Maple Leafs: The Best Last Place Finishers, In The Best Shape
The 2015-16 Maple Leafs were arguably the best last place team ever. Despite losing many games, they looked pretty good in most. The future looks good Leafs fans.
The Toronto Maple Leafs are finally doing it right. They lost games, not because they sucked, but because they didn’t have enough talent to win any. The Maple Leafs competed in almost every game they played. They were rarely outshot, something that improved dramatically from last season. The team looked good. The future is bright Leafs fans.
For one, the Maple Leafs were probably the best last place finishers ever. I mean come on, they competed in every game, they worked hard, their attitude about the whole season was great. What more could you ask for? Wins? Perhaps, but the point of this season was to lose. And they did that, well.
Last year the Buffalo Sabres scored a lowly 54 points to steal last place in the NHL, and they looked bad doing it. This year, the Leafs finished last with 69 points, and for the most part looked pretty competitive. The Maple Leafs only finished with one more point than they did last season, but they looked like a different team.
Maple Leafs Centre Tyler Bozak was optimistic about the clubs progress when he spoke out on locker clean-out day, “It sucks losing, it sucks being done right now and watching (other teams) battle in playoffs. We had a taste of it (in 2013) and it was so exciting. But things are moving in the right direction here.”
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He wasn’t the only player that was happy with the way this season unfolded, “That will help for sure,” Nazem Kadri said. “The better players we get, the quicker things are going to be. This is going to move along quicker than people think. Next year, we’re going to have a competitive group and be able to push.”
Many reporters say that they have never seen a locker room of a team that finished dead last look so happy.
Management was also content with the way the Maple Leafs season went,
“The great thing about playoffs and the opportunity to win the Cup is it’s supposed to be hard. The teams like us that think you’re close, you never know how far away you are until you get in and get hammered by a team that’s been doing it for a while. They’ve got real men, they’ve been through the wars and they understand what it takes to play.” Coach Mike Babcock said, “But in saying all that, I like the position we’re in better than a lot of teams in the NHL.”
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I agree with Babcock. The Maple Leafs finished below Edmonton, Buffalo, Columbus, Arizona, etc. but played much better than they did. I think that the Leafs management is doing the re-build properly, unlike many other teams, and will find great success in doing so. I think that the players have bought into the re-build and understand what management is asking of them, and the system they’ve put in place on the ice. Most importantly, the fans have bought in.
Brendan Shanahan spoke about the fans, “The fans that I’ve spoken to, most of them have been involved with this for decades, and I think they’re almost fearful of someone influencing the process in a way that speeds it up and hurts it. So I’m not getting that from them. What I’m getting is ‘do it right, however long it takes. Don’t fall short.”
It will take some time, but at least everyone’s on the same page.