Experience Will Pay Off for Toronto Maple Leafs This Season

The Toronto Maple Leafs have failed to advance past the first round of the NHL Playoffs in each of the last four years.

To those who are looking for a glass that is half empty, the Toronto Maple Leafs four years of failure represents a misguided approach to team building and several missed opportunities.

To my way of thinking, these people do not have a valid point and they can be disqualified based on the fact they are upset that Mark Hunter and Lou Lamoriello have been fired from the organization.  If they won’t credit the current regime for signing all the core players, brining in the best UFA of all-time, drafting Nick Robertson and landing Joe Thornton, I truly believe they’d rather see the Leafs fail than see Kyle Dubas name on the Stanley Cup.

A more positive person would see the Last four years as a necessary part of team building.

The Toronto Maple Leafs Experience

The Leafs best player was an 18 year old rookie.  They surprisingly made the playoffs and came reasonably close to upsetting a team that would shortly go on to win the Stanley Cup.

In years two and three, the Leafs came extremely close to upsetting arguably the NHL’s model franchise for the last decade, while losing in consecutive game sevens that saw them, both times, without a suspended Nazem Kadri.

In the most recent loss, the Leafs posted a 1.9% shooting percentage at even strength, which is not something even the worst offensive team ever assembled, playing the best defensive team of all-time could hope to do in 100 tries.  It is so mathematically unlikely that its not even something you can hold against them.

Four years, four losses, but individually, not one of them was a bad loss. Three out of four of those series were against a heavy Stanley Cup favorite, and the last one featured perhaps the most unlikely occurrence in NHL playoff history.

The Toronto Maple Leafs four straight playoff losses are just experience.  Experience is something every team and player desperately needs, according to all hockey wisdom.  Even though some teams might win without it, it certainly can’t hurt.

The Toronto Maple Leafs best players are now approaching the time when they are going to have their best ever season.  They are entering their primes, and along with the experience they’ve earned so far, they are going to be full set-up to get over the hump.

Sure, any team can hit a bad streak and lose.  Being a favorite doesn’t mean you don’t have to play the games, but the Leafs couldn’t ask for a more favorable set of circumstances.