There are certainly more than a few things to be thankful for when it comes to the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Americans do Thanksgiving better than Canadians. That’s just a fact.
Thanksgiving south of the border is arguably looked upon as a more important celebration than Christmas. The meals are bigger, the tables more populated, and everyone gets a day off work to watch 11 straight hours of football.
So, just because I happen to live in Canada, that does not bar me from participating in the finest version of Thanksgiving around.
Here are a few Leafs-related things that I’m thankful for.
John Tavares
Lost amidst the monotonous grind of an 82-game season is the reality of just how ridiculous it is that John Tavares is a Toronto Maple Leaf. For the next 7 years, too.
Think about it, for a moment. Tavares is one of the world’s 15 best players in the sport. He’s a thoroughly unique talent, one who routinely performs at an elite level on the ice and yet carries himself like a depth piece off of it.
Without Tavares, the Leafs are floundering in their current state. His presence has allowed them to withstand the month-long absence of Auston Matthews – another top-15 player in the world – without so much as a hitch. Tavares singlehandedly propped his team up for the entirety of his stay on The Island to moderate results. Now, we’re seeing the full extent of what he can do alongside quality teammates.
And that full extent happens to take shape in first place in the NHL standings.
Tavares didn’t have to come to Toronto. He could have chugged along with the Islanders, signing for a longer term and at a higher cap hit. But he didn’t. Instead, he came home, emboldened by visions of Cup parades dancing in his head.
That, if nothing else, should make you thankful.
Ron Hainsey
Hear me out.
No, Ron Hainsey is not a particularly good defenceman. At least, not anymore and at the NHL level. But for what the 39-year-olds lacks in on-ice proficiency, he more than makes up for in his service as a conversation piece.
Namely, Hainsey’s presence and ensuing struggles have given Leafs fans a target – one at which they can direct their hate and who, thankfully, has absolutely nothing to do with William Nylander.
That should not be taken for granted.
When illustrating a similar point, Steve Dangle frequently brings up the 2010-era Vancouver Canucks as the foremost case study in hatred misplacement and I, for one, could not agree with him more.
Those Canucks teams were good. So good, in fact, that fans were essentially left without an outlet for their hate. And a fan base with nothing to hate, by definition, is not actually a fan base.
So, with a dearth of options, they turned to Mason Raymond.
Or, turned on Mason Raymond, I guess.
Funnily enough, Raymond, at the time, was a perfectly fine hockey player. He more or less maintained a 20-goal pace year to year, performed admirably given his role, and, above all else, did not actively hamper his team.
But not to Canucks fans. When looked upon through the context of a roster so overfull with talent, Raymond quickly morphed into the closest thing Vancouver could get to a hateable figure and, so, that’s exactly what he became.
These Leafs are a lot like the 2010-era Canucks. They’re dominant, a team with few gaping holes to invite ridicule. Toronto, as a hockey market, needs something, anything, to hate. Last year’s sacrificial lamb was Roman Polak. This time, it’s Hainsey.
And without him, your hate would have nowhere to go. Be thankful that it does.
Maple Leafs Sports & Entertainment
Ah, our corporate overlords. Praise be.
My thankfulness to MLSE does not stem from the fact that they’ve implanted me onto this website to work as a Capitalistic shill. No, my thankfulness is tied directly to the company’s ability to straight up print money and, therefore, allow their sports commodities to sign really good players.
This Leafs team would not take its current shape without the financial might of MLSE.
In hockey, a sport where organizations often struggle to find ways of simply paying players to play for them (*cough* Ottawa *cough*) the Leafs are a rare example of one that can actually pay players not to play for them and have the decision register nary a blip on their bottom line.
Where would this team be were they forced to continue paying Dion Phaneuf an excess of $7 million until the end of time? Where would they be if the Island never existed and Stephane Robidas was nothing other than $3 million in dead cap space? Where would they be with David Clarkson still clogging up the books?
I’ll tell you. There’s no Tavares. No Patrick Marleau. No financial flexibility whatsoever. And if you think all the salary talk surrounding Nylander is overblown now, just imagine how it would be in a real cap crunch.
Sure, the tickets are overpriced. And the food is assuredly 3x its market value. But without a money printing machine overseeing the bigger picture, the Leafs organization would not be given the bevvy of advantages which have them placed currently on the edge of contention.
Auston Matthews
He’s so good. I’m thankful for Papi, always.
Thanks for reading and happy Thanksgiving!