Toronto Maple Leafs Deserve a More Optimistic Fanbase

The Toronto Maple Leafs are done for the season.

The Toronto Maple Leafs lost in the first round to the Bruins, and judging from the fans I interact with, the Leafs are going nowhere fast.

The Leafs suck, and are completely on the wrong track. They’ve screwed up the rebuild and will never win anything. 

Oh do we simultaneously have about five of the best players in franchise history on our favorite team? Doesn’t matter if they don’t do every last thing I think they should do. 

The Leafs been eliminated three years in a row in the first round. (Completely ignore that two of those years were massive over-achievements so that you can complain louder). They just aren’t tough enough to win in the playoffs.  This isn’t a team that………..(pukes).

To be honest, I can’t take it anymore. It’s just whiny nonsense.  In fact, after years and years of objectively terrible teams, complaining about the Leafs right now seems like a rich guy complaining about a dent in his Mercedes, ignorant of the fact that if you own a Mercedes you aren’t allowed to complain about anything.

The Leafs have a core that includes Auston Matthews, John Tavares, Mitch Marner, William Nylander, Morgan Rielly and Freddie Andersen.

They have a secondary core of Jake Muzzin, Nazem Kadri, Jake Gardiner (for now), Andreas Johnsson, Kasperi Kapanen, Timothy Liljegren, Travis Dermott and Rasmus Sandin.

It’s an embarrassment of riches.

This should be one of the best times in franchise history.  Where is the sense of unbridled optimism that this team deserves?

Sure, there are minor complaints to make, but this team is unquestionably on the right track and we should be enjoying it a lot more.

Get a Grip

The Toronto Maple Leafs went about a decade between icing competitive teams.  For an entire generation, they trotted out loser after loser to run this team – directly into the ground.

Not only have they not won anything in 50+ years, they haven’t even come close.  They are close now.  They’ve got the best roster in the NHL, and looks like that will be the case for close to the next ten years.

Now that they actually have a solid management group, now that they have the first Generation Player to play for the team since NHL expansion, now that they have more than one star player at a time, now that they’re acting like the pillar of the NHL that they are and should be – all we get is complaining.

“This team isn’t providing every last thing I want.”  “I don’t like the GM, he’s too  young,”  “You’ll never win with X>” 

I know social media and the internet exasperates this, but I still think it’s a problem.  You watch sports to have fun.  So have fun.

Especially in light of how historically bad this team has been, I don’t get why there isn’t more excitement, just by contrast.

What more could you want from your favorite team than a collection of stars, a willingness to win, and a progressive front office devoted to not only winning, but learning?

The Toronto Maple Leafs are being run better than they ever have. They have the best President and GM in franchise history. They have the best player in franchise history (Auston Matthews) and at least five other players who qualify for the all-time list.

They’ve got the should-be Norris Winner, three or our potential Hart Trophy winners and one of the best goalies ever to wear the Blue and White.

This is the best time to have ever been a Leafs fan.  This doesn’t mean you can’t make the odd complaint.  That you can’t analyze the team objectively or get frustrated that they had their stars on ELCs for one final year and played Hainsey and Zaitsev in their top four.

But when you do these things, remember this is an awesome team and that that compared to the team’s recent history, it’s even better.

I think the Leafs just had a great season. I think they’re on the right track to eventually win.

We’ll all have a blast when they do win, but for now let’s at least enjoy the process. Its a lot more fun right now than it’s been for 20 years.