The Toronto Maple Leafs are the hockey equivalent of the Chicago Cubs.
In 2016, Pierre LeBrun wrote a post for ESPN discussing that the Toronto Maple Leafs could be the NHL’s Chicago Cubs. It’s very hard to disagree with LeBrun. Since the Cubs won the World Series, the Toronto Maple Leafs have done a number of changes to improve their odds of being the next dynasty.
The history of the Toronto Maple Leafs reminds me a lot of the history of the Chicago Cubs. The Cubs just like the Maple Leafs were in a championship drought for many years. In the case of the Cubs, they hired an exceptional VP of Baseball Operations by the name of Theo Epstein, who understood the importance of advanced statistics when evaluating talent.
In his days prior to Cubbies, he spent time alongside baseball historian, Bill James, who taught him the importance of looking at stats like OBP and SLG.
In October of 2011, the Cubs hired former Boston Red Sox general manager, Epstein to run baseball operations. In Epstein’s tenure with the Red Sox, he was able to end their own World Series drought.
Epstein’s new goal was to bring the same success that he had in Boston to Chicago and Cubs nation.
In January of 2012, Epstein made a trade with the San Diego Padres for Anthony Rizzo. Rizzo was a former Boston Red Sox prospect, who Epstein had selected in the 2007 MLB Draft. Epstein had previously dealt Rizzo in 2010 to the Padres to obtain all-star first baseman, Adrian Gonzalez.
Even though Rizzo struggled in his first season in the majors with the Padres, he turned it around when he got to Chicago. His OBP and SLG percentages increased significantly when he came to Chicago. It’s as if all Rizzo needed was to throw on a Cubs jersey and stare at the ivy at Wrigley Field.
In July of 2012, Epstein traded Canadian starting pitcher, Ryan Dempster to the Texas Rangers. In exchange, he received Kyle Hendricks and Christian Villanueva. Epstein didn’t know it yet, but Hendricks would eventually become one of the strongest pitchers in his staff. This was one of many trades that Epstein made in his first full season in Chicago, but it was one of the most significant.
In the 2013 MLB Draft, Epstein drafted Kris Bryant with the second pick in the first round. For Toronto Maple Leafs fans, you can consider drafting Bryant as special as draft Auston Matthews. The Cubs really lucked out with Bryant as the first overall pick in the MLB Draft was a complete bust. The Houston Astros selected Mark Appel, a right-handed pitcher out of Stanford.
Just imagine if the Astros selected Bryant. The Cubs might have never won the World Series.
It turned out that selecting Bryant was a great move by the Cubs front office. In 2015, his first season in the majors, he slugged home 26 home runs, 99 RBI and a line of .275/.369/.858. His spectacular first season in the majors didn’t go unnoticed. He was awarded the Rookie of the Year for the National League and attended his first all-star game.
In the off-season after the 2014 season, Epstein showed the globe that he wasn’t messing around. He hired former Tampa Bay Rays manager, Joe Maddon. Maddon is one of the most respected managers in the MLB and even though he couldn’t get the Rays a World Series win, he came very close.
In 2008, Maddon brought the Rays all the way to the World Series, but they faced a tough defeat as they lost to the Philadelphia Phillies. While Maddon hadn’t had the thrill of hoisting the World Series trophy over his head in Tampa, he knew exactly what it would take to have that success in the north side of Chicago.
He reminds me a lot of Mike Babcock. Both coaches are highly respected and know exactly what it takes to win games. In addition, they both had success in smaller markets prior to coming to bit cities like Chicago or Toronto.
In addition to Maddon, Epstein brought Jon Lester to town. Lester was the big kahuna for the Cubs. In early December of 2014, it was as if every team wanted Lester. If you had to draw a direct comparison to the Maple Leafs, it was very similar to the negotiations for John Tavares.
Many teams were fighting for his services and looking to pay top dollar to bring the left-handed ace to their franchise.
Epstein gave Lester a big contract and awarded him a 6-year contract worth 155 million USD. He knew what Lester was capable of after watching him for many years at Fenway Park and Epstein knew that Lester could bring the same magic to Wrigley.
In July of 2016, Epstein made a trade with the New York Yankees to land Aroldis Chapman. Chapman is one of the elite relievers/closers in baseball. He can throw around 100 mph fastballs consistently and seems to be as dangerous as former elite relievers including Trevor Hoffman and Mariano Rivera.
Epstein knew that he had to have a strong anchor in his bullpen to ensure that the Cubs can win close games down the stretch.
While it’s hard to draw a direct comparison to the Toronto Maple Leafs, I don’t believe that the Maple Leafs have acquired their “Chapman” yet. Just remember that Epstein made that trade close to the deadline, perhaps, Dubas pulls off a similar move at this season’s deadline.
In early November of 2016, the Cubs finally ended their drought. They defeated the Cleveland Indians in the 10th inning of game 7. The Cubs beat the Indians by a final score of 8-7. The victory over the Indians allowed the Cubs to lift the World Series trophy for the very first time since 1908. It took them 108 years.
The drought was the longest in baseball history.
The Toronto Maple Leafs
An 8 hour drive east of Chicago, the Toronto Maple Leafs are looking to end the longest Stanley Cup drought in NHL history. The last time that the Maple Leafs won the Stanley Cup was the 1966-67 season. The Maple Leafs had defeated the Montreal Canadiens in 6 games and won the series 4-2.
Hopefully, the Toronto Maple Leafs are finished suffering. Kyle Dubas made one of the biggest free agent signings in NHL history with John Tavares. Dubas’ predecessor, Lou Lamoriello drafted Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner. With the three of them and William Nylander, the Maple Leafs look prime to end the cup drought and become the NHL’s newest dynasty.
Just like Epstein, Dubas also loves advanced stats. In February of 2015, Corey Masisak of NHL.com wrote a post on Dubas and his feeling on utilizing advanced stats in ice hockey. Masiask had attended a conference at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in which Dubas spoke at about analytics.
In his talk, Dubas explained that utilizing stats paved the way for his success with the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds. He mentioned that the Toronto Maple Leafs understood what he was able to accomplish in the OHL and wanted to replicate that success at the NHL level.
While Epstein and Dubas are two different people, he does share the same love of analytics and stats that Epstein has. With Dubas running the team, the Toronto Maple Leafs can have the same success as the Chicago Cubs and the Boston Red Sox did. Hopefully, this is the year that the Maple Leafs can win and show the world that they truly are as special as the Cubs.
Stats courtesy of baseball-reference.com
Research courtesy of mlb.com