Mitch Marner Responds to Possibility of Playing His Final Game as a Leaf

It's safe to say that Game 5 didn't turn out the way Toronto wanted it to. A 6-1 loss to Florida at home set up an elimination game in the coming days, with all the pressure on the Maple Leafs to somehow pull off the miracle comeback.

They will certainly need all the stars to align, and more than that, have their actual stars perform. It's been a mighty cold postseason for Auston Matthews, and for Mitch Marner he still can't seem to exorcise his playoff demons.

Speaking of Marner, he is a free agent at season's end and could potentially play his last game with the team in Game 6.

With that in mind, how does the star forward feel about it? Apparently, he hasn't thought about it at all:

While he's certainly not worrying about next season given the task at hand, it's almost an impossibility that it's not at least weighing his subconscious down a bit.

He knows that he needs to perform, and he knows the pressure on him. If he wanted to stay a Maple Leaf as he has stated numerous times, he would have signed already.

Maybe he figured this was the year, and how he performed; it should be. He put up 102 points, reaching the century mark for the first time in his career, and has shown he can lead a team through tough times.

So why he can't put it together, along with the other stars, is a bit of a mystery. It also doesn't help his case heading into free agency if he did play his last games with the club.

He showed that he can't pull through when it counts, he has flashes of brilliance but often goes cold, and losing three straight games by a score of 13-5.

While it's not his fault completely, being so heavily depended upon means he can't afford to have these cold streaks.

Marner has one goal in his last 10 games with only 13 shots in that span; he's not putting the puck on net and he's a shell of the player we saw in the regular season.

If it weren't for William Nylander, John Tavares, and Matthew Knies then things would be a whole lot worse.

You can't excuse Marner anymore, and he very well could end up playing his last game with the team.

The very least he can do is give fans a game to remember him by.