Nick Foligno has a message that is “hard for the fanbase to hear right now.”

The Toronto Maple Leafs suffered a tough loss in Game 6 of their first round Stanley Cup Playoff series against the Montreal Canadiens and the amount of negativity coming out of the Maple Leafs fan base right now is honestly off the charts.

Regardless of what Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe had to say following the game and regardless of what his players have had to say following the game, the reaction from fans of the Maple Leafs on social media has been almost universally negative. There's no doubt that this kind of reaction will have an impact on any player that takes the time to read it, but thankfully for the Leafs they have something that they have been lacking during their playoff runs in their recent past, an abundance of veteran leadership on the team.

The Leafs have added players like Joe Thornton, Wayne Simmonds, Jason Spezza and more to their roster this time around and although it would be easy to buckle under the pressure these are the kind of players that have been through every scenario imaginable throughout their lengthy careers in the National Hockey League. This time around however it was former Columbus Blue Jackets captain Nick Foligno who stepped up to the plate and shared a message that he himself knows fans aren't going to want to hear. 

Foligno called on his teammates to shut out the voices of the Maple Leafs fan base and simply focus on the task at hand. In fact Foligno even argued that facing this kind of adversity in the playoffs could serve as a springboard for the Maple Leafs moving forward.

"Don't worry about what the fans are saying. It doesn't matter," said Foligno in response to backlash from the Leafs fan base. "This happens for a reason. Sometimes this is what catapults you. It's hard for the fanbase to hear right now, but we're going to come with the mindset that we're going to win a hockey game."

Foligno has been no stranger to overcoming adversity throughout his career. Just recently he led the underdog Columbus Blue Jackets to a sweep of Stanley Cup favorites the Tampa Bay Lightning in the first round of the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs when his Blue Jackets were massive underdogs and he also played a big role in helping the Blue Jackets knock the Maple Leafs out of the bubble during the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs as well. I genuinely believe that he is the kind of player that could be entirely unphased by the pressure coming from the Leafs fan base.