A 100% Positive Feel-Good List About the Toronto Maple Leafs
The Toronto Maple Leafs got a lot of good things going on.
The thing about writing daily about any single topic is that you find yourself being mostly negative. It makes sense, since evaluating something without being critical is just called being a fan. And make no mistake – we are fans. But there just isn’t much point of writing 500 words everyday to cheer on the team.
“God’s team, the Toronto Maple Leafs took to the ice last night in seraphic form. The beautiful blue and white gift to humanity danced through the opposition with a perfect game. Everyone was great. Mike Babcock is a genius. Rob Hainsey looks like a Norris winner. This team the best. A Stanley Cup is assured and world peace will soon follow.”
I mean it’s fun, but it’d be pretty boring to read everyday. So you gotta be critical. You have to ask the tough questions.
Questions like “What does Martin Marincin usually eat on game days, on the road, on odd-numbered dates in months that end in a Y?” And that is what I’m usually here for.
But today, just this once, I’m just going to list things I like about he Toronto Maple Leafs.
Good Stuff About the Toronto Maple Leafs
- Morgan Rielly.
I don’t really care if Morgan Rielly plays good or bad, I just like him. I honestly think he’s one of the five best defenseman in the world, and that to put up the numbers he has while paired with Ron Hainsey is one of the greatest accomplishments in recent sports history. Seriously.
But Morgan Rielly is also my son’s favorite player. He is six now, but he is in his third season of the kind of intense hero worship only a young child can pull off. My favorite player used to be Mats Sundin and now it’s Morgan Rielly, and it probably always will be. I get more of a kick out of my son’s love of hockey than I ever got from hockey itself, and so anyways, I don’t know if I even have a point here, other than at my house, Morgan Rielly might as well be Jesus.
Here are the Tanner Family Power Rankings according to my son:
- Morgan Rielly
- Santa
- Dad
I am OK with that, but mostly just because everything he says is so funny. He refers to Rielly as “My boy Rielly” and when I told him that someone I work with might get to interview Rielly, he said, in the most serious tone possible: “Do you think he would mind telling him that I’m his number-one fan?”
2. The Leafs have…..
Morgan Rielly, Auston Matthews, John Tavares, Nazem Kadri, Frederick Andersen, Jake Gardiner, Mitch Marner and William Nylander. And Kasperi Kapanen, Travis Dermott and Andreas Johnsson.
Healthy and signed, it’s the best roster in the NHL.
Also having Nylander, Mattews and Marner all enter the league at once is something like when the Atlanta Braves had Tom Glavine, Greg Maddux and John Smoltz all at once. As that guy in the milk ad says “Boys, it doesn’t get any better than this.”
3. Auston Matthews
You get so used to things you forget that the Leafs have never had a player you could reasonably say was one of the top three players in the NHL. At least not since the league expanded beyond six teams. For a franchise that has no post expansion Stanley Cups, no appearance in the Final, no Hart Trophy winner and no scoring title winner, we should never forget Auston Matthews is on the Leafs. If someone says Connor McDavid is better, just punch them in the face.*
4. A real chance at the Stanley Cup
The Leafs are currently keeping pace with the best teams in the NHL despite missing Auston Matthews, William Nylander and the upgrades to their lineup I can 100% guarantee they are going to make later in the season. (i.e trading firsts and futures to make this into a super team).
A team that plays Ron Hainsey in it’s top four is arguably the best team in the NHL. Let that sink in.
dark. Next. Norris Trophy Possibilities
There is still lots of other good stuff about the Toronto Maple Leafs – they’re fun to watch most nights and they give you something to cheer about. After years of being terrible, it’s a really, really enjoyable time to be a Leafs fan. Tomorrow I’ll find something new to complain about, but today it’s all good.
*I’m kidding. (You should karate kick them instead. )