Toronto Maple Leafs: Let Basketball Have Its Moment

The Toronto Maple Leafs are doing things.

It’s exciting, right? Possibly even downright thrilling. Nothing gets those offseason rumour juices flowing quite like the signing rights to Fedor Gordeev, a late-round prospect who probably won’t make it, being traded for what is essentially the opportunity next year to draft another late-round prospect who, one day, probably won’t make it, either.

Catch the fever!

In all seriousness, the past 72 hours have been a whirlwind in Leaf Land.

From Mitch Marner reportedly preparing to flirt with other NHL teams despite technically still being a Maple Leaf, to Nikita Zaitsev‘s trade request, to indications that Kyle Dubas has been engaging in active trade discussions with the Los Angeles Kings which centre around Patrick Marleau, the news cycle lately has been unrelenting.

On the surface, this seems fine. Why wouldn’t it?

Given how hilariously irrelevant this year’s Stanley Cup Final has been (seriously, is anyone in Canada actually watching this?) and the sheer unlikeability of its black-and-yellow-clad participants (no, it’s not gold. It’s yellow) rumours swirling around the most visible team in hockey are pretty much the last remaining form of content which can easily be translated into guaranteed clicks. Everyone needs to make money, after all. And, at this point, “Hour 15 of the Mitch Marner Watch™” is what puts bread on the table.

How can you argue with that? As someone who happens to run a Leafs site, I certainly can’t.

That is, until I saw this.

Listen, I love Stephen A Smith. I really do. This delightful Muppet of man is the most meme-able human on earth at the moment; a never-ceasing content machine whose very aura has since redefined the concept of the “viral rant” by packaging his scream-laden opinions into easily digestible clips, which are then tweeted out from the accounts of three different television and radio shows every single day.

The guy works his tail off. He’s entertaining. And that, if nothing else, deserves respect.

As for Stephen A’s actual opinions, though? Yeah, those I’m less enthused about.

That being said, our ideologies still manage to align on occasion. And listening to Stephen A – who, as an American, has a completely fresh perspective on all of this – ask an audience of Canadians this week why SportCentre continues to trot hockey out as its leading story while the Raptors take part in their first-ever NBA Final at the same time, and seem completely perplexed by the whole thing, really struck a chord.

He’s right. Straight up. There’s no arguing it.

The Maple Leafs have not played an actual hockey game in well over a month. Their last contest, as you’ll likely recall, was about as soul-crushing a defeat as humanly possible.

Why are we still talking about this? What is the point?

Rumours, you say? Those are cool. Maybe even “rad”, as the kids say. But here’s the thing: Marner will not sign his inevitable extension when you wake up tomorrow. He won’t do it the day after, either. Or the day after that, or the day after that, even the day after that. Recent reports (which seem to have come straight from one particular horse’s mouth, by the way) have done nothing except lead us to believe that the Marner camp fully intends on pushing this thing past July 1st.

For what purpose? Heck if I know (though I do have some less-than-flattering theories). Nevertheless, Marner is all but guaranteed to stand pat until, at the very least, when the June 26th RFA interview window opens in 24 days.

The point I’m sloppily trying to make here is that Marner’s situation is not imminent. Like, at all.

Sure, both Kyle Dubas and Darren Ferris will inevitably convene multiple times over the coming month, which will then be reported with the gusto of a national emergency. But the odds of those two actually exiting one of their preliminary meetings with a fully-formed contract agreement are about as high as my parents ever truly respecting me.

(Which is to say; not high)

Okay, that may be true, but the Patrick Marleau rumour is juicy, right? It sure is, fellow reader. It sure is. Only, Marleau is due for a $3 million signing bonus of actual, real-life money on July 1st. And while that might not seem like a whole lot when observed through Leafs-coloured glasses, a cool $3 million is actually a pretty significant sum of cash to almost every other NHL organization not under MLSE control.

What does this mean? Many things, the most important of which boils down to “don’t hold your breath for actual trade news until after Marleau cashes that cheque”. Which, by my calculations, won’t be for another *checks notes* 28 days.

Again; not imminent.

Frankly, the only move you should really be waiting for with bated breath is Zaitsev’s, and even his departure will likely be a slow burn as well thanks to the reported mutual intent on both sides to land Zaitsev and his family in as optimal a destination as possible.

What’s the rush here? Sure, Zaitsev’s NMC kicks in on July 1st – carrying a 10-team no-trade list, per CapFriendly – but if Dubas is indeed facilitating this move in conjunction with Zaitsev’s agent, a trade to one of those ten aforementioned “no teams” probably wouldn’t be on the table in the first place.

Case in point; relax. Barring any unforeseen occurrences, things are going to be pretty quiet around the Leafs for the next little bit, if you let them.

Do you want to know what won’t be quiet, though? Jurrasic Park. And not simply the Jurassic Park. Rather, the 36 (!!!!!) Jurrasic Parks popping up in cities all across Canada recently, some having drawn as many as 20,000 fans per night all to watch the Toronto Raptors bring home the country’s first ever NBA title.

That’s pretty cool if you ask me. Certainly a heck of a lot cooler than mindlessly regurgitating the same baseless qualms fed to the media by a showboating super agent and a GTHL hockey dad whose normal quirks have since gone Super Saiyan.

Let basketball have the moment it has unquestionably earned. Please.

This seven-game series is an opportunity for the city of Toronto. A potentially once-in-a-lifetime chance for fans to free themselves from the ever-spinning anxiety cycle ingrained deep within them by their blue-and-white boogeyman and become immersed in the euphoria of victory, instead. After the year that was, they need it. Badly. From October and beyond, this entire city has been at war over any number of ridiculous (and ultimately irrelevant) Leafs topics. And yet, it’s the Raptors, miraculously enough, whose current playoff run has seemingly done the impossible and brought them back together.

DO NOT RUIN THIS. 

Just be cool. Allow Canada to enjoy this run. Allow fans – young or old –  to develop a newfound love of basketball that may very well end up enriching their lives moving forward.

And if that’s too much to ask, at the very least, PLEASE don’t embarrass us in front of Stephen A.

Thanks for reading!