Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews skates during training camp in Toronto. Last season, the Leafs ran headlong into the Florida Panthers in the second round of the playoffs.Sammy Kogan/The Canadian Press
Mitch Marner’s off-season departure from the Maple Leafs may have left portions of the fan base heartbroken and blunted the franchise’s offensive arsenal, but the prolific winger is far from the first player to have turned his back on Toronto.
Former Maple Leafs captains Darryl Sittler and Doug Gilmour both have their own experiences of watching superstars moving on during their time with the franchise.
Sittler had to watch as former owner Harold Ballard cruelly deconstructed a playoff roster on the rise, trading all-star winger Lanny McDonald. Meanwhile Gilmour, following back-to-back appearances in the conference final, had no say as then-captain Wendel Clark – who scored a combined 19 goals in those playoff runs – was flipped as the team chased that elusive Stanley Cup.
While those moves didn’t achieve the ultimate end goal, both men know that no player is untouchable. So while Marner is gone, this generation of Maple Leafs will try to break through the glass ceiling, which has so far proven to be the second round of the playoffs.
“Obviously, I’m sure Mitch would have loved to end his career here, but the timing … was such that that wasn’t going to work out,” Sittler said. “And we will miss him as a player. Having said that, I know we have a really good team and it’s important when you get in the playoffs, it’s a little different style of hockey.”
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Sittler and Gilmour, who were on hand Monday for the launch of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment’s ‘Fan Access’ program – designed to give behind-the scenes access to fans of the Leafs and the NBA’s Raptors – both praised team management’s shift to load up on bigger bodies in the last couple of years.
Since Brad Treliving succeeded Kyle Dubas as general manager two years ago, and doubly so when Craig Berube came over as head coach last summer, the Maple Leafs have placed an emphasis on becoming a grittier, more grinding team.
“Obviously the management know that they need that type of player to win, and they know the type of conference and division we’re in,” Sittler said. “In order to win, you have to play against those teams, so you better be ready. And if you’re not, there’s no excuses.
“So that’s what they’ve done. Try to make it bigger, stronger, a little bit more physical. It’s all about team, not about individuals.”
Toronto Maple Leafs forward Nicolas Roy will try to add some physicality to a team that was unable to get out of the second round of the playoffs last season.John E. Sokolowski/Reuters
Case in point, the team had newcomer Nicolas Roy – a 6-foot-4 centre who came over from Vegas in the Marner sign-and-trade – and Brandon Carlo – a 6-foot-5 trade-deadline blueline acquisition – on hand in the Maple Leafs dressing room alongside Gilmour and Sittler to surprise 10 fans with tickets to Wednesday’s season opener against Montreal.
“Look at the size of them,” Gilmour said. “There’s a big, big body on the third line [pointing at Roy]. And you look who they faced last year that played pretty physical – the Florida Panthers. Well, these guys would match it.
“And [Roy has] still got a lot of skill, but again, now you got a bit more size and a little bit more grit. You look around all the walls everywhere here, [there are signs that say] ‘No Grit, No Win.’”
Moves were made with that in mind as the team finalized its 23-man roster for Wednesday’s opener. Easton Cowan, the 2023 first-round draft pick who seemed to be on course to open the season with the big club, was demoted to the American Hockey League’s Marlies after the Leafs picked up Sammy Blais off waivers Monday. The team also picked up goaltender Cayden Primeau to back up Anthony Stolarz with Joseph Woll still on a personal leave of absence.
Blais, who ranks 48th in the NHL in hits per 60 minutes since he entered the league in 2018, played for Berube in St. Louis, winning a Cup together in 2019. And while Blais spent the entirety of the 2024-25 season in the AHL, he is a little bit taller and a fair bit heavier than Cowan.
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Coming off the team’s first non-COVID season division title in 25 years, the Leafs’ reward last spring was to run headlong into the defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers in the second round of the playoffs. After being up 2-0 in the series, Toronto proceeded to unravel – including back-to-back 6-1 losses on home ice in Games 5 and 7. Once again, the Leafs will have to spend six months getting back to the playoffs just to have the opportunity to redeem themselves.
As Gilmour – one of the NHL’s great postseason performers – cautions: “The fans and media do not remember the regular season. They remember the playoffs.”
Video tributes of Gilmour’s playoff heroics from the 1993 and 1994 playoffs are familiar sights to those who have been going to games at Scotiabank Arena for the last quarter century. Beloved as a player who never let his somewhat slight stature – 5 foot 11 and 180 pounds – deter him from making an impact when the going got toughest, he put up 63 points across 39 games those two postseasons, exactly the same total as Marner did throughout his 70-game Leaf playoff tenure.
“You got to play harder,” Gilmour said of playoff hockey. “I believe [the Leafs] got the bodies, the bigger bodies, to do it now. Not to say Mitch couldn’t do it, but they just added more grit.
“And when you get in the playoffs, you see guys like [Florida’s] Sam Bennett that might get 60, 70, points a year. All of a sudden, he’s MVP, because he plays with a lot of grit in the playoffs. And your whole team has to do that.”