s return is another one that can be added to that list where they failed to take advantage of an opportunity.
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If the Maple Leafs can’t turn things around and play with an effort and urgency needed to win like their opponents do on a nightly basis, then everything they worked for to gain some ground would be all for nothing. The Maple Leafs are losing a lot of must win games and while they’re up against tough opponents, the effort has been questionable, wavering from game-to-game and week-to-week.
They’ve shown that they can go up against the top teams. Why they can’t do it consistently remains to be a question that may never have an answer.
Statistics from Natural Stat Trick and Hockey Reference.
