As soon as the final horn sounded after the Toronto Maple Leafs' 6-1 loss to the Florida Panthers in Game 7 of their second-round series, Mitch Marner was the very last player to leave the ice. He looked like a player who may have played his last game with the club.

The Leafs drafted Marner with the No. 4 overall pick in the 2014 NHL draft. If Marner, who scored a career-high 102 points this season, doesn't return to Toronto and leaves in free agency, he'd do so having racked up 741 points in 657 regular-season games with Toronto, along with 63 points in 70 playoff matches.

Tavares, like Marner, grew up in the Toronto area dreaming of being a Maple Leaf. When he left the New York Islanders to sign a seven-year, $77 million contract ($11 million average annual value) on July 1, 2018, he publicly announced his decision by posting a childhood photo on social media of sleeping under Maple Leafs covers.