TLN Roundtable: Will the Leafs miss the playoffs if Matt Martin is not in the lineup?

Rumour has it that Matt Martin will be a healthy scratch tonight. A key member of the Toronto Maple Leafs, resident dad and the team’s best fighter, the head coach (Mike Babcock, is his name) of the Leafs decided to sit Martin tonight in favour of a different looking lineup.

So we asked our staff: Will the Leafs fail to make the playoffs now that Martin is not playing tonight?

To make a long answer short – yeah, probably. When the flies are kept off, the Leafs are flying. They’re 1-for-1 in making the playoffs in seasons where Matt Martin has played all 82 games, and have never made the playoffs since. Not a very good track record, in my humble opinion.

Yes, without the magical grit powers of Matt Martin, the Leafs will fail to make the playoffs. How else will they get through the playoff grind without their only grinder? And we’re ignoring the bigger questions here. In a league where fighting is still totally necessary, who will throw the punches for the Leafs? Who will keep the flies off of Matthews, Marner, and Nylander? How will anyone on the Leafs feel safe on the ice if Martin isn’t allowed to punch them in the press box? The stats back me up too. In the last two seasons, the Leafs are 4-0 without Auston Matthews. In the same span, they’re 0-1 without Matt Martin. They can’t win without him! Therefore, Martin >>> Matthews, so if anyone should be taken to the press box, it’s number 34, not number 15.

I’m not sure how I ended up here, again.

The Leafs will probably still make the playoffs, and they’ll probably win tonight as well, although I will probably miss Matt Martin. What a ridiculous question.

Don’t be a (redacted).