Maple Leafs Announce End-of-Season Media Availability with Players and Head Coach

As the team is set to clear out their locker rooms after being eliminated by the Florida Panthers, everyone will do their best not to dwell on yet another heartbreaking loss in an elimination game.

Questions will be rampant about what's next, and we might be seeing a new team come 2025-26. However, with them clearing out their lockers that means they will no doubt be asked to answer several of those questions.

Well, it won't be too long before they are pressed for answers, as the team announced their end-of-season media availability for Tuesday morning, according to TSN's Chris Johnston.

The spotlight will be shining brightly in the face of the players, and not in a good way; think of it more as a police interrogation than a showcase of anything positive.

One has to wonder what the questions will be, but also how prepared the team is to answer them. Craig Berube isn't one to wax poetic with his comments, so we might not hear a lot of what's going forward until we actually see it.

The two main culprits who will be asked a ton of questions are Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner.

The former is the team captain, coming off one of his worst statistical seasons, dealing with a potential injury, and souring his reputation even more when it comes to the playoffs.

He's expected to do so much, and maybe if the team had better pieces he wouldn't be depended on so heavily on defense.

No doubt the onus is on him to rally the troops, but when he calls out the team while not doing much himself is hypocritical to say the least.

Marner on the other hand is going to be pressed heavily about his future, and while his nonchalant attitude and relentless statements of "just here to play hockey" might have done him well previously, what's his excuse now?

He was here to play hockey and when it counted, he really didn't play did he?

Four points in the second round after exploding for 102 in the regular season is a horrible look, and his outburst towards his teammates made him look rather childish.

Hey Mitch, not for nothing, but you have zero goals, two assists and an 0-6 record in Game 7's since 2018. At what point do you blame everyone else before realizing you're the problem?

He also seemed resigned to the fact that he's going to be gone, speaking an awful lot in the past tense with Toronto.

We're probably going to hear much of the same when the media gathers on Tuesday morning to see which direction the Maple Leafs are going.

Don't expect them to have the answers though, or say much of anything at all.