The Toronto Maple Leafs had a pretty disappointing season.
The Toronto Maple Leafs began their season with Mick Babcock at the helm, despite every indication that he was not the right coach for the team after last year’s loss to Boston.
The critics proved to be right, as Babcock had clearly lost the team and the room. The Leafs stumbled – with an injured roster – and it culminated in a six game losing streak that saw Babcock fired.
The Leafs entered this season with hopes to compete for a Stanley Cup and some of the highest expectations that the franchise has seen in years. Those expectations were not met, but my hypothesis is that the team faced a series of events, which, taken individually each would be easily labeled as unlucky, but when taken together, paint an unflattering portrait of a team.
This unflattering portrait has been the basis for every member of the hockey media with an axe to grind or a story to sell to pile on. I believe, however, that the Toronto Maple Leafs remain one of the NHL’s elite teams, and that the future remains very bright for them.
In the following paragraphs, I am going to outline why I believe that the Leafs deserve the benefit of the doubt, and that they will be one of the NHL’s best teams whenever next season begins.
Despite this year’s negative results, the Toronto Maple Leafs still have the NHL’s best roster, and do not need many (if any) changes heading into next season to have a reasonable shot at the Stanley Cup.