Cup more than a whisper

Leafs look similar to last season, but they're starting to sound different

- KEVIN MCGRAN

After another playoff disappointment last season, some players seemed enthused to talk about getting over the hump.

Morgan Rielly came right out and said it. “Our goal will always be to win the Stanley Cup, and anything short of that will be a failure.”

Rielly, a veteran defenceman and the Maple Leafs’ longest-tenured player, said it Wednesday when he and his teammates reported for physicals, the first full day of training camp. The were poked and prodded by fitness and medical staff, posed for promotional photographs, and participated in promotional videos. And, of course, they subjected themselves to the media queries.

Rielly was the second interview of the morning, after new captain Auston Matthews, but the first to utter the words “Stanley Cup,” which became a refreshing topic of conversation.

He was more or less prodded into it when it was pointed out that the Edmonton Oilers’ leadership group last year volunteered that their 2023-24 season was “Stanley Cup or bust.” It became Edmonton’s rallying cry. They didn’t win, but they did make it to the final.

Leafs players have seemed reluctant to utter the words “Stanley Cup” when talking to the media. They usually use terms like “ultimate goal” or phrases like “working toward what we’re all working toward.”