Mitch Marner leaving is why Craig Berube’s system collapsed and the Maple Leafs cannot ignore that

Right now, the Toronto Maple Leafs have a lot of work to do if they want to make sure that they are competitive once again, and without the right roster in place, they are just going to be spinning their wheels.

Someone not spinning their wheels right now is Mitch Marner, and while he's down 2-1 against Utah and not exactly lighting it up, he's in a way better spot than his former teammates. Marner's mix of elite offensive and defensive skills have led him to consistently be one of the best in the entire league.

And whether you think the world of him or not — his absence is why Craig Berube failed.

Yes, there's a lot to say about Berube's system as a whole and there's certainly struggles that we can point to. However, there's a reason he won a Stanley Cup and the reason he was so coveted by the Maple Leafs in the first place.

With the 2019 Blues, he took a bad team, turned them into a defensive wizard and came away with the ultimate prize, but what's interesting is the parallels between that team and the current Maple Leafs.

St. Louis had a roster that included the likes of Ryan O'Reilly, Vladimir Tarasenko, Brayden Schenn, Alex Pietrangelo, and Alex Steen.

Drawling comparisons to the current roster you could see Matthews (O'Reilly), Nylander (Tarasenko), Knies (Schenn), Rielly (Pietrangelo), and Tavares (Steen); the one thing that Toronto was missing was ironically a former Leafs skillset — Tyler Bozak.

That's where Marner is missing. Bozak is someone who played a strong defensive game and supplemented it with some decent offence. Marner is leagues ahead of him, so adding double or triple the production at the same defensive value is invaluable.

Not to mention that Marner was a large reason why the Maple Leafs succeeded defensively. Last year they didn't have a ton of help from Matthews thanks to injury, and Marner took the bulk of the defensive load anyways. Sure Matthews helped as well, but he wasn't the sole defensive guy to rely on.

Last year, the Maple Leafs had a collective 48.1% Corsi, and this year it dropped a lot to 45.5%, plus the team skyrocketed their xGA average, so obviously without Marner able to dictate the pace things are going to slip.

Craig Berube's system relies heavily on a grinding mentality and playing strong defence while wearing opponents down. There's a reason you had Pat Maroon, Oskar Sundqvist, and Rob Bortuzzo on your roster; they were the physical guys you could count on defensively.

You're asking a 36-year old Chris Tanev to do that with his injury history? You're relying on a 34-year old and aging Calle Jarnkrok to work your PK? That's not exactly the fault of Craig Berube, as he was simply given the roster to work with.

He does deserve some blame for why Toronto failed this season, and his neutering of Auston Matthews didn't help.

But losing Mitch Marner showed that Craig Berube isn't a bad coach. He just needs the right guys who know how to play his style.

It's frustratingly simple.

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