The Toronto Maple Leafs lost to the Montreal Canadiens in games five, six and seven, bowing out of the playoffs in the first round, yet again.
Angry, disappointed and throwing away all common sense while giving into their emotions, many Toronto Maple Leafs fans have been calling the last few days for an end to the Brenden Shanhan era, or an end to the Kyle Dubas era.
As ridiculous as calls to fire either executive are, nothing tops the horrendous idea of trading Mitch Marner. Lucky for those of us who enjoy having a good team, cooler heads are prevailing.
Those wanting change, might see some surprising moves this summer, but if you want a new regime, you’re gonna need a new time because firing Dubas or Shanahan?
Board Makes the Right Call
Easy answers never work out, and nothing could be easier than succumbing to the pressure of the old-school fans, and the dinosaurs who make up the anonymous executive club.
The laughably out-of-date Analytics Don’t Work People are having a laugh at the Leafs expense right now, ironically not understanding that the core principle of analytics is process over results – that you play the probabilities and do not over-react when things go awry.
If the Leafs have had one problem over the last 50 years, it’s that they continually chase their own tail, making a big move every time something goes wrong, and never giving anything a long enough chance to actually work out.
Dubas and Shanahan are going to be back next season and guess what? They won’t be trading any of their core four. They, at least, are smart enough to look at the real reasons they lost (Matthews and Marner, the Tavares injury, Carey Price) and understand that nothing they can do can overcome those problems.
No trade or signing is going to make it so you can survive the injuries of elite core players. Nothing you do is going to change the bizarrely low Matthews/Marner shooting percentage. Only time can do that.
And Kudos to the board of Toronto Maple Leafs Sports and Entertainment for making the right call here. It’s tough to stick with a plan when it doesn’t work out and almost everyone is saying you got it wrong. Luckily, Dubas and Shanahan have both math and common sense on their side.
And come on, when your biggest critics are Don Cherry, Pierre McGuire, Steve Simmons and some anonymous peers whose very success in the game is predicated on your failure, just how seriously should you take such criticism?
The facts are, the Leafs got unlucky no matter how much you hate hearing that, it’s true. It is mathematically demonstrable, and if it wasn’t, they’d be making changes right now. It’s nice to see cooler heads prevail, preaching patience. You need a lot of patience to be a Leafs fan, but that will only make winning all the more sweet.
By bringing back the strongest management team in the NHL, and doubling down on an excellent plan, the Toronto Maple Leafs are doing the one thing that has eluded them since 1967: They’re being smart.