Tired of Maple Leafs' letdowns? Maybe players are tired of being tired

A nagging thought for teams with playoff disappointments

Look, I’ll fully admit that fatigue wasn’t the biggest problem for the Toronto Maple Leafs. There have been plenty of accurate and painful things written about their latest agonizing defeat, including this piece summing up their ill-fated attempts to dance to the beat of oldheads.

That said, when you think about just how small the margin for error was between Boston and Toronto, a nagging thought persists. Could things have been different if Auston Matthews and other key Maple Leafs were more rested?

(Oddly enough, the 2022-23 Boston Bruins should have asked similar questions; I’ll have a bit on them in this post, too.)

For all we know, Matthews might have been hurt by a “weird hit” and limited by illness even if he was more rested heading into the playoffs. It’s possible everything would have played out the same way.

Still, in a game of inches, I’d argue you’d have a better chance of pushing that boulder up the hill with a little more gas in your tank.

Matthews, the drive to 70 goals, and other Maple Leafs misadventures

How much energy did Auston Matthews waste falling one goal short of 70?

During the final three games of the regular season, Matthews fired an absurd 27 shots on goal and averaged 21:30 time on ice, logging those big minutes even in the context of a back-to-back set. This wasn’t about getting ready for the playoffs; it was all about 70.

Considering the rarity of that milestone, maybe there was no sense clashing with Matthews on the rest issue. (Floating that in previous years? Now that’s something to ponder.)

It’s odd, though, to see that Mitch Marner logged nearly identical minutes in meaningless games. Why?

As the regular season wound down, it was widely noted that William Nylander was on a cold streak. Did he really need to play all 82 regular season games?

With some rest, would Nylander have avoided his migraine issues? Maybe Marner would’ve been more of a factor with fresher legs?

Look, it’s one thing if the Maple Leafs were fighting for their playoff lives. Instead, they were more or less locked in to their position for quite some time, much like those years where everyone knew they were on a collision course for the Lightning.

It perplexes me, then, that there’s little evidence that the Maple Leafs have rested their top-heavy star players aside from maybe a few fringe shifts.

I can’t help but wonder if management ever tried to appeal to high-leverage, big-minute Maple Leafs stars by referencing, say, the Raptors winning an NBA title in part by embracing load management with Kawhi Leonard. (Hey, it’s a local example, right?)

A hidden ‘what if?’ for powerful teams

Yes, it’s true that NHL players and Hockey Men often push back on the idea of rest.

On more than one occasion Brad Marchand shot that talk down, sometimes in lunkheaded ways. Still, there’s value in chipping away at the dinosaur culture, and maybe it boils down to leaning on the “playoffs are the only thing that matters” mindset.

In particular, we’ve seen obsessive regular season pursuits precede playoff meltdowns. Consider a few “what if?” cases that will forever plague my mind.

• Connor McDavid looked to do the unthinkable: reaching 100 points in a pandemic-shortened, 56-game 2020-21 season. Shockingly, he hit 100 by his 53 game, opening up the opportunity to rest with that milestone already cemented.

Instead, McDavid played in all three remaining games, notching five more points. While his ice time was more limited in the final two contests, Edmonton opened him up to the risks of blocked shots, disrupted sleep, and everything else that can go wrong when you don’t want to rest a superstar.

McDavid was held pointless in the first two games of a series the Jets swept (only for that Jets team to get swept a round later). For all we know, a couple nights off could have been crucial for a star asked to carry an incredible offensive burden.

It’s all extra-grating because he already got to freaking 100 points anyway.

• In 2018-19, the Lightning put together one of the greatest regular seasons in NHL history, collecting 128 points while Nikita Kucherov generated 128 points of his own. Tampa Bay largely shook off questions about winding down with the Presidents’ Trophy locked up unusually early. The Lightning ended up being stunned by a Blue Jackets sweep, with many chalking it up to a lack of grit/etc. But would the Bolts have been better off resting big-minute players? Victor Hedman never seemed right during that series, only playing two games.

• Last season, the Bruins made even more history than that Lightning team, setting new NHL records for wins and points. Did the Bruins run out of gas as they fell to the Panthers (allowing a late third-period goal, and the OT winner) by Game 7? Considering how Marchand still reacts to load management questions, such a possibility didn’t really resonate, but brighter members of the Bruins front office have to at least wonder if they managed the big picture properly, especially with aging veterans Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci closing out their careers.

Look, rest vs. rust debates are subjective, and the NHL is about as progressive as CPAC, but smart teams should not be leaving stones unturned. If you’re going to lose, at least put your best — most rested — foot forward.

Image via Wikimedia Commons.