<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Maple Leafs don’t scare anyone.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">If you haven’t already seen Patrick Maroon&#8217;s comments on the Spittin&#8217; Chiclets podcast, avoid them if you have a weak stomach, because they certainly made me sick. It just confirmed what we’ve all thought for a long time and unfortunately made it very real to know that NHL players, specifically the Boston Bruins, think the way they do about the Maple Leafs.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">&#8220;You know what’s funny is all those guys were like ‘oh we own Toronto, they never beat us!&#8217; Everyone was so confident in that room, we’re not losing this game, like game seven there’s no way we’re losing,&#8221; Maroon said. &#8220;Everyone’s just like f–k it we’re not losing.&#8221;</span></p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">Jake DeBrusk OWNS Toronto 🍁<a href="https://t.co/vPxOkp9pmS">https://t.co/vPxOkp9pmS</a> <a href="https://t.co/9BPE46aNMB">pic.twitter.com/9BPE46aNMB</a></p>
<p>&mdash; Spittin&#39; Chiclets (@spittinchiclets) <a href="https://twitter.com/spittinchiclets/status/1885090688020173108?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 30, 2025</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Maroon goes on to say that Jake DeBrusk announced to the Bruins that he owns Toronto and honestly, he’s right. As Leafs fans we’ve been hypersensitive to any comments made by people in the hockey world about the team’s inability to get past the first round, they’re not hard to play against, or that people aren’t afraid to play them. We’ve heard it on the radio, podcasts, TV, articles, whatever it may be and it always lights a fire under the asses of the fanbase</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">But this is one of the first times we’ve heard it confirmed by a player currently in the league and to suggest he’s lying or fabricating the story would just be full-blown denial.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Leafs need to change their culture and it needs to happen ASAP. If the Bruins aren’t scared of the Maple Leafs, do you think the Panthers are? The Dallas Stars, Colorado Avalanche, Vegas Golden Knights, or Edmonton Oilers would be? Those are the teams that are most frequently looked at as the measuring stick teams who play hard, heavy, in-your-face hockey not too dissimilar to the style of the Boston Bruins. They can grind it out, play shut-down defense, run you through the glass, and score you out of the building. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">This is something the Leafs have struggled with in past post-seasons and are now struggling with in the regular season. The team needs to find its identity and it needs to find it sooner than later to give Brad Treliving a chance to identify some of the deficiencies ahead of the deadline and acquire some of the missing pieces.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">All of this is to say that it starts with the Core 5. Treliving can bring in whoever he’d like to surround Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, William Nylander, John Tavares, and Morgan Rielly but if they don’t step up and buy into the style of hockey that is required to go far in the playoffs, then it will never matter who Treliving brings in. The Core 5 needs to start playing harder and heavier if this team is going to go anywhere.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">It’s a narrative that’s been floated out before about this team but finally hearing it from a player in the league, from your biggest rival, and a team you just can’t seem to get past, is a pretty deflating thing to have confirmed. You don’t have to punch guys heads in, but maybe engaging in scrums and throwing hits isn’t a bad thing? Just a thought.</span></p>
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<span style="font-weight: 400;">The Maple Leafs don’t scare anyone.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">If you haven’t already seen Patrick Maroon's comments on the Spittin' Chiclets podcast, avoid them if you have a weak stomach, because they certainly made me sick. It just confirmed what we’ve all thought for a long time and unfortunately made it very real to know that NHL players, specifically the Boston Bruins, think the way they do about the Maple Leafs.</span>
<div class="bam-inline-promotion-block" data-max-length="2" data-placement-id="2106" data-context="web-content-promocard" data-property-id="324"></div>
<span style="font-weight: 400;">"You know what’s funny is all those guys were like ‘oh we own Toronto, they never beat us!' Everyone was so confident in that room, we’re not losing this game, like game seven there’s no way we’re losing," Maroon said. "Everyone’s just like f–k it we’re not losing."</span>

https://twitter.com/spittinchiclets/status/1885090688020173108

&nbsp;

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Maroon goes on to say that Jake DeBrusk announced to the Bruins that he owns Toronto and honestly, he’s right. As Leafs fans we’ve been hypersensitive to any comments made by people in the hockey world about the team’s inability to get past the first round, they’re not hard to play against, or that people aren’t afraid to play them. We’ve heard it on the radio, podcasts, TV, articles, whatever it may be and it always lights a fire under the asses of the fanbase</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">But this is one of the first times we’ve heard it confirmed by a player currently in the league and to suggest he’s lying or fabricating the story would just be full-blown denial.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">The Leafs need to change their culture and it needs to happen ASAP. If the Bruins aren’t scared of the Maple Leafs, do you think the Panthers are? The Dallas Stars, Colorado Avalanche, Vegas Golden Knights, or Edmonton Oilers would be? Those are the teams that are most frequently looked at as the measuring stick teams who play hard, heavy, in-your-face hockey not too dissimilar to the style of the Boston Bruins. They can grind it out, play shut-down defense, run you through the glass, and score you out of the building. </span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">This is something the Leafs have struggled with in past post-seasons and are now struggling with in the regular season. The team needs to find its identity and it needs to find it sooner than later to give Brad Treliving a chance to identify some of the deficiencies ahead of the deadline and acquire some of the missing pieces.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">All of this is to say that it starts with the Core 5. Treliving can bring in whoever he’d like to surround Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, William Nylander, John Tavares, and Morgan Rielly but if they don’t step up and buy into the style of hockey that is required to go far in the playoffs, then it will never matter who Treliving brings in. The Core 5 needs to start playing harder and heavier if this team is going to go anywhere.</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">It’s a narrative that’s been floated out before about this team but finally hearing it from a player in the league, from your biggest rival, and a team you just can’t seem to get past, is a pretty deflating thing to have confirmed. You don’t have to punch guys heads in, but maybe engaging in scrums and throwing hits isn’t a bad thing? Just a thought.</span>
<h3>Sponsored by bet365</h3>
<div class="bam-inline-promotion" data-property-id="324" data-promotion-id="18983" data-context="web-content-promocard"></div>

TLN After Dark: Patrick Maroon confirms no one is scared of the Maple Leafs

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