Controversial Toronto Maple Leafs Reporter Calls Out Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, & William Nylander
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Toronto Maple Leafs stars Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, and William Nylander have lacked playoff success and the media wants that to change.
On Sunday, the Toronto Maple Leafs will embark on their playoff journey with Game 1 against the Ottawa Senators.
It is going to be a fascinating series and the fans want to see something good happen. There hasn't been a lot of playoff success over the years and everyone is expecting that to change.
One person who is expecting that change is Steve Simmons of the Toronto Sun. He is a controversial reporter and in his latest piece, he called out Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, and William Nylander.
Steve Simmons message to Toronto Maple Leafs core
As Simmons explains, now that everyone is healthy, they must raise their level of play.
"The great divide of this matchup with the Senators is the top-end talent of the Leafs. It couldn't be utilized all that well last year against Boston because of mystery ailments that forced both forced Nylander and Matthews to miss five games.
Now everybody is as healthy as you're supposed to be at this time of the year. The big guys need to be the big guys for the Leafs. The big guys need to do what they haven't done before."
Now everybody is as healthy as you're supposed to be at this time of the year. The big guys need to be the big guys for the Leafs. The big guys need to do what they haven't done before."
Simmons also wants to see the top guys start scoring when the games count the most. Elimination games have not been particularly good for these guys and that needs to change.
"They scored one goal against Boston. They scored 10 goals in a five-game series loss to Florida in 2023. In elimination games from 2017 to 2022, the Leafs went 0-6 against Tampa Bay, Montreal, Columbus, Boston (twice) and Washington and scored eight goals in six games."
Simmons now wonders if this Leafs team can go on the same run that the Edmonton Oilers went on last year.
"You stop at Marner, Matthews, Nylander and Tavares and ask: Can they do what we've seen Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl do, what Nikita Kucherov and Brayden Point do, what Sasha Barkov and Matthew Tkachuk managed last year?
The best players have to be the best players, this series is on them.
Once again. Like it has been for each of the past nine seasons."
The best players have to be the best players, this series is on them.
Once again. Like it has been for each of the past nine seasons."
Sunday is going to be a great Litmus test for this team and the fans are going to be watching intently.
If the Leafs lose, the media is going to make a big deal about it, and it is hard to say that wouldn't be warranted.
| POLL | ||
AVRIL 17 | 175 ANSWERS Controversial Toronto Maple Leafs Reporter Calls Out Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, & William Nylander Do you agree with what Steve Simmons said about the Toronto Maple Leafs? | ||
| YES | 59 | 33.7 % |
| NO | 116 | 66.3 % |
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