The Toronto Maple Leafs Are Too Good To Focus on Grit

The Toronto Maple Leafs have better things to do than avenge every injustice.

Have you ever heard of the phrase, “is this the hill you want to die on?” I sure have.

As life gradually shifts more and more online with each passing day, abiding by this mantra is downright required in order to combat the host of trolls and harassment mongers to have risen up in its wake.

The Detroit Red Wings, for example, are the NHL’s version of a troll.

Just think about it. Their existence is miserable.

Prior to Thursday night’s meeting with the Leafs, the Wings slumped into Scotiabank Arena sitting in the bottom third of the league standings with no measurable talent on their roster, a lame duck coach behind the bench, and a discernable lack of guidance permeating their front office. And not only that, but they now had to face a team in the Leafs who embody the polar opposite of each of their respective flaws.

The Leafs are in second place. Their roster is littered with superstars, guided to the NHL by a bountiful farm system which was served as the brainchild of their cutting-edge general manager. Those superstars, by the way, are overseen by a universally respected coach who, four years ago, turned down Detroit’s own money in favour of Toronto’s.

If you’re the Red Wings, it would be hard not to be jealous of the Leafs. It’s just human nature. So, what do jealous, insecure, and belittled people do to their more successful counterparts?

They troll them, of course.

Enter Niklas Kronwall.

Watching Kronwall lay a dirty hit on Auston Matthews is a lot like when an egg avatar on Twitter goes after Chrissy Teigen for feeding her child some actual human food and not the 100% free-range, non-GMO, flavour reduced drivel she apparently should be.

Chrissy Teigen is a best-selling author, model, and internationally renowned celebrity. Her life is pretty great. That egg avatar, on the other hand, is almost certainly some guy named Gary who lives in Delaware and uses his Twitter account as his only source of attention.

Now, Chrissy Teigen is not going to add someone to her payroll whose sole job is to eviscerate all the Garys from Deleware that troll her online. That just wouldn’t make any sense.

Ninety-nine per cent of the time, Chrissy ignores Gary because, if you can believe it, she just so happens to have an infinitely-long list of better things to do with her time. Although, on the off chance she actually feels inclined to respond, Chrissy herself dunks on her critics harder and more viciously than anyone in her employ ever could.

What I’m trying to say here is: Auston Matthews and, by extension, the Leafs as a whole have better things to do with their cap space than use it on someone to go after all the Kronwalls of the world.

This is why it confused me to see a number of fans rise up in anger following Thursday’s hit and declare the Leafs as soft for not having the stones to beat the living snot out of Kronwall in response.

Do you know what the Leafs do have, though? A top-five NHL power play. One that was doing fine on its own and just added William Nylander into the mix. And do you know what type of response Kronwall received for his hit? A penalty.

Funny how that works.

Is seeing Ron Hainsey get in a cuddle fight with Kronwall that ultimately goes nowhere and accomplishes nothing but snuff out his own team’s odds of gaining the man advantage up your alley? Or would you rather watch Matthews rifle the puck past whichever fruitless goalie the Wings opted to trot out that night and spur the Leafs to victory?

I know which one I’d choose. And I have a feeling Mike Babcock would probably do the same.

At the end of the day, this team is too good to merely waste its time on the trolls who see attacking the Leafs as their only shot at relevance. This isn’t about toughness or “sending a message”. This is about using your brain.

Because, when you boil it all down, few things in hockey are tougher than winning. And the Leafs seem to do that a heck of a lot more than others.

Thanks for reading!