The Toronto Maple Leafs found themselves in an all-too-familiar position on Tuesday: cleaning out their lockers in May and facing a plethora of questions. Many were centered around the uncertainty about their respective futures after another strong regular-season showing was erased as the team flamed out hard in the postseason, yet again.

Long-suffering Leafs fans showed their disgust and frustration by hurling jerseys and beer to the ice, while serenading the players with boos during the latter half of Sunday’s excruciating Game 7 loss to the Florida Panthers. It left many wondering where this franchise goes from here as the pressure of playing in Toronto — at least to some on the outside looking in — appears to be too much for this core.

It wasn’t necessarily that the Leafs lost fairly early in the playoffs once again to a powerhouse squad — this fanbase is plenty used to that outcome — but rather how they went down. After taking a 2-0 series lead, the Toronto gave one away in Game 3 to let the Panthers back in the series and dropped another one on the road as Florida evened things up.

With Toronto still in a good position to close things out, it laid an absolute egg at home in Game 5, losing 6-1, before a strong showing in Florida forced a Game 7, where the group once again produced a miserable showing on home ice to the tune of ANOTHER 6-1 loss to end its season.

Now heading into the offseason, many question whether we’ll see this version of the Leafs once again come the fall. During their locker-room cleanout, star and pending free agent Mitch Marner didn’t indicate whether he wanted to be back in Toronto. Others are wondering if it’s time to part ways with president Brendan Shanahan following his 11-year stint. While ultimately, it’s become fair to question that even with major changes to the roster, is the pressure of playing in Toronto simply too much for any player to handle?

Sentiment surrounding the pressure of playing in Toronto heats up

The whole “too much pressure playing in Toronto” narrative was sparked by notorious Leafs playoff killer Brad Marchand, who posted three points in Sunday’s Game 7 and has absolutely owned Toronto in the postseason throughout his career.

Following Game 7, Marchand had a lot to say about the opponent — and fanbase — he just beat into oblivion once again.

“When you see the pressure Toronto faces… they just beat the pressure into this team.”

Brad Marchand says the Toronto fans and media put extra pressure on the team. pic.twitter.com/rX5SHyNytm

— TSN (@TSN_Sports) May 19, 2025

“You see the pressure that Toronto faces, and everyone’s talking about whatever the 20 or 30-year build up, I don’t know what it is, but you see the fans and the way they’re talking, like, they just beat the pressure into this team, and it’s got to be tough on those guys to walk through the rink every day and not feel that,” said Marchand.

“I mean, you see the way the fans treat them at the end, like, how do you not feel that every single day?”

It’s a sense of pressure that’s grown exponentially over the past decade, as this current Leafs regime takes on the failures of a major-market franchise that hasn’t won the Stanley Cup since 1967.

Another Panthers star, Matthew Tkachuk, echoed similar sentiments on Monday, joining the Spittin’ Chiclets podcast to offer his thoughts on the polarizing Toronto hockey market.

Florida’s head coach Paul Maurice, who coached the Maple Leafs for a couple of years from 2006-08, had similar thoughts on the Toronto hockey universe, while acknowledging that the size and passion in the market is a major revenue driver for the league and its players.

Paul Maurice: “What’s great for the league is hard for the Toronto Maple Leafs and their players. The passion for the Toronto Maple Leafs, the scrutiny these men are under, is why everybody else gets paid so much. It’s a driver. There’s a cost to it.”

— Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) May 19, 2025

The classless reactions from a small minority of the Leafs fanbase inside the building to witness the debacle that was Game 7, along with the comments from Marchand, Tkachuk and Maurice, has sparked the debate over whether there is simply too big a microscope in the Toronto market for these players — specifically the longtime core of Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, William Nylander, John Tavares and Morgan Rielly.

Too much pressure? Too much outside noise and distraction? Is the media too harsh?

These types of questions, as expected, were prevalent during Tuesday’s locker clean-out and media availability. Each and every player that was asked, however, completely dismissed the notion that the market, fanbase, or “circus” surrounding the team — as Tkachuk put it so elegantly — was too much to handle or too blame for this squad’s string of playoff failures in recent years.

“I don’t think that’s ever really something that gets talked about too much or too much of a focus on, I think. It’s the nature of playing here. It kind of comes with the territory,” Matthews said on Tuesday. “And like I said before, I think it’s an amazing place to play. I love playing in Toronto and playing for this fan base and this organization. I think that kind of stuff is just kind of outside noise that isn’t really focused on or talked about too much in our locker room, I would say.”

Marner, like many of his teammates, shared similar views to Matthews:

“There’s pressure everywhere. There’s pressure anywhere. It doesn’t matter where you are. There’s always pressure, and we put the most pressure on ourselves. I mean, we hold ourselves to such high accountability,” the pending unrestricted free agent said Tuesday.

“You want to win every single year, and it’d be lovely if you could. It’s just hard to do. We hold ourselves to such high accountability that the pressures from the outside, I don’t think, really bother you too much. It’s just the more you put on yourself.”

The other two members of Toronto’s longtime “Core Four” appear to be on the same page, at least publicly.

“Well, I think there’s an incredible following of the team, an incredible passion about the club and the history around it and why it’s so special to play here,” Tavares said. “You feel that on a daily basis, and you recognize it as what makes it great. There’s pressure everywhere. Certainly, there’s a lot of noise playing in Toronto, but that can outweigh the pleasure and the privilege and the opportunity that it brings.”

“We know we have a good team. We love playing in Toronto. I mean, the market’s bigger here and it is what it is, but I believe that we’ll be able to get there,” Nylander said.

Head coach Craig Berube had plenty to say on that narrative, too:

“There’s pressure everywhere. I don’t care where you’re playing. If you’re playing in that Game 7 and you’re in Columbus, there’s pressure to win. The only pressure that we should feel is right inside the locker room from each other. That’s honestly my opinion… Matthew Tkachuk and his comments, I really can’t answer that one for you,” said Berube.

Off-ice pressure being a privilege rather than a curse seems to be the common sentiment up and down the organization from coach to star players and beyond, but that attitude hasn’t yet translated to playoff success, opening the door to even more questions around this team’s future.

Roster, front-office changes appear to be imminent after latest playoff catastrophe

Aside from questions surrounding this group’s mental fortitude and ability to play under pressure and drown out the noise that is the Toronto market, there are also big-time uncertainties around the roster itself, and the man at the top who has overseen all these failures since 2014.

Brendan Shanahan, the team’s president for the past 11 years, has built this squad from the top down and constructed the culture that has seemingly done the Leafs in over the past few playoff runs despite plenty of regular-season success. If big changes are to be made, it likely starts with Shanahan, as many insiders and media pundits have speculated to various degrees over the past few months.

After going through several general managers and head coaches over his tenure, there doesn’t appear to be any bullets left for Toronto’s president of hockey operations to unleash. And with Keith Pelley taking over the team’s parent company, Maple Leafs Sports and entertainment, in an official capacity just over a year ago, it’s not hard too believe the recently-installed MLSE CEO is ready to put his own mark on the franchise by instilling some new blood at the very top.

Aside from Shanahan’s likely departure, three of Toronto’s top-six forwards — including a pair from the team “Core Four” are facing very uncertain futures.

Star winger Mitch Marner, whose playoff performances have been as maligned as any among the group despite him regularly performing as one of the league’s best two-way forwards throughout his tenure, is set to be an unrestricted free-agent on July 1, and it seems at this point that the two sides parting ways might be the best route to go for both parties.

Adding to the speculation that he may have played his last game in Toronto, it’s been reported that Marner turned down a hefty eight-year deal offered to him during last season that would’ve been the biggest contract in franchise history. After the two sides apparently failed to come to terms on an in-season extension, the Maple Leafs at the trade deadline reportedly approached Marner about the possibility of waiving his no-trade clause for a potential trade to Carolina for superstar Mikko Rantanen, which the Leafs forward declined to do.

All of that, combined with the lack of individual and team success yielded during Marner’s longtime tenure, appears to be setting the table for his exit.

On Tuesday, Marner was mum on his future in Toronto, saying he and his family have to reflect on things before making a decision.

Mitch Marner says he hasn’t had a chance to discuss the future with his wife since the #leafs season ended. He spoke fondly of his time in Toronto and expressed disappointment about how the season ended. But he didn’t say he wanted to be back.

— Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) May 20, 2025

Another longtime Leaf for the past seven seasons, former captain John Tavares, is also set to hit free agency this summer. Tavares, however, has constantly expressed his desire to stay with his childhood team, and re-iterated that sentiment once again on Tuesday, saying he is “optimistic” about coming to terms with Toronto on a new deal.

“I’m very optimistic that it can work out where I’m back,” Tavares said, while giving a blunt “yes” when asked if he wanted to return to the organization, adding that playing for the Maple Leafs has “meant everything” to him.

Their head coach, Berube, was also blunt when asked if he wants both Marner and Tavares to return to the Blue and White next season: “100 per cent,” he said.

Surging power-forward Matthew Knies, though a pending restricted free agent, seems to be more of a lock to return to the club. The 22-year-old excelled in his second full season with the Maple Leafs, posting 29 goals and and 58 points in 78 regular-season games while bringing a snarly, physical dimension the Leafs have been sorely lacking in their top-six for quite some time.

On Tuesday, Knies made it clear he doesn’t want to be anywhere else.

Everything — likely aside from trading Matthews or Nylander — appears to be on the table, including trading Rielly or any other type of deal that would drastically changed the make-up of this longtime core.

Though it’s not yet certain exactly which or how many moves will be made this summer, major changes to the roster seems like the obvious path forward for the front office and GM Brad Treliving. There’s just been too much failure — too much post-season disappointment — over the past seven or so seasons to stick with the status quo once again.

Despite finishing with strong regular-season regards basically every single year, the team has absolutely floundered in the playoffs constantly since 2018 when a good chunk of this core was given its first chance to break through as a group. The team has only reached the second round twice since 2018 — losing to the Panthers in brutal fashion both times.

In high-leverage, big pressure moments like elimination and series-clinching games, the scene is even uglier.

The Leafs’ defeat on Sunday was the team’s seventh straight Game 7 loss, with its last win coming more than 21 years ago in 2004 against the Ottawa Senators. The loss tied the Maple Leafs with the Colorado Avalanche — who also boast an unflattering active run — for the longest Game 7 losing streak in NHL history.

Since 2018, Toronto is an egregious 0-6 in series-deciding Game 7s. The most glaring reason for their failures in the big moments has been the lack of killer instinct from its much maligned, highly-paid forward group, which has failed to make an impact in any Game 7 in the Matthews-Marner-Nylander-Rielly era.

In those six Game 7s over the last seven postseasons, Matthews has registered just 3 assists with a minus-4 rating. Marner, meanwhile, has just 2 helpers with a minus-7 rating in those six do-or-die losses. Nylander has been a little better than the two aforementioned stars, putting up two goals and four points, while John Tavares, who joined the team to start the 2018-19 campaign, has just one goal and an assist over those contests. As a group, the Maple Leafs have scored just a single goal in each of their last five Game 7s.

Sunday’s debacle might have been the worst one yet, with none of the Leafs’ core-four forwards or longtime defenceman Rielly putting up a single point, while the five skaters combined for a minus-11 rating.

Changes are certainly coming, the only question is how drastic they will be.