Detroit Red Wings must avoid capitalizing off of Maple Leafs' playoff failure

The misery continues for the Toronto Maple Leafs, who once again lost a Game 7 with everything on the line.

This time, the Maple Leafs were beaten by the divisional foe Florida Panthers; the Maple Leafs teased their fans with a victory in Game 6 after getting their doors blown off in Game 5, but the final game of the series was the same story.

Now, all attention is being focused on Toronto's pending UFA forwards Mitch Marner and John Tavares. While Tavares was blatant in his postgame comments that he wants to return to the Maple Leafs, Marner wasn't as committal.

The Red Wings are a team trying to return to the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the 1st time in nearly a decade, and while Marner would give them an immediate offensive punch, he's not the kind of player that the Red Wings, led by GM Steve Yzerman, should be coveting.

While it's true that Marner is a fantastic player in regular-season play, it's become obvious over the last several years that he's simply not built for playoff hockey. He's soft, timid, and afraid of physical play.

He also publicly throws tantrums in front of his teammates when the going gets tough, as shown by last year's playoff loss to the Bruins and when he blew up at his teammates on Sunday night despite barely having broken a sweat himself.

Marner's reputation as not being a big game player was further solidified based on comments made by now-ex Maple Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe, who essentially said he had to treat Marner with kid gloves to avoid upsetting him.

The Red Wings will have lots of options in the free agency market this summer, but spending top dollar on a player who has shown he disappears at playoff time is not what they should focus their spending on.