The current Toronto Maple Leafs core of players are heading into their fourth playoff series against the Columbus Blue Jackets in just over a week.
With 3 playoff series losses, the Toronto Maple Leafs should surely have obtained the mindset needed to succeed in the playoff atmosphere.
With two heartbreaking game 7 losses to the Boston Bruins and a loss to the Washington Capitals, the playoff failure in the past should have fans more confident in the success of the future.
As Denis Waitley once said, “Failure should be our teacher, not our undertaker. Failure is delay, not defeat.”
Toronto Maple Leafs Playoff Optimism
For the Leafs players, I am optimistic that they have improved upon their past undertakings and have bridged their failures into learning moments.
There is rarely any teams that win the Stanely Cup without undergoing a certain level of adversity. The Toronto Maple Leafs certainly aren’t an exception to this.
Take the Washington Capitals for example. The entire core group of players had been together an entire decade before winning the cup in 2018. They lost to the Pittsburgh Penguins 3 times in the Crosby-Ovechkin era before beating the Penguins then and winning the cup.
With The Last Dance airing recently, many have embarked upon all-time great Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls not winning a championship until six years into Jordan’s NBA career.
Just think, even an all-time legend didn’t have success until years after he began his career. The questions that surrounded Jordan and the Bulls are the same questions surrounding the Leafs today. Many people ask the questions, “are they not built for the playoffs?” or “Will they ever be able to get past the first round?”.
Even with the bumps at the beginning of Jordan’s career, he was still able to win an insane amount of championships. After the first win, came countless successes for Jordan and the Bulls.
Experience
The Leafs are only on their fourth year with the current core group, success is still within reach.
For the first time in the history of this version of the Leafs, they are facing a team that has less experience than they do.
Unlike the Bruins or Capitals, the Blue Jackets are a young team with a lighter amount of playoff experience, similar to the Leafs in this matter.
Most of the core players on each team have played a similar amount of playoff games throughout their careers. Making playoff experience a nonfactor in this series. Both teams are among the youngest in the league.
Fans
Could there be less pressure on the Toronto Maple Leafs with no fans in the building?
Well as the Leafs are definitely known to choke in game 7s at TD Garden, the Leafs will benefit from not having that opportunity.
Instead, they will be playing in their home rink with no fans in the building.
For the Toronto Maple Leafs the center of the hockey universe there is an immense level of pressure on them to perform, more than any other team in the league.
This pressure can be either a positive thing or a negative thing for the Leafs depending on which way you look at it. But this year’s playoffs with no fans may relieve some of the excess pressure on the team and allow the players to have a clearer mindset.
Hosting
Does being the host city make a difference?
As far as the Leafs hosting the playoffs in Toronto, it’s hard to pinpoint too many advantages for them other than the familiarity factor.
The only things you may account for is the Leafs players probably have the best idea of where to order food from around town and where the facilities are located. However, this doesn’t amount to a game-changing difference in itself.
There is a possibility that the Leafs players will settle in faster than the other teams forced to fly in, but after a couple of days, this won’t make a difference for anyone.
Takeaway
With the extra experience under the their belt, the Toronto Maple Leafs should be better fit to succeed under playoff circumstances than ever before.
Unlike playing the best leadership group in hockey, the young Leafs will be tasked with facing another one of the younger teams in the league.
Without fans in the building and playing in the home rink at the same time, this could prove to be mildly beneficial for the Leafs going into this year’s playoff format.
There are plenty of small ramifications that may be positives for the Leafs in this year’s playoffs compared in previous years.