Maple Leafs’ Pacioretty on privilege of Toronto pressure: ‘It builds winners’
Is this a group that can withstand the pressure of a market that hangs on their every word, lives and dies by their every play?
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TORONTO — Joe Mazzulla might’ve put it best.
Ahead of the 2023-24 season, the head coach of the Boston Celtics — a franchise and a city that’s been known to generate its fair share of pressure — was asked about his squad’s young, highly scrutinized phenom, Jayson Tatum. The leader of a young core that endured post-season heartbreak for half a decade before breaking through and winning a championship — coincidentally, in the same year Tatum’s old high-school classmate, Matthew Tkachuk, won too.
“It seems to me that Jayson has to deal with unfair criticism,” began the interviewer, speaking to Mazzulla for the Netflix docu-series, Starting 5.
Mazzulla cut him off.
“Gets to deal with,” the coach corrected. “He gets to deal with it. It’s the ultimate compliment. And that’s what we talk about — ‘This is what you asked for.’ You asked to be one of the best players in the NBA, on the best team in the NBA, with an opportunity to be an icon for the league for a long, long time.
“This is what you asked for.”
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It’s a conversation that’s overtaken the Toronto Maple Leafs for the past 48 hours, in the wake of a crushing Game 7 loss that saw Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner and Co. booed off the ice in the final moments of their season-ending defeat.
The hours and days since have spiralled into debate not only on the squad Brad Treliving built, on whether this is a group that can withstand the pressure of a market that hangs on their every word, lives and dies by their every play — but also on whether the market itself has become a roadblock to success.
Max Pacioretty has a unique perspective on the issue. The 36-year-old spent 2024-25 as a complementary piece on a Maple Leafs squad led by three elite talents, all in their prime, and all under the microscope. He was out there with them as the trio got shut down in that all-or-nothing series-ending finale two days ago, prompting another off-season of scrutiny and question marks.
And for a decade long before that, he was there himself, a young star — and then a captain — for the Montreal Canadiens, a club that attracts no less chaos in the pressure department.
“I love it. It’s a privilege to play under pressure,” Pacioretty said Tuesday from the locker room at the Maple Leafs’ practice facility in Etobicoke, Ont. “And you probably don’t realize that when you’re in it, or when you’re younger. But it’s a privilege to have this many people care about how we do. I certainly never felt this way early on in my career, but it builds winners. It turns you into men. It helps you (become) who you’re ultimately trying to become.
“I know that I’m not in the spotlight here, and wasn’t this year by any means, so it’s a bit of cherry-picking for me to answer it this way. However, I have been there before. And it makes me realize that — I don’t have regrets with how I’ve handled it in the past, but I do know that that adversity and going through that amount of pressure built me into the person and the player that I am today. And I’m thankful for it.”
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For Chris Tanev, who’s suiting up for his third NHL club in the north, after a decade in Vancouver and four seasons in Calgary, pressure is simply a fundamental part of the game. Part of what it means to wear the crest of a club on this side of the border.
“I’ve played in Canada for 14-and-a-half out of my 15 years (in the NHL). There’s pressure. And it comes with the territory of being in a country where hockey is the biggest sport,” the defender said simply. “Probably some more microphones and cameras (in Toronto), definitely than Calgary for sure. I think Vancouver can get quite big as well. … There’s probably just as much pressure there as there is here. Every place has its own unique aspects to it.
“But it’s Canada. Hockey is Canada’s game, and there’s going to be pressure wherever you are.”
To a man, the Maple Leafs echoed that sentiment Tuesday: There’s pressure everywhere. But there’s little question the noise has had some measure of impact on this team, no matter how many times its captain asserts otherwise. It’s impossible to believe it can simply be waved away, particularly given the dark outpouring from the Scotiabank Arena faithful that punctuated Sunday’s Game 7 loss.
It’s in part because of all that noise, all that pressure, that the club and its 2024-25 leading scorer, Mitch Marner, seem likely to part ways this summer. While No. 16 repeated the team message Tuesday — “There’s pressure everywhere. There’s pressure anywhere.” — and reiterated his love of his boyhood club and his time suiting up for it, he admitted the impact of the constant scrutiny on his family has been harder to stomach.
“I’m sure it’s tough on them,” Marner said. “I mean, you’ve got to not focus on that. I think what my wife and I have done such a good job of the past couple years is just not focusing on that. You can’t focus on that. You know there’s so much love and appreciation for yourself from the fans out there — just because you don’t hear it, you still know it’s out there. You know you’ve got the love of a lot of people. And sometimes the noise you hear is not the (noise) that you want, but that’s how it goes.
“I’m sure my family’s taking it hard, especially being in the crowd for a couple (games). But you know, that’s how this game of hockey goes.”
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So intense was the scrutiny of the Maple Leafs’ second-round bout with the defending champs, by the end of the series, even their opponents were defending them.
“If you look at the heat this team catches, it’s actually really unfortunate,” Brad Marchand said after the dust had settled on Game 7. “They’re getting crucified, and I don’t think it’s justified.”
“What’s great for the league is hard for the Toronto Maple Leafs and their players,” added Panthers coach Paul Maurice that night. “The passion for the Toronto Maple, the scrutiny these men are under, is why everybody else gets paid so much. It’s a driver. … There’s a cost for these guys, for their families. When you lose a game like this, it’s going to be rough on them.”
Matthew Tkachuk added more fuel to that fire Monday.
“If their team was not in Toronto, dealing with all the crazy circus stuff outside of it, they’d be an unbelievable team and such a hard team to play,” the Panthers winger said. “They have so much to deal with. I feel bad, we don’t have to deal with that in Florida. I feel like that’s what makes me and my team so lucky.
“You almost use that against them.”
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Asked about those comments Tuesday, Pacioretty suggested it’s all a matter of perspective. The pressure can be as much a privilege, or as much a nightmare, as you make it.
“Anyone can say whatever they want. Everyone can have their own opinions as to how or why we lost. At the same time, it’s like, you can use it against someone or you can use it to your advantage, right?” he said. “I guess I’m a glass-half-full guy at this stage in my life. And I see that there are ways to use it to your advantage.”
That’s how the club’s netminding squad chooses to view that fact of life in Toronto, too.
“You know, that pressure, I think it’s a good thing,” said netminder Anthony Stolarz. “At the end of the day, I think the pressure’s going to make you better, and want to make you get to the last game of the season.”
“It really makes you have to focus that much harder,” added fellow goaltender Joseph Woll. “And really be in the moment that much more when you have that pressure. The flip side is if you don’t have pressure, then no one cares.”
That has long been the give and take for those who don that hallowed blue-and-white sweater. The hefty weight of the scrutiny is balanced with the lift that comes with the Maple Leafs faithful’s praise. The pain of answering the difficult questions year after year is one side of the coin — the other is the possibility of what it all would look like if these Leafs were able to break through.
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“I think there’s an incredible following of the team, incredible passion about the club and the history around it. That’s why it’s so special to play here. And you feel that on a daily basis,” said John Tavares, whose future with the team remains uncertain following the conclusion of his seven-year pact. “There’s pressure everywhere. Certainly, there is a lot of noise playing in Toronto, but, you know, that can’t outweigh the pleasure and the privilege and the opportunity that it brings. Obviously, you do everything you need to do to deal with that on a daily basis, to focus on the group in here, and going out there and playing and everything we need to do to have success.
“It’s an unbelievable place to play, an incredible fanbase that loves its team and so badly wants to see it win. And you know, when it happens here again, it’s going to be something pretty remarkable. And you want to be a part of that.”
Where it goes from here remains to be seen. After another season concluded on a disappointing note — even after a division title, a stronger post-season showing, and some genuine momentum around this team’s playoff potential — there are difficult questions to answer once more.
Key among those is which of these Leafs will return when the group reconvenes in September, starting with the two marquee hometown boys in need of new contracts. But regardless of how the names on the lineup change over this off-season, how the team shifts its mindset, how they alter their style of play, one fundamental aspect of their situation will remain the same — this city, this fanbase, and that pressure.
For head coach Craig Berube, the path forward isn’t waving away that heat or pretending it doesn’t exist. It’s replacing it, establishing a culture internally that moves his club more than any outside noise ever could.
“You know, the only pressure that we should feel is right inside the locker room, from each other. That’s honestly my opinion,” the coach said Tuesday. “Pressure is pressure. I understand it, I do. This is a hard market. And it’s a great market, though. You’ve got to look at it that way.
“But pressure comes from inside the locker room. That’s it. Your teammates are the most important people, and that, to me, is the only pressure.”
