It’s over. The Brendan Shanahan era is all but done, Mitch Marner is all but gone, and big changes seem imminent in Toronto. The Maple Leafs, or at least this version of them, have failed.
Did it have to be this way?
That’s the big question these days. To hear some tell it, yes, this was the inevitable outcome all along, because playing in a big market like Toronto is just too much to ask from the toughest athletes in the world. Others would tell you that the Shanaplan was doomed from the very start, because it was built around the wrong core.