The Toronto Maple Leafs are 3-3-1 to start the first season of the post-Mitch Marner era. They have lost two consecutive home games to fall to that record, with a road matchup against the Buffalo Sabres coming up. After their Saturday loss to the Seattle Kraken, Maple Leafs goalie Anthony Stolarz crushed the team in his postgame comments. Leafs GM Brad Treliving responded to those comments, according to The Athletic's Pierre LeBrun.
“He was frustrated after a loss,” Treliving told LeBrun. “Emotion is good. He talked to his teammates, and we have competitive guys, so it’s really not a big deal. It gets play in the media, that gets blown out of proportion. It’s nothing more than, ‘Let’s get going.’ I like that our guys are competitive.”
The Maple Leafs' goalie crushed his team after an odd-man rush from the Kraken ended Saturday's game. “I mean, a lot of guys have been here for a while. Overtime, you can't let someone beat you up the ice there and gets a clear-cut breakaway,” Stolarz said. “A minute left, you want to be on the ice in that situation, you gotta work hard … It cost us a point.”
The Maple Leafs always have high expectations. But the optics of losing Mitch Marner to the Vegas Golden Knights bring a lot of attention to Treliving. While there are many reasons why Marner left, they still lost their top winger for just about nothing. The season is not off to a great start, but thankfully, there is a distraction.
The Blue Jays are in the World Series for the first time in over 30 years. While Toronto will always be a Maple Leafs town, fans can't be too upset with the hockey team's start when the baseball team is still going. But the noise will turn up around the Leafs soon enough.
