Leafs-Panthers rivalry in a different spot, but still heated

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Toronto and Florida met in the second round of the playoffs last spring, but now both teams reside at the bottom of the Eastern Conference

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Published Dec 02, 2025 • 4 minute read

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Niko Mikkola of the Florida Panthers is slammed into the boards by Scott Laughton of the Toronto Maple Leafs during a playoff game. Getty ImagesArticle content

SUNRISE — It’s wonderful that Brad Marchand is so worried about the Maple Leafs that he’s challenging anyone who believes the Leafs are all but done for this season.

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He has to say that, of course.

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Because Marchand’s Florida Panthers are in just as difficult a position — maybe moreso, playing without their two best players and two other players of significance — as they plod along around .500 in defence of their two Stanley Cup crowns.

Tuesday night’s game between the Leafs and the Panthers is important — not in the way most Leafs-Panthers games are important.

This wasn’t a Game 6 or 7 of a playoff series. This wasn’t a clinching game of any kind. This was more of a measurement game for teams tied for 15th in the Eastern Conference, places they have not known for many, many years.

Here’s the real difficulty for both the Panthers and Leafs: It’s not that they’re four points out of the playoffs, it’s that there are six teams ahead of them in the standings and every time they win a game — like the Leafs did on Saturday night in Pittsburgh — they don’t pick up ground unless teams ahead of them lose.

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“I don’t like where we are in the (standings), but I bet just about every team in the league right now except for Colorado would say that same thing,” Florida general manager Bill Zito said. “For the most part, I’m pleased with how we’ve played under the circumstances and I’m optimistic.”

And Zito is especially happy with the play of the villainous Marchand through the first quarter of the NHL season.

It is so very Marchand to make the plight of the downtrodden Leafs his latest cause. He has grown into one of the great characters of the NHL, almost like a wrestling heel of sorts, who changes from territory to territory — popular in some places, playing the villain almost everywhere else. Always someone to watch.

And happy to oblige when the microphone is in his face and the subject just happens to be his favourite hockey team.

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In quite a short time, Marchand has become a huge player for the champion Panthers. After scoring 20 playoff points last spring, he is Florida’s leading scorer this year as the Panthers play without captain Sasha Barkov and injured star winger Matthew Tkachuk.

Which would be like the Leafs playing without Auston Matthews for 82 games and William Nylander for at least 41.

Leafs have no shortage of serious injuries themselves, terribly missing Chris Tanev and Brandon Carlo on defence and Anthony Stolarz in a tandem situation in goal.

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Marchand has done in Florida what John Tavares has managed in Toronto this season. The difference between them: Marchand needs to be in the spotlight, he needs to loudly prove he belongs on Team Canada — which he already has proven.

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And he needs the Panthers back in the playoffs, because that’s who he is, even if that race seems so very difficult.

“He likes it here and we like having him here,” Zito said.

Marchand is proof positive of the kind of work Zito does annually as the Panthers GM. Not only did he pick up Marchand from Boston at the trade deadline last March and hope he would fit in with the Panthers championship pedigree, but the winger became central to their second consecutive Stanley Cup victory.

And then Zito went into his book of hockey magic in the off-season and found a way to sign Marchand long-term. “In every aspect — on the ice, off the ice, on the bench, in the room — he makes a difference.”

In the giant Stanley Cup photo in the lobby of the Panthers’ sparkling practice facility, Marchand is central, closest of all Florida players to the Cup, in the kind of position normally reserved for captains and long-time stars.

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The winner on Tuesday night will leapfrog the loser into 14th place in the conference. It won’t necessarily be a statement win, but there remains emotion from the past.

“We know each other very well,” Florida coach Paul Maurice said. “We know them. They know us.”

Or as Leafs’ Scott Laughton said Monday: “We don’t like them. They don’t seem to like us.”

Normally, captain Barkov would play opposite captain Matthews in one of the signature NHL matchups of the season. Maurice believes that Barkov is the best player in the world.

Normally, Tkachuk would be wreaking havoc all over the ice and any other place he might find. Maurice believes Tkachuk has a championship belt in doing so.

What Brandon Carlo’s prolonged absence means for the Maple Leafs

Maple Leafs’ Craig Berube on ‘tricky, good’ relationship with William Nylander

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The argument of where Matthews ranks among best players in the world won’t start up again until he begins to play with more dominance.

And GM Zito expects it to happen. He watches Matthews with a certain reverence from his years working in varying positions for USA Hockey. Zito was part of the 2015 American team at the world hockey championship that wanted to call up Matthews from the Under-18 team.

“I’m tainted when it comes to Auston,” Zito said. “I’ve seen him for a very long time. We had him with us in Ostrava in 2015 and wanted him to play. But (the late) Jim Johannson told us he couldn’t stay.

“I asked why.

“He said he had to go back to high school. It’s not a situation you come across very often.”

ssimmons@postmedia.com

twitter.com/simmonssteve

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Leafs-Panthers rivalry in a different spot, but still heated

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