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How Mitch Marner set tone for Maple Leafs' miserable season
TL;DR
Mitch Marner's departure from the Toronto Maple Leafs has significantly impacted the team's performance, leading to their first missed playoff season in a decade. The Leafs attempted to fill his role with multiple players but ultimately fell short.
How Mitch Marner set tone for Maple Leafs' miserable season originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
The Toronto Maple Leafs made it seem like they'd be just fine without Mitch Marner.
After the sign-and-trade of Marner to the Vegas Golden Knights last summer, the Maple Leafs tried to replace his impact with multiple players. And while it's not a direct correlation, it's certainly a strong one -- Marner was gone, and the Leafs suffered.
Toronto had made the playoffs for the last nine seasons. In the first without Marner, the Leafs missed by a lot.
In a new story by The Athletic's Jonas Siegel, Chris Johnston and James Mirtle, they break down what went wrong this season in Toronto.
In some ways, it all started with Marner.
"The shadow of one person loomed over the opening of training camp, and he wasnāt even there," The Athletic writes. "Mitch Marner, who chose to leave the team after nine seasons in the summer, had gone to the Vegas Golden Knights on an eight-year contract. Marnerās exit was years in the making. But it wasnāt until the very end ā until it was too late ā that the Leafs, led by Shanahan, seriously considered a future without him. Now he was gone. So was Shanahan, in large part because of how the Marner situation had been handled. Those two cornerstones, part of helping Toronto to a nine-year playoff streak, were not replaced in any way that mattered."
MORE:Maple Leafs' president brought AI trade pitches to deadline meetings
The Maple Leafs tried to act like things would be normal once everyone got back on the ice, but it wasn't that simple.
"In the beginning, it was weird for everyone without Marner, a do-it-all superstar whose chatty, enthusiastic dressing room presence had been a constant," The Athletic writes. "But they were also ready to move on. Days into camp, captain Auston Matthews mused that reporters had only two weeks left of questions about his ex-teammate."
Marner was great in the locker room, and he was great in every aspect of the game of hockey.
He was the kind of guy that, it turned out, you can't just replace.
The Maple Leafs may have taken a step back this season even with Marner. Without him, it was clearly not going to be their year.
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Q&A
What happened to Mitch Marner and the Toronto Maple Leafs?
Mitch Marner was traded to the Vegas Golden Knights, resulting in the Maple Leafs missing the playoffs for the first time in ten years.
How did the Maple Leafs try to replace Mitch Marner's impact?
The Maple Leafs attempted to compensate for Marner's absence by signing multiple players, but this strategy did not yield the desired results.
What are the consequences of the Maple Leafs missing the playoffs this season?
Missing the playoffs marks a significant setback for the Maple Leafs, ending their streak of nine consecutive playoff appearances and raising questions about the team's future direction.
