seanlinden
Registered User
- Apr 28, 2009
- 25,417
- 1,826
Yeah I'm pretty sure that's not how it works. He literally had a Conn Smythe winner on his team in last year's playoffs.
Either you have it or you don't. He's not just going to play harder because Doughty and Kopitar show up in the playoffs.
You cannot "fix" the Leafs by adding Ryan O'Reilly, or Joel Edmundson, or Luke Schenn... when it's abundantly clear that the team will only go as far as Matthews, Marner, and Nylander take them.
The Leafs will go far when these guys decide they want to run through walls all year.... and guys coming in as depth players cannot change a culture. Culture starts at the top.
HOWEVER, if you're Mitch Marner, and you get traded to a team like Carolina, or Vegas, or Tampa, or even LA, where you're not the instant leader, and every other player on that team is playing the right way, you're absolutely going to learn how to fit in and start playng that way.