The Toronto Maple Leafs are on the sidelines watching the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
The Boston Bruins defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs in seven games back in round one. Now they are sitting around waiting to find out who their opponent will be for the Finals, after sweeping the Carolina Hurricanes in the Conference Finals.
For the Leafs and their fans, there is but one thing to think: It could have been us.
And it could have. Easily.
But that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. In fact, I’d argue it’s a great thing.
Toronto Maple Leafs on the Right Track
I’ve never once used the annoying phrase “The Shanaplan” because I despite puns, portmanteaus, word combinations and catchphrases. Like, I hate them worse than I hate my arch enemy, Brian Adams.
But, I have to say, the “Shanaplan” is working wonderfully.
The Toronto Maple Leafs are on the right track. Everything they’ve been building is working out, and with a little luck, they’d be the ones sitting around waiting to play for the Cup.
The Leafs and Bruins was a coin-flip series. Before it started, neither team was a favorite. The rosters are close, the goalies are close, etc.
The Leafs outplayed the Bruins at 5v5. That’s the goal of any hockey game, because special teams are pretty much random. The Bruins scored seven PP goals in seven games, a pace that is unsustainable. Had it been a best of nine, the Leafs 5v5 edge would likely have asserted itself.
(All stats from naturalstattrick.com).
But Boston scoring 4 more special teams goals than Toronto over seven games is a huge fluke. Even if the Leafs intentionally tried to be bad on special teams that probably wouldn’t happen. Given the personnel of the Leafs power-play, it’s a million to one shot.
Andersen had a bit of a rough game seven.
Marleau played too much. (He shouldn’t have been playing at all).
Gardiner and Dermott were so banged up that they shouldn’t have been playing either.
Mitch Marner was pretty much invisible. ( 1 5v5 point in seven games, 48% CF).
Kadri was suspended.
I could go on. The fact is, the Bruins barely beat the Leafs, and to do so there were like a half a dozen things that happened that almost never would. The Leafs deserved to win, and they got unlucky.
So we can look at where the Bruins are and feel a bit crappy about it. That’s fine. It’s human nature.
But don’t spend time being angry when this is, in fact, a great thing. The Leafs are on the upswing. This is the first year of a competitive window that should be a decade long.
They could have easily been going to the Finals, without changing anything. This summer will see changes, but they’ll still have Tavares, Matthews, Marner, Nylander, Rielly, Muzzin and Andersen.
Next year, they could win. They should enter the season as the favorites to do so. They’ve got the best roster in the NHL, and they’ve got some top-notch prospects.
Yeah, it could have been us. But that’s a good thing. In four years, Shanahan built a Cup Contender. If he’d just been a bit lucky, it could have been a Cup winner.
Regardless, the Toronto Maple Leafs are building something special and are 100% on the right track. It’s crazy to think that if Kadri had just one ounce of self control, the Leafs could easily have went from last place to Cup Winner in the three years of Auston Matthews’ ELC.