Pathetic

Death, taxes, and the Toronto Maple Leafs' season ending in a Game 7 loss. Those seem to be the three guarantees in life, well, at least nearly over the last decade.

Despite hearing from the team and their fans throughout the season that this year, in fact, "was different," the Toronto Maple Leafs showed that indeed it was not. In a year where they captured a division title and won a playoff series, in Game 7 against the Florida Panthers, the Leafs suffered their second straight embarrassing 6-1 home loss, ending their season and, in all likelihood, this era of Maple Leafs hockey.

Maple Leaf fans rightfully showed their anger and disgust with this team as they threw beers and jerseys onto the ice, as the team's inability to perform under pressure was once again on full display as this franchise lost its eighth consecutive winner-take-all game.

A loss like this sparks changes, and while we have seemingly said this every year when the Leafs bow out of the playoffs, for the first time it actually seems like seismic changes will happen with this core, as key players Mitch Marner and John Tavares are headed for unrestricted free agency on July 1st.

The Leafs' "core four" of Auston Matthews, William Nylander, John Tavares, and Mitch Marner could very well go down as one of the more disappointing groups of players if this is in fact the end of their time together, but that's sports; nothing is guaranteed, and as I have said before, windows are always much shorter than we expect.

Over the next few weeks, the organization must confront the harsh reality of repeated postseason failures.  As the team looks to the future, fans are left wondering if meaningful change will finally come to break this cycle of disappointment.