Toronto Maple Leafs: Three Thoughts That Need to Stop

The 2016-17 Toronto Maple Leafs season was one to remember for many reasons.

The Toronto Maple Leafs put on a show last season, sparking many new thoughts.

They made the playoffs in a full 82 game season for the first time since 2004. Another is how the rookie trio of Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, and William Nylander all had 60 points or more. They also looked like they finally found a bona fide starting goalie.

Now, Leafs nation has arguably the biggest fanbase in the NHL. You see fans stretching from the GTA all the way to the Northwest Territories. However, with a fanbase as big as the Leafs’, you’re going to get a lot of speculation and thoughts.

These questions concern the draft, the trade deadline, and the Leafs’ season overall. And while most of these thoughts have reasoning behind it, you’re going to get some questionable and well, stupid debates. Some of them shouldn’t have even been had in the first place, but nevertheless, they happened. Here are three of the worst that were witnessed last year.

THE LEAFS SHOULD HAVE TAKEN LAINE

First of all, no.

Let’s face it. Every year, there’s going to be speculation on who goes first overall, whether there’s actually a debate or not. People were comparing Taylor Hall to Tyler Seguin in 2010, Nathan Mackinnon to Seth Jones in 2013, Connor McDavid to Jack Eichel in 2015.

Based on history, it was inevitable that Auston Matthews and Patrik Laine would be constantly compared to each other.

After the 2016 lottery had taken place, it was believed that the Maple Leafs would take Matthews due to their need for a true number one centre. The Jets were expected to take

Laine to fulfill their need of a top right wing prospect.

Matthews had a bit of a goal-scoring slump in November that saw him go 13 games without a goal. And to the surprise of nobody, everybody started to panic and wonder whether or not they should have taken Laine.

Yeah, I’m just as surprised as you are.

To finish the season, Matthews had a total of 69 points playing alongside two rookies while Laine had 64 points playing alongside of Mark Scheifele. Not to take anything away from Laine, as he’s going to be a top-end goal scorer for years to come.

However, the Leafs currently have a 19 year old top line centre, and in no way did they make the wrong decision selecting him.

THE TEAM IS LOSING, BLAME ANDERSEN

Again, no.

Let me give you guys a quick peek at Andersen’s stats from the 2016-17 season.

33-16-14, 2.67 GAA, .918 save percentage.

Tell me more about how Andersen is the man to blame for every single woe from the Leafs’ season.

For the last three years, the Leafs had to deal with the constant goalie controversy between Jonathan Bernier and James Reimer. Bernier would go on a run and fans would scream to trade Reimer, and vice versa.

Now they don’t have that anymore, instead a number one goalie that they can rely on to win them lots of games.

And some fans actually took it upon themselves to blame this man.

Not the fact that at one point, the Leafs had Polak, Hunwick, AND Marincin on the defensive core.

No, it’s all Andersen’s fault apparently.

Most of these comments took place in October when Andersen had his rough start to the season, but once he turned it around they began to disintegrate. Andersen put on a show through the months of November and December and maintained those numbers for the rest of the year.

Without Andersen, the Toronto Maple Leafs may not have had the success they had this year. Because of that, this idea makes the top three for me.

KADRI ISN’T A GOOD PLAYER

One more time, no.

For those who don’t get the reference, this is another debate that shouldn’t have even existed.

Kadri’s case is a funny one for sure. It almost seems like some fans begin to panic when they don’t have a designated scapegoat. It wouldn’t be surprising if fans didn’t know why they didn’t like him.

In recent memory, there’s been Dion Phaneuf, Phil Kessel, Reimer and Bernier, and now there’s Kadri.

And yes, despite the success Kadri had this year, there were still fans who moaned about him. Fans found it a bit easier to lay into him a few years ago when his point totals didn’t reflect his expectations as a seventh overall pick.

More from Editor In Leaf

Kadri led the team in points last season while focusing on his defensive game. This year, he scored 30 goals for the first time in his career and passed 60 points.

After the amount of offensive success he had this year, this thought will likely diminish.

Thanks for reading!