Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube says the team’s management should “100 per cent” re-sign star forwards Mitch Marner and John Tavares this offseason.
Berube’s comments Tuesday come nearly 48 hours removed from a crushing 6-1 Game 7 loss on home ice against the Florida Panthers in their second-round NHL playoff series.
That result, which saw boos ring out from the home crowd as well as jerseys being tossed on the ice, means the Leafs’ 58-year-long Stanley Cup drought will continue yet again.
“We lost our structure in the second period for a bit, and they capitalized on a couple of goals – and that’s the difference in the game,” Berube told reporters.
“Structure is very important, and if you don’t lose your structure you can get through these games without having your A game.”
An uncertain off-season now lies ahead as star forwards Marner and Tavares will become unrestricted free agents on July 1. Those two players, along with captain Auston Matthews and forward William Nylander, have formed the “Core Four” since 2018 as the highest-paid players on the team with the expectation of getting it to the promised land.
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Leafs president Brendan Shanahan — an unwavering supporter of the club’s Core Four— is also without a contract beyond this season.
Toronto is now 0-7 in Game 7s, and 0-6 with Marner and Matthews dating back to 2018, in the NHL’s salary cap era. The Core Four era has also seen the team advance to the second round of the NHL playoffs only twice.
Marner, Tavares address their futures
Morgan Rielly, the longest-tenured Leaf having been with the team since the 2013-14 season, told reporters Tuesday there’s “always change” every summer.
“Every offseason is different,” he said.
“As a player, sometimes it’s best not to speculate about what may or may not happen for us.”
Tavares, 34, said Tuesday he’s already spoken with general manager Brad Treliving and Berube about next steps, adding he’s “very optimistic” a deal can be done.
Meanwhile Marner, who grew up just north of Toronto, told reporters he will spend the coming weeks talking about his future with his family.
At this point, the degree of change – if any – is unclear, but Berube said the Leafs as currently constructed are “capable of winning.”
“I really like this team. … We just have to learn to use things a little bit differently in big games and in big moments, and that’s the difference in getting you over the hump now,” he said.
“There’s things I can do better, and there’s things I could do a little bit differently at certain times, but overall, we accomplished a lot.”
— with files from The Canadian Press
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