Why the Toronto Maple Leafs Will Easily Dispatch the Canadiens
1979. That was the last time the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Montreal Canadiens met in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
When Gary Bettman and the league’s office settled on an all-Canadian division as their path forward to completing a 2020-21 season, you would be hard-pressed to find a Toronto Maple Leafs or Montreal Canadiens fan that was not hoping for this matchup ever since puck drop on the night of January 13th.
And for the first time in 42 years, two-thirds of the Original Six franchises are destined for one heck-of-a first-round war. But the 56-game process as to how these two teams got to this point could not be more contrary.
After leading the division for 106 of 116 total days, the postseason was never in doubt for Canada’s most well-rounded team.
After the rebuilding of their battered blueline in the offseason, the Toronto Maple Leafs had all the makings of a contender, and even in the face of inconsistent goaltending, the mentality Sheldon Keefe has instilled unto his roster has proven just as important as the personnel added along the way.
Veterans like Joe Thornton, Wayne Simmonds, and Zach Bogosian were brought in to use their big personalities and leadership attributes to change the aura surrounding the Matthews-Marner-Nylander core.
Doubling down on the fantastic start of his team, GM Kyle Dubas continued to add to the ‘Former Captaincy Club’, bringing in Nick Foligno to follow in his father’s footsteps.
This team has the chance to do something special. And their path to get here has been filled with expectations just like that. But their counterpart cannot say the same. An incredible 7-1-2 start in the team’s first 10 games had Montrealers locking in a Canadiens vs. Avalanche Stanley Cup final, but the fall from grace was hard and sudden.
A 2-4-2 stretch cost head coach Claude Julien, assistant coach Kirk Muller, and goaltending coach Stéphane Waite their jobs, but with Dominque Ducharme promoted to interim man-in-charge, the Habs were still unable to overcome some severe roster inefficiencies.
Finishing off the season 17-20-9 has set up a collision course between the two most storied franchises in the NHL, and fans are salivating at the potential of a mammoth first-round series.
But as the 18 point standings chasm would show, there remains a sizable gap between the Leafs and the Canadiens and ultimately, this series may end up featuring two teams in different classes entirely for three specific reasons.