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Toronto Maple Leafs Roundtable: Caring (Or Not) About The Playoffs

By Tim Chiasson

Feb 21, 2017; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman Jake Gardiner (51) is congratulated by center Nazem Kadri (43) and center William Nylander (29) and center Auston Matthews (34) against the Winnipeg Jets at Air Canada Centre. The Maple Leafs beat the Jets 5-4 in overtime. Mandatory Credit: Tom Szczerbowski-USA TODAY Sports
Feb 21, 2017; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman Jake Gardiner (51) is congratulated by center Nazem Kadri (43) and center William Nylander (29) and center Auston Matthews (34) against the Winnipeg Jets at Air Canada Centre. The Maple Leafs beat the Jets 5-4 in overtime. Mandatory Credit: Tom Szczerbowski-USA TODAY Sports /
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Feb 23, 2017; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Toronto Maple Leafs center Zach Hyman (11) talks to center Auston Matthews (34) as center William Nylander (29) and defenseman Roman Polak (46) look on against the New York Rangers at Air Canada Centre. The Rangers beat the Maple Leafs 2-1 in the shootout. Mandatory Credit: Tom Szczerbowski-USA TODAY Sports /

Matthew Rodrigopulle’s Take

I’m probably in the minority here, but I don’t think making the playoffs is all that important for the Toronto Maple Leafs this season. With that said, missing the playoffs is excusable, but it should still be focused on.

From the beginning of the season, many people, including myself, pegged the Toronto Maple Leafs as a team who would finish amongst the bottom of the league once again. I thought that with such a young, inexperienced team, mistakes would be made, which is typical for rebuilding teams. I thought we would finish with another high draft pick who would be of use to our rebuild and get better in the next upcoming years.

To our surprise however, the Leafs exceeded expectations by a landslide, turning this bottomed out team into playoff contenders.

I’ll be honest here, I was originally a part of #TankNation. Another high draft pick in this year’s draft, particularly for a young defenceman like Timothy Liljegren, would have seemed like the perfect outcome for this season for me personally. We could have used this season to develop the young guys while working towards our rebuild.

At this point, it’s too late for that idea to be fulfilled.

The worst place a rebuilding team can finish is right outside the playoffs. In this scenario, they don’t get a playoff run, nor do they get a top 10 pick in the draft.

Sitting in limbo in this position is how many teams get stuck being mediocre. To continue the progression of a rebuild, you must achieve one or the other—a playoff run for experience or a high draft pick for the future.

I’m not necessarily saying that I would be upset if the Leafs miss the playoffs. Given my expectations set at the beginning of the season, it doesn’t matter as much to me as it would for some other fans.

However, the Leafs have to try and make the playoffs at this point or else their season is going to be unhelpful to the further progression of the rebuild. It’s too late to tank, so might as well go all the way with this playoff stuff.

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