opener, though Toronto would eventually lose in overtime, 4–3. Lupul ended his first playoff series with Toronto with three goals and one assist in seven games as the team fell 5–4 in overtime of Game 7. On November 14, 2015, Lupul scored his 200th career goal during a 4–2 victory over the Vancouver Canucks. On December 1, 2015, Lupul was placed on injured reserve after suffering a lower body injury. Lupul returned but was again injured in February, and was shut down for the season to have surgery. Facing a decline in offensive production and a growing reputation as an injury-prone player (having missed 40% of the Maple Leafs' games over the past four seasons due to injury), Rumours began to circulate as early as February 2016 that there was concern if Lupul could continue to play at the NHL level anymore. With two more years on his contract paying him $5.25 million annually, there was speculation Toronto management was planning to sideline the winger under the Injury Reserve for the duration of his contract, similarly to what was happening with teammate Stéphane Robidas following the 2014–15 season. At the end of the season, Lupul was not seen at the year-end locker room clean-out or media briefings. Despite comments from Lupul earlier in the season and teammate Nazem Kadri in the summer implying Lupul wanted to and had the ability to play the following season, he did not participate in pre-season action, and he announced on September 22, 2016, he would sit out the upcoming season due to injury. He was subsequently placed on the long-term injury reserve, with the team stating he had failed his pre-season physical. By mid-February 2017, media reports indicated Lupul had played his final professional hockey game, and that he had been out of contact with the media and one of his agents for months. Lupul was left unprotected by the Maple Leafs in the 2017 Expansion Draft and was thus eligible to be selected by the expansion Vegas Golden Knights, although players who were injured for more than one year and were not expected to play again were exempt in the draft under NHL rules, signalling that Lupul may not be injured in the traditional sense. In September 2017, the Leafs declared Lupul had failed his physicals at training camp before the 2017–18 season. Lupul then made several posts on his Instagram account saying