The Toronto Maple Leafs are on the verge of their first playoff victory in 17 years.
Though Joe Thornton was already nearing retirement age back then, most of the rest of the Toronto Maple Leafs current roster was between three and ten years old.
It was a classic Battle of Ontario, with the Ottawa Senators taking the 103 point Leafs to game seven before bowing out.
The team disappointingly lost in the second round, and yet that remains the most recent tasting of success this team has had. (some info from wikipedia).
Toronto Maple Leafs in 2004
The 2004 Leafs were supposed to win the Stanley Cup. They had, over the past five years under Pat Quinn, now just the coach, made the Conference Finals twice. Losing to Buffalo and Carolina.
They had a deep, impressive roster and padded it at the deadline in anticipation of glory. Unfortunately, it was the last gasp of a veteran team, and then the next year was cancelled, all but closing the window to win on the Mats Sundin era.
The team returned from the lockout with no plan, and no ability to operate in the new landscape. It took five lousy GMs (JFJ, Cliff Fletcher Brian Burke, Dave Nonis, Lou Lamoriello) in the interim, but the team finally gave the keys to Kyle Dubas and are now looking at erasing the last 17 years from the collective memories of their fan base.
The Leafs this year were led by Mats Sundin, Ed Belfour, Brian McCabe, Tomas Kaberle, Joe Nieuwendyk, Gary Roberts, and Alex Mogilny. They added Ron Francis and Brian Leetch at the deadline. They were primed for glory.
Then they lost to the Flyers in six games. The Flyers had two less points in the regular season, but won their division and had home-ice advantage. They beat the Leafs and it was the end of an era.
Leetch, Francis, Mogiliny, Nieuwendyk and Roberts all left. The team took a year off as the Penguins drafted Crosby, the Capitals drafted Ovechkin and for some reason Mario Lemiuex returned to the league.
When the 2005-06 began, shoot-outs were now a thing, the NHL had a new best player, and the Leafs were old, slow and done. They missed the playoffs on the last day, and basically began a decade of failure that would culminate in the drafting of Auston Matthews.
It was worth it just for that. The Toronto Maple Leafs will look to exorcise those demons tonight.