Maple Leafs' Craig Berube Raises Eyebrows With Mitch Marner Comments

Toronto Maple Leafs forward Mitch Marner (16) answers a question from the media following game one of the first round of the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs against the Ottawa Senators at Scotiabank Arena.

The Toronto Maple Leafs dropped Game 4 of their second-round playoff series against the Florida Panthers. Just as quickly as the Maple Leafs gained a 2-0 series advantage, they lost it just as fast.

The two teams will be heading back to Toronto for Game 5, giving both sides a chance to take control of the series. However, there are real concerns for the Maple Leafs moving forward, including about forward Mitch Marner.

Marner hasn't looked like his normal self in this series against the Panthers, and it has caught the attention of head coach Craig Berube. Berube seemed to call out his star a little after Game 4.

"Sometimes your top guys, they're looking to get too good of a chance sometimes instead of just putting the puck on net," he said Monday. "I think there's times where we could put more pucks on net at angles, bad angles, just firing it in there with people going to the net. You never know, it goes off somebody, rebounds or anything like that.

"I think Mitch could just be a little bit more direct in that area. He has the puck a lot, we know that, and he's got to look to put more pucks to the net. I get what he's trying to do, he wants to upgrade his chance, upgrade the chance. He's a passer first, we know that, but we need him to shoot pucks too. So yeah, I agree with you on that. Two games without a shot, he's got to shoot the puck."

If the Maple Leafs are going to advance out of this series, they are going to need Marner to step up. The star had 25 goals and 75 assists during the regular season, but he has been slowed in the playoffs. 

Over 10 playoff games, Marner has scored two goals and 10 assists for the Maple Leafs. Something needs to change for Toronto, and Berube seems to think that challenging his guys could do the trick.