Yes they should, leadership starts from the top down;
Tavares and after that Matthews, Marner, Nylander and Rielly all took the Leafs to the cleaners on their contracts, if they had taken something more reasonable, let's say 2 million savings on JT, AM, MM and 1.5 mill on WN and MR, that's 9 million they could've used for a goaltender.
Now there is nothing "wrong" with their contracts, what's "wrong" is their playoff performances. Not once have the 5 displayed a truly dominant series. Maybe they'll get it later on in their career or maybe they won't, I don't know. But right now all 5 need to be traded and unfortunately you cannot trade JT or Rielly but I would request they give me a teams list if not I would strip them of the C and A and make it very clear it's their fault.
What's crazy is how all 5 have shied away, you'd think JT would be built for the playoffs, meh..... Ok maybe somehow Willie turns it up? LMFAO NOPE! Ok Mitch is a Toronto boy raised on Don Cherry playing for his home team? Nope. Ok Auston is smooth and has a great defensive game? Who cares? Ok Morgan is playing for his dad's team and honestly the most GAF of all of them? So what?
It's been a decade of failure, look if losing to a Zamboni driver doesn't put your motivation at 99999999999999% and everyone mocking you for a decade+ doesn't do it either, nothing will.
This core had their chance, the real thing that cost them beyond their mediocre and soft play was their greed. Not only will these guys flip off the fans on the ice, they'll do it in the offseason too when they take every last penny they can get.
It started with JT who could've set the tone at 7, 8 or even 9. Nope! He's McDavid and Drai tier obviously LMFAO. Again, if all of them would've taken 1-2 mill less that is an ELITE GOALIE the team could've got or an AMAZING 2D for 6-8 mill, nahhh get their bags I guess!
You can fire coaches
You can try different 2-4D
You can try vets and experiences guys
You can try different goalies
You can try different GMs
Did any of it work? Everything changed EXCEPT the BIG 5
Let's look at the big 5 of the past 5 champions;
Tampa; Hedman/Vassy/Stamkos/Kucherov/Point
Colarado; Mack/Rant/Makar/Kadri/Landeskog
STL: Binnington/O'Rielly/AP/Schenn/Tara
Caps; Ovie/Carlson/Kuz/Backstrom/Holtby
Pit: Crosby/Malkin/Letang/Murray/Kessel
I don't think there is one team that you can say the Leafs core is clearly better than, maybe STL? But STL had Binnington who went beastmode whereas the Leafs legit have not had a goalie do anything of worth in 20+ years, but Colarado proved you just need OK goaltending and a stacked team can win it
Others have said it and it is well worth mentioning about the elevation of play, in the season teams are sloppy and not trying to take your head off, in the playoffs teams are sharp and hitting you like an 18 wheeler, the Leafs players are simply put not built to withstand that.
The 5 do not have a true 1 like we had with Hedman/Vassy....Mack....Binnington....Ovie....Crosby.
Personally the 3 of AM, WN, MM are all on the market and unless teams are offering nothing at all for them, do not keep or resign them. You can keep 1 or maybe two, all 3 of them are soft in different ways;
AM underperfoms but does other things well outside of offense
MM I think really does care and eventually will figure it out, but he takes the biggest step back
Willie sometimes rises to the ocassion, but he's not THE guy nor does he want to be, he has the talent though, maybe he'll get tired of losing later in his career
I donno, Leafs fans are numb to this BS at this point, bring all of them back next year, resign Matthews 15x10, extend Keefe another decade and make Dubas mayor of Toronto so that violent crime can go down as no one will be inspired to do anything but the softest ting under him.
Probably the most pathetic organization in sports history and on the off chance someone asks "what if they come back?" It's cup or bust with the way they bungled this series and I'd honestly rather bet against my team so no disappointment.
