On Sunday night, the Toronto Maple Leafs lost yet another game seven to bow out of the playoffs with a 6-1 loss at home to the Florida Panthers. It was the second game in a row that ended 6-1 for the visitors at Scotiabank Arena. What has this got to do with the Montreal Canadiens? The Leafs’ recent history presents a cautionary tale that the Habs’ brass must take notice of.
Anyone who looks at this Leafs roster, even the most fervent Canadiens fans, has to admit that this is a fantastically talented team. Their Core Four or even Core Five, including Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, William Nylander, John Tavares, and Morgan Reilly, should be winners on paper. Year after year, they rack up a considerable amount of points.
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Matthews has had two 100-point seasons in the last four seasons, and it would have been more had he stayed healthy. Marner only passed the 100-point mark once in the previous three seasons, but in two other seasons, he came agonizingly close with 99 and 97 points. Nylander has not had a season below 80 points in the last four campaigns. As for Tavares, who was stripped of the captaincy last offseason, he’s had 76, 80, 65, and 74 points in the previous four years. Meanwhile, blueliner Reilly has had 68, 41, 58, and 41 points in those same four years.
What does that tell us? Well, it tells us that talent alone is not enough. Some players will help you win in the regular season, and some will help you win in the postseason. The Leafs, led by Brendan Shanahan, loaded up on the first and forgot about the second. Even when he tried to bring on experienced guys, like Joe Thornton and Patrik Marleau, he didn’t go for guys who have won when it matters most. Neither has raised the Stanley Cup.
While it’s fair to say that young players need to learn to win, that learning curve has to spike at a certain point; it cannot take years to do this. Year after year of heartache and defeat has had this group petrified of pressure and game sevens. They just cannot perform when the heat is on and there’s no tomorrow. The Canadiens, just like the Boston Bruins so often and the Panthers recently, took advantage of that in 2021. The Leafs have lost their last six game seven, and in most cases, they weren’t close games.
That 2021 Canadiens’ edition wasn’t as talented as the Leafs, and its franchise cornerstones, Carey Price and Shea Weber, had never won the biggest prize of them all, but Corey Perry and Eric Staal had. Those players allow you to go far in the playoffs—the guys who have already learned how to win and handle the pressure of do-or-die games.
No matter how talented your young core is, it will need some veteran leadership who has done that. I know Anthony Stolarz won the Cup, but he won it as the Panthers’ backup last season, and he’s a goalie; that’s a whole other story. For a second year in a row, the Edmonton Oilers have made the conference final and happen to have Perry in their lineup. Sure, he only put up 30 points in the regular season, but he’s got seven points in just 11 games in the postseason. As talented as Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl are, they, too, need the experience of a proven winner and someone who will perform when the stakes are high. Leafs torture in chief Brad Marchand is also that kind of player; the former Boston Bruins captain has now beaten the Leafs five times in game seven.
At this stage of the Canadiens’ rebuild, it may be too early to worry about that (although Sam Bennett would tick that box). Still, when this young core is ready to contend, they’ll need experienced winners along for the ride, and I have no doubt GM Kent Hughes watched the Leafs’ repeated debacles and took notes.
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