The Toronto Maple Leafs have not had any shortage of painful playoff losses over the years, and every time it happens there’s a new quote from one of the leaders on the team that gets people talking. The most recent edition of this came when the Leafs lost Game 7 to the Florida Panthers on home ice to get sent home in the second round.

The Leafs lost 6-1 and weren’t really competitive at any point during the game, and after the game, captain Auston Matthews dropped a quote that had the online discourse going crazy. He essentially called out the team for having ‘too many passengers’, and when we covered it, it wound up being one of our most clicked-on stories of 2025. Below is an excerpt from the article featuring Matthews’ quote.

“It felt like we were ready to play, it felt like we were in a good mindset,” Matthews said. “I thought the first ten minutes they came out strong, and the next ten minutes I thought we controlled play, then I just thought we had too many passengers throughout the rest of the game. We just weren’t on the same page.”

This quote got fans into a frenzy for a couple of reasons. Was Matthews, who didn’t have a point in the loss, referring to himself as one of the passengers, too? Was he calling out the entire team? And if so, why were there too many passengers? Who decided to show up and take it easy in by far the most important game of the season?

Nevertheless, it was the first playoff loss to bring in meaningful change. Mitch Marner ended up leaving for the Vegas Golden Knights and the Leafs are currently in their first season without the ‘core four’ moniker.

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