Mitch Marner comments on past postseason failures: ''The past is the past.. we're done with that''

For the Toronto Maple Leafs, everything always seems to be about the past. The Leafs organization - nor its fanbase - can seem to escape the seemingly endless stream of criticism, with references of 1967, zamboni drivers and having not been out of the first round since 2004 being tossed around like confetti at a kid's birthday party.

On the whole, much of the criticism is warranted, especially if you consider how talented this team truly is from a pure skill perspective. The repeated failure was much more forgivable when the team was bad. Now that the Leafs are icing a consistently good team, fans expect results.

24-year-old Mitch Marner, perhaps the player who takes the most flak of anyone on the team after having not registered a postseason goal in his last 18 playoff games, made an appearance on Sportsnet 590's The Fan on Friday and the message that he wanted to convey seemed to be a simple one. The past is the past and the future is now.

"The past is the past - we're done with that. We're just looking forward to getting this training camp going. It's coming very quickly and the whole team is here now and skating together ... it's exciting times, and it should be an exciting start," said Marner.

The goal for Marner this offseason was essentially just to work hard all summer and stay motivated to come back stronger in 2021-22 - a target that he feels that he was able to meet or exceed. The next step is getting through training camp and the preseason and showing everyone this season that the work that he has put in will help him to elevate his game.

"That's always the goal - to try and come back and be better than you were the season before that," said the Markham, ON native. "I felt that I've put a lot of work in and I feel great on that ice and training camp is only about a week away, so it's exciting times here in Toronto."

It truly does feel like "do or die" for the Leafs this season after their 5th consecutive early postseason exit. Hopefully for Marner's sake, the work pays off and he can help the Leafs secure a playoff spot in a more competitive Atlantic Division this season and go on a lengthy postseason run - because if not, big changes are likely coming.

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