The Pessimistic vs Optimistic Toronto Maple Leafs Fan

Whether you know it or not, you’re either a pessimistic or optimistic Toronto Maple Leafs fan and that gets heightened around the NHL Trade Deadline.

Who are you: Optimistic or pessimistic? The Toronto Maple Leafs haven’t won a Stanley Cup since 1967, so they’re cursed, right? Or, this is the greatest Toronto Maple Leafs team in decades and Auston Matthews is going to lead this team to a championship.

You’re either one or the other. You’re a beLEAFer or you’re a fan who hate-watches this team every night.

If you’re at a party with 100 people, you’re probably going to find more haters than believers, and that’s fine. The funniest person you’ll find is the person says they’re only a Toronto Marlies fan and hate the Leafs because they don’t try as hard as the NHLers and the AHL competition is way better.

No offense to that Marlies fan, but the Toronto Marlies are just future Leafs. It doesn’t make any sense to hate the Leafs when you love the Marlies, but I’ll move on.

With the NHL Trade Deadline looming, the pessimistic and optimistic Leafs fan will have a much different approach for what this team needs.

Let’s start with the pessimistic fan:

The Pessimistic Leafs Fan

If you’re a pessimistic fan, it doesn’t really matter what this team does at the NHL Trade Deadline because in your mind, the season is already over.

The goaltending is brutal and the team is going to fold when it matters the most. Mitch Marner hasn’t scored a playoff goal in four years and John Tavares is overpaid. Meanwhile, William Nylander doesn’t hit or fight, so he’s a worthless player in the playoffs as well.

The defense is way too young and they don’t have anyone who can lay the body either, so what’s the point of even playing in the playoffs this year?

Even if the Leafs do win a playoff round this year, they might as well fire Kyle Dubas and Sheldon Keefe because their system clearly isn’t working.

The Optimistic Toronto Maple Leafs Fan

If you were an optimistic Leafs fan when Tyler Bozak was the number-one centre and James Reimer was in net, you must be on cloud nine heading into the Trade Deadline.

This team currently has the potential Hart Trophy winner on it! Are you kidding me? They haven’t had an MVP in 67 years. Oh wait, 67, so like 1967? The last time the Leafs won the Stanley Cup….

So if you put those two things together, the Leafs are winning the Cup this year!!

The goaltender is struggling but maybe Jack Campbell just wasn’t healthy before and that’s why he’s currently sidelined. Campbell, who let me remind you, was an NHL All-Star this year, is going to come back better than ever.

Not only that, but the Toronto Maple Leafs core-four has four of it’s most talented players in team history. Mitch Marner is arguably the second-best player in Leafs history, the golden-boy John Tavares came home and is the captain, while Nylander has the best valued-contract in the NHL.

All of this is happening and the Leafs are currently on-pace to finish with their most regular season points in a single season.

Also, did I mention that Sheldon Keefe just became the fastest coach to win 100 games and Kyle Dubas somehow managed to sign Ondrej Kase, David Kampf and Michael Bunting all in one offseason!?

We better start planning the parade because this is the year. I can feel it in my bones!

GO LEAFS GO!