Jeremy Roenick Shocks Fans with a Big Revelation About The Maple Leafs

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Tyler Ball
October 18, 2023 (7:18 PM)

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Jeremy Roenick has always been known for his wild takes and for speaking his mind in a public forum. Today this continued when he spoke about the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Roenick Makes A Big Revelation About The Maple Leafs

Jeremy Roenick joined Leafs Morning Take earlier today to give his opinion on the state of the team and the NHL. First, the trio discussed whether needing a 'killer instinct' is real in the NHL. Here is Roenick's response.

100%. I mean, it differentiates the winners from the losers. There is no question that the guys who are more successful have a bite and a different edge than the guys that don't. There's got to be a burning passion in your stomach to want to win, to want to compete.

After this they moved on to talking about the Toronto Maple Leafs. Roenick was asked why he thinks the Maple Leafs have struggled to succeed in recent years.

It's a lot that comes with the pressure of being in probably one of the biggest hockey markets. The pressure can get to them. The media is on them 100%. It's in their face 24/7, and when they get in these games, instead of having that Killer Instinct.

I think the mentality comes in like, 'Oh no, what if we lose this again? What if this happens again? What if, what if, what if?' And I don't know if it's a generational thing, the kids today and how they approach games, how they think, how they prepare, what they worry about, what they fear.

Roenick once refers to the 'killer instinct' and eludes to the idea that the Maple Leafs lack that instinct. He then references a generational mentality that the trio would once again cover later in the episode.

Roenick Gives His Opinion On Today's Generation & Maple Leafs Leadership

As the episode went along Roenick was asked about his opinion on today's version of the NHL and the current generation of people as a whole.

You're saying the generation today is soft, Jr?

Without question. Are you kidding me? By leaps and bounds, soft. They do have their guys in the league that are tougher, that are mentally tough, that are physically tough, that are what we say are 80s and 90s type players. But 98-99% of them, you yell at them, they climb underneath the table and hide rather than standing up on the table and pounding their chest and fighting back.

Unfortunately, but I think the NHL has kind of, I mean, obviously, society has created that, but the NHL has also created that with a lot of rule changes and a lot of mentality that they try to protect players. So, some of it's their fault, some of it's not.

Roenick shares the opinion of many people of an older generation that today's generation is soft and not as mentally tough as his generation. Finally, they talked about the Maple Leafs' leadership and once again referenced the differences between his generation and today's

And within that, do you think the leadership comes into play? I mean, you played for 20 years in this league. You've been the leader; you've also been the young guy looking up at players. Is that a big thing within the locker room that you attribute that character? Does it start from the top of the leadership group within that team?

Well, I don't know how leaders deal with their teams nowadays anyway. I don't know whether they are vocal leaders, whether they're just, whether they just go out there and lead by example, whether they're afraid of yelling and screaming and offending one of their teammates or calling one of their teammates out.

I know back in the 90s and early 2000s, I had Keith Tkachuk, I had Chris Chelios. They had no problem standing up in the middle of the room and absolutely reaming you a new one and screaming and calling you out in front of your teammates, and they didn't care what you thought or your feelings.

Roenick has always had strong opinions on the NHL and its product. This continues well into his retirement. The Maple Leafs will look to prove him and many other people who feel they aren't built to win in the postseason wrong in the near future.