Extending Mitch Marner during the regular season is a commitment to mediocrity. Look, I’m not saying that a Mitch Marner extension is a bad thing or harms the teamm and I want to be very clear that this has nothing to do with Mitch Marner as a person or a player.

Former Maple Leafs GM Brian Burke made a surprising comment about the struggling Morgan Rielly during a recent podcast appearance. Drafted fifth overall by Burke and the Leafs in 2012, Morgan Rielly has been a staple on the Leafs' blueline since the 2013-14 season.

The Toronto Maple Leafs haven’t seen the best of Morgan Rielly and everyone knows it. Something has to change for the team to get Rielly back to playing the way he’s known for.

Leafs answered our poll. In part 1, we reveal the teammates most Leafs would like to be stuck with in an elevator, and more.

Asked about the state of extension talks with not only Marner but John Tavares and pending RFA Matthew Knies earlier this month, Leafs GM Brad Treliving said, “Those are things that we always are looking at and talking about and rumbling around, but nothing to report right now.”

Former Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Brian Burke stands by his assessment that Morgan Rielly was the best player of the 2012 NHL Draft.

The Toronto Maple Leafs have had many hits in the NHL Entry Draft over the last few decades, including right up at the top of the draft. The

Jared Spurgeon and Marat Khusnutdinov scored in the first period, Filip Gustavsson stopped 31 shots, and the Minnesota Wild beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 3-1.

Squaring off with nearly identical records entering Wednesday’s contest, the Toronto Maple Leafs were presented with a key opportunity to get out of a rut against a quality Minnesota Wild team, with a four-game road trip on the horizon before the 4 Nations Face-Off break.

The sub-par hockey caught up to the Leafs on Wednesday night, when their loss to the Minnesota Wild, coupled with the Florida Panthers’ win against the Los Angeles Kings, dropped the Leafs to second place in the Atlantic Division, one point back of the defending Stanley Cup-champion Panthers.

Rielly has two points in his last 11 games with Toronto and admitted after Wednesday's 3-1 loss to Minnesota that he needs to be better.

You can look to John Tavares and Matthew Knies’ imminent returns and hope they can spark the lineup, but this is still a team with Auston Matthews, William Nylander and Mitch Marner. Offence should not be this difficult and they have the raw talent to at least make games interesting. Tonight was far from it.