Loyalty can be a funny thing in the professional hockey business. Certainly, the idea of sticking together is something that’s admirable, but the reality is that successful teams have to be cold-blooded in their day-to-day dealings to keep pace with their competitors. We’re about to see an example of whether or not the Toronto Maple Leafs are prioritizing loyalty over the bottom line. In this instance, we’re talking about the future of veteran defenseman Mark Giordano as a Maple Leaf.
Mark has made the decision that he’s playing for a few more years,” Winter told the Toronto Star. “He feels very confident. He’s been talking to a lot of people who tell him: Don’t quit until they make you.” Well, at the risk of sounding flippant about Giordano’s on-ice future, the Leafs should let Giordano accomplish that goal elsewhere. Injuries and Toronto’s depth on ‘D’ limited Giordano to 46 games this past season, and to make matters worse, he was a healthy scratch in the Buds’ first-round series against Boston. If Giordano isn’t good enough to play in the Leafs’ most important games, why would Maple Leafs GM Brad Treliving and new coach Craig Berube carve out a place for Giordano in 2024-25? It would be a different story altogether if Giordano (a) signed for the minimum salary and (b) understood he was going to be a seventh D-man or an insurance piece next season. But the last thing the Leafs need is to use cap space and a roster spot on someone they can’t rely on to play 82 regular-season games and the playoffs. They could be using that roster spot to develop a youngster. They could be using that spot on a free-agent signing of note. Related: Could the Toronto Maple Leafs Pursue Five Pending UFAs with Craig Berube Connections? Elite athletes thrive in part because they believe in themselves and their abilities, so it’s hardly a surprise that Giordano believes he has more gas left in his competitive tank. But it’s the job of Leafs coaching and management to provide a realistic portrait of where an individual talent sits in their system. In an ideal world, Giordano would overcome the adversity currently in front of him and finish up his career on a high. But while he averaged about 19 minutes per night in the 2022-23 season, he was not at the same level in 2023-24. His footspeed and difference-making at both ends of the ice weren’t the same. In the macro picture, that certainly doesn’t take away from all the good things Giordano has done in his NHL playing days, including winning the Norris Trophy in 2019. If another team is a better fit for him than Toronto next year, so be it – let Giordano move on and end his NHL career in another uniform. He deserves whatever playing time the market will bear, and he could be a good fit either on a rebuilding team looking for leadership or as a depth piece on another contender. If Giordano only wants to play for his hometown Leafs, that’s entirely up to him. However, Trelivng and Berube are being paid to make dispassionate decisions on the roster front. Unless Giordano is OK with only playing for Toronto if another defenseman gets hurt or underperforms, it’s the end of the line for him as a Leaf. There’s no good way of sugar-coating it. It’s a crossroads they’ve arrived at, and management has to do what’s best for the organization, not the individual. Here’s hoping it works out for him to continue his career in a place that could use him more.
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