5 Things for Toronto Maple Leafs Fans to Do This Off-Season
It doesn’t matter how long ago the Toronto Maple Leafs crashed out of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, the fact that hockey is still on and Toronto isn’t participating stings. Usually Toronto fans will turn to the Blue Jays, Raptors or perhaps TFC. With basketball long since over, Toronto FC floundering in the bottom half of the standings, only the Blue Jays offer a sporting interest.
If you cannot be tickled by the steady rise and thumping offence of the Blue Jays and Vladdy Guerrero Jr’s charge to MVP, fear not. There are still options to keep you diehard Toronto Maple Leafs fans interested before the puck drops on next season.
It has to be mentioned first and foremost that what hurts the most about the Leafs crushing loss is that the Montreal Canadiens are still in the race for the cup.
Take some solace Leafs fans, the Habs are in tough against the Las Vegas Golden Knights. Way back when Leaf Land was optimistic about the playoffs, many held up the Colorado Avalanche as the one team that truly stood in the way of the Toronto Maple Leafs.
With Auston Matthews, John Tavares and Mitch Marner firing on all cylinders plus some stellar defensive play from Morgan Reilly and TJ Brodie, the Leafs stood a decent change of pushing the Avs all the way.
If goalie Jack Campbell could steal a game or two, then Toronto would be in the Stanley Cup Final – not an easy task by any means, but it was certainly thought a plausible one. As it would turn out, neither the Avs nor the Toronto Maple Leafs were able to turn that dream into a reality.
Now it is mid June in Toronto, and for all the anxious hockey fans and jersey burners alike, so many are twiddling their thumbs with what to do next. Toronto Maple Leafs fans, here are five options for how to spend your 2021 off season.
Avoid All Landmarks at ALL COSTS
Okay this one hurt.
It is bad enough that the Toronto Maple Leafs lost their arch rivals from Quebec but everyone saw the CN Tower being lit up red, white and blue in support of the Montreal Canadiens.
Toronto’s landmark. In Habs colours. Further more, this came way too soon after the loss. Just 10 days after the Leafs lost to the Habs, someone clearly out of touch with the sentiment of the city, decided that it would be a good way to show unity.
There are times for unity, even in hockey crazy markets. When Habs, Senators, Bruins, Lightning and other rivals’ players pull on a Team Canada jersey, then it makes sense. Everyone in the city who supports Canada cheers for Team Canada, but to light up Toronto’s world-renowned landmark in those colours…that’s a whole different level.
Toronto Maple Leafs fans, don’t think you can run and hide. Niagara is a lovely place for wine tours, expensive B&Bs and some bright lights. Yet after Canada’s wonder of the world, Niagara Falls was lit up in Habs colours, it is just another location that is persona non grata for Leafs fans.
Two Ontario landmarks known the world over, supporting the Habs. Yes, Montreal is technically “Canada’s hope for a 2021 Stanley Cup”, but it certainly isn’t Toronto’s hope.
Toronto Maple Leafs Fans Get a Chance to Drink from the Cup
Now this one is more serious, and incredibly cool. We have all heard the jokes about the Toronto Maple Leafs letting their fans down time and time again. We also know the old adage about how you can only pick up the Stanley Cup if you win it, and if you win it you drink from it.
That is hard enough to come by for most NHL players, let alone Toronto Maple Leafs players at this point. For us mere mortals who sit on the comfier side of the ice with popcorn, beer and pretzels, forget drinking from it, just touching the cup might never happen.
That is until now.
While the touching the cup wait might go on a little longer, Molson have produced an insanely cool product which, in a roundabout way, lets you drink beer that has passed through the cup. It’s called the Molson Canadian Stanley Cup Batch and it’s a limited batch that has been “kissed by the Stanley Cup”.
Inspired by the North division and a season that showcased solely Canadian hockey teams, Molson has attempted to create something unforgettable for fans. They’re right, this product is pretty remarkable. Very few, if any, fans have ever been able to drink from the cup itself but Molson are making that kind of possible.
Want to know why it will taste extra sweet for all those Toronto Maple Leafs fanatics out there? It’s available Canada wide, excluding Quebec.
Craft Your Own Toronto Maple Leafs Team
Fans have been full of fire and fury in their analysis of why Toronto slinked out of the playoffs with a whimper and their tail between their legs. The players share a large element of the blame, as well as the injuries to John Tavares and Jake Muzzin. However General Manager Kyle Dubas, President Brendan Shanahan and Head Coach Sheldon Keefe have all come under scrutiny.
Dubas did rebuild the team, and while he could have hoped for more from his additions this season, notably Wayne Simmonds, most of the ire has been directed to how much he spent on the core four.
Shanahan has avoided most of the criticism but has faced calls to sack either his GM or his Head Coach, while Keefe is responsible for not making any notable adjustments at the most important part of the season.
Keefe coached three very good games, one okay game and was then completely lacking in another three – it just so happened the three Keefe was wasteful in were the most important.
So now it’s time for all of you Toronto Maple Leafs fans to retreat to the darkness of your basements, closets and hovels and plan your entire new roster. Create trades, fire everyone and make Pepe Silvia your new captain; implement a ban on moustaches, create a specific meal plan to generate the best muscle growth or change the pre-game dress code.
Do what you want and stay the course or blow the team up. The Toronto Maple Leafs world is your oyster.
Just remember to hit up the stores to get a sufficient supply of string, pictures, post-it notes and thumb tacks because soon the Dorito stains on your fingers might make it harder to pull out that cash to re-stock your supply.
Turn Off any UFC
If you are an MMA fan you will have seen Auston Matthews and Frederik Andersen turn up to UFC 263 with Justin Bieber. Bieber is a long time and well known Toronto Maple Leafs fan, having previously played some shinny with Matthews and Marner.
It is hard to begrudge any Leafs player time off after a condensed season, but there is a bit of a fine line here. Matthews and Andersen were at a UFC fight just two days before the Montreal Canadiens dropped the puck against the Golden Knights. It was a game that every Toronto Maple Leafs fan expected to be sat in front of their TV for, watching the Buds play as one of the final four fighting for the cup.
Toronto obviously isn’t there, but seeing Matthews and Andersen (even though he didn’t play against the Habs) casually strolling into a different event is a tender situation. They would have to know that Leafs fans would see, or at least get the notification, they were in attendance. Is it wrong to be at little rustled because they should still be playing hockey?
It’s also hard to blame Leafs fans for feeling hard done by because they invested in the team for the long haul. On the flip side, Matthews did have an exceptional, record-breaking season and he deserves time off to come back rejuvenated, stronger and better for next season.
To deny him the chance to relax would be wrong, but perhaps the timing could have been a bit better. He is caught between a rock and a hard place but if you’re one of those sensitive Leafs fans, it might be better to steer clear of watching any major sporting events because you know there is a chance a Leafs player might pop up.
On that note, might as well avoid all of the golf courses too because everyone knows how much hockey players love golf.
It Will All Be Okay
Here is one for the jersey burners, the dramatic firebrands and the determined ones. Just breathe through the pain. This Toronto Maple Leafs team has let us all down before, and they will likely do it again.
Toronto’s cup drought is going on a little longer, but actually, this team is still very good. They have elite talent and there are still options and time aplenty to make changes to the team before next season.
It isn’t all over. You may think that 1967 is a long time without winning the biggest trophy in your sport, how about you asked England fans what it was like when they won the World Cup in 1966. In fact, England have never actually won the “World Cup” because that trophy only became available in 1974.
The trophy everyone now called the World Cup has never graced English football hands, but the perpetual losses England has faced haven’t deterred fans.
Leafs fans need to adopt a more sardonic approach, much like the tongue in cheek “It’s Coming Home” notion that punctuates every England appearance at a major tournament.
A Stanley Cup will come for the Toronto Maple Leafs. It may not be this coming season, it may not be next, but eventually it will happen.
Next. 10 Potential UFAs the Leafs Could Sign. dark
In the meantime, just go out and enjoy the four months of sun we get in the Great White North. Let the humidity hit you like a brick wall when you step outside, and make your clothes cling to every inch of your body. Get a blizzard that melts before you can finish it and whatever you do, don’t visit any landmarks.