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Winning 1 Round Doesn’t Matter For Toronto Maple Leafs: It’s Cup or Bust

By Stephen Nixon |
WINNIPEG, MANITOBA - OCTOBER 4: Forwards Auston Matthews #34 and forward Mitchell Marner #16 of the Toronto Maple Leafs congratulate goaltender Frederik Andersen #31 after defeating the Winnipeg Jets during NHL action on October 4, 2017 at the Bell MTS Place in Winnipeg, Manitoba. (Photo by Jason Halstead /Getty Images)
WINNIPEG, MANITOBA - OCTOBER 4: Forwards Auston Matthews #34 and forward Mitchell Marner #16 of the Toronto Maple Leafs congratulate goaltender Frederik Andersen #31 after defeating the Winnipeg Jets during NHL action on October 4, 2017 at the Bell MTS Place in Winnipeg, Manitoba. (Photo by Jason Halstead /Getty Images)

The Toronto Maple Leafs will have to wait another year to lift the Stanley Cup for the first time since 1967.

Unlucky is a great word to describe how the Toronto Maple Leafs series went against the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Freddie Andersen played great, the Leafs got a number of chances on net but they couldn’t score.

I know it’s not fair to give this team a pass because they had a lot more expected goals than Columbus, because those numbers don’t matter.

All that matters is whether or not you scored more goals than the other team and the fact they didn’t is extremely disappointing.

However, at the same time, should we really be upset that the team lost in the qualifying series?

It’s Stanley Cup or Bust for the Toronto Maple Leafs

In my opinion, and it should be the same for the Toronto Maple Leafs, if you don’t win the Stanley Cup it’s not a successful season.

The goal for every franchise and every player is to win the Stanley Cup.

If you lose in the first round or the Stanley Cup Finals, who cares?

Every player is not going to get significantly better the more playoff games they play. Sure, the games get more intense and the moment gets bigger, but Auston Matthews’ game isn’t going to get better if he plays 10 more playoff games every year.

The only thing that should matter is winning the Stanley Cup and there isn’t this linear path that leads to success.

It doesn’t work the way that many people think it does. The thought has always been that there should be slow growth before a team wins. For example, you win one round to gain experience, then you win two or three rounds, followed by a Stanley Cup Finals appearance and then you’re able to win the Stanley Cup.

That doesn’t happen, ever. A team typically just breaks out of their funk and then all of sudden wins the Stanley Cup.

Let’s look look at three examples of teams that won the Stanley Cup in the past decade.

Boston Bruins – 2011 Stanley Cup Champions

  • Last Stanley Cup: 1971-72 season
  • Bruins had not made it past the second round of playoffs since 1993
  • Best players were:
    • David Krejci (24 years old), Patrice Bergeron (25 years old), Brad Marchand (22 years old) Nathan Horton (25 years old) and Zdeno Chara (33 years old)

Los Angeles Kings – 2012 Stanley Cup Champions

  • Zero Stanley Cup Championships in franchise history
  • Kings had only advanced past the first round once since 1993
  • Best players were:
    • Dustin Brown (26 years old), Anze Kopitar (24 years old), Drew Doughty (21 years old), Mike Richards (26 years old), Jeff Carter (26 years old) and Jonathan Quick (25 years old)

Washington Capitals – 2018 Stanley Cup Champions

  • Zero Stanley Cup Championships in franchise history
  • Capitals had not advanced past second round of playoffs since 1998
  • Best players were:
    • Alex Ovechkin (31 years old), Evgeny Kuznetsov (25 years old), Nicklas Backstrom (29 years old), TJ Oshie (30 years old), John Carlson (27 years old) and Braden Holtby (27 years old)

If you look at all three of those teams that won the Stanley Cup, there’s a number of things in common.

The best players are older than you would think and the franchise had zero success in roughly 20 years.

To compare these teams to the Leafs, Toronto has had even more success than these franchises in the past few decades. The Leafs have made the Conference Finals four times since 1993 and the Leafs best players are:

  • Auston Matthews (22 years old), Mitch Marner (23 years old), John Tavares (29 years old), William Nylander (24 years old), Morgan Rielly (26 years old) and Freddie Andersen (30 years old)

The Capitals, Kings and Bruins all had zero playoff success before winning a Stanley Cup, so as you can see, it doesn’t matter if the Leafs walk before they run.

I truly believe the Toronto Maple Leafs will win the Stanley Cup with this core and when it happens, it’s going to happen fast.

Don’t get discouraged yet Leafs Nation. This team is still so young and they’re at the beginning of a five-year window of winning.

dark. Next. We're in the Golden Era for Toronto Sports

A Stanley Cup will happen, eventually.

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