(Toronto) You might think that a certain message is circulating in the Toronto Maple Leafs locker room. We will be careful not to draw a conclusion that is too clear-cut. There are still some clues.
Mitchell Marner: “You can’t look too far ahead. We take it one day at a time. »
Auston Matthews: “We control what we can. We take it one day at a time. »
Morgan Rielly: “We don’t look too far ahead. »
Head Coach Sheldon Keefe: “We focus on each day. »
General Manager Brad Treliving: “One day at a time. It’s very important not to get ahead of things. »
It’s all subtleties, almost a secret code… “It’s cliché, but it’s true,” Keefe defended.
Over the past seven seasons, only two teams have won more games and amassed more points in the standings than the Leafs. Only one has scored more goals. Needless to say, this team knows the recipe for a good season.
The counterpart of this statement has been described so much that it is almost boring. Six years without winning a single playoff series. Then a quick elimination in the second round last spring, after a liberating, almost cathartic triumph against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
In Toronto, from October to the beginning of April, things generally go quite well. And despite the high level of competition in the Atlantic Division – “the best in the league,” says Treliving – the men in blue and white have all the weapons to enter the playoffs through the front door once again this year.
The temptation is therefore great to press the fast forward button to determine the club’s objectives in 2023-2024. “Do you have a roster built for the Stanley Cup? “, asked a reporter to Marner on Tuesday.
We’ll let you guess the answer. You only have one chance.
Auston Matthews spoke of this new season as a “blank page”.
We could of course put the theme of renewal into perspective. The hard core has not changed: hired at the end of May to replace Kyle Dubas, Brad Treliving has decided to keep the fabulous five of his team in place. The Marners, Morgan Rielly, John Tavares and William Nylander are therefore still there. And Matthews too, obviously, he who even signed a contract extension.
However, there are many new faces around them. Of the 21 forwards and defensemen who played at least one game in the last playoffs, nine are now playing for other teams. And two others, Jake McCabe and Matthew Knies, only arrived in Toronto at the end of the season.
So let’s agree with Matthews: a (small) wind of freshness is blowing over the Queen City. Regardless, does having won a series change the state of mind of the group at the start of the season? No, the attacker quickly replied. “One day at a time,” he insisted – definitely!
Does this success dictate a new goal to achieve or even exceed? No more, apparently.
“We set the standard today in training, then tomorrow during the match,” insisted Matthews. This is what will make us successful. »
Anxious to have a strong start to the season, in any case better than the six defeats in ten games in October 2022, Sheldon Keefe stressed that his group of leaders arrived with more “maturity” than in the past. Casually, the young guns are less and less young: here are Marner and Matthews at 26, and Nylander, at 27.
This maturity is no stranger to the “disappointments and [the] failures” of recent years, Keefe admitted.
“When I arrived [in 2019], it was a young team. Today, our best players have aged and young players surround them. They have a good understanding of what is required to be successful. They know to never take your foot off the accelerator. »
Eighty-two games is “a long journey,” the head coach once again emphasized. “If you look too far ahead, you lose sight of what’s important right now. »
His players are aware, although an occasional reminder doesn’t hurt, he noted.
This here-and-now season begins this Wednesday evening, when the Habs will be in Toronto for their only visit of the season.
“And what happens in April, we’ll talk about it when we get there,” concluded Morgan Rielly.
No offense to the defender, we might well talk about it a little bit before then.
