What Will Determine a Successful Toronto Maple Leafs Season?

Is it Stanley Cup or bust for the Toronto Maple Leafs this year to be considered a successful season?

The Toronto Maple Leafs haven’t won a playoff series in 19 years, so if they finally win one, is that good enough to consider the 2022-23 a success, or do they need to win a championship?

Professional sports are all about windows. You typically only have a short timeframe to win, so when you see that opening, you need to take advantage of it. However, for the Leafs, they’ve kind of had that window for the past four years and it’s still open for the next two and beyond.

Basically, as long as Mitch Marner, William Nylander, John Tavares and Auston Matthews are on the roster, the team will have a chance to win.

I know they haven’t accomplished their goal yet, but it’ll happen sooner than later….right?

It has to happen eventually, but I guess at the same time, it took the Chicago Cubs over 100 years and the Boston Red Sox 86 years to finally win, so the Leafs 56-year-old draught isn’t looking as bad.

There are a million question-marks surrounding this team as they get ready for their biggest trade deadline thus far. It feels like the team may actually make a big move this year, which would be rare.

What Determines a Successful Season for the Toronto Maple Leafs?

If the Toronto Maple Leafs go all-in, trade a few big-name prospects and first-round picks and win a few playoff rounds, will that be enough for the city and for the ownership to keep Kyle Dubas employed?

If the Leafs lost in seven games in the first round again, does that mean that Dubas is automatically fired or does the team get rid of Brendan Shanahan or Sheldon Keefe instead?

The team’s core, including it’s executive, has stayed put the past few years despite losing every year, because they’ve believed in the process. They believe these players are good enough to win, although it still hasn’t happened.

If the Leafs win the First Round, I still wouldn’t consider that a successful season. For the past five years, they should have had at least one playoff win by now. It’s actually sickening to think that the most playoff games this roster has played in a post-season is seven games thus far.

So, even if the team wins the First Round, if they lose in the Second Round, I think it’s an unsuccessful season. Sure, you could say that it’s never a good season unless you win the Stanley Cup, but for this team, I think the only way everyone stays employed is if they make the Eastern Conference Finals.

The city would be on-fire if they won two rounds and were in the Final Four and everyone employed should be praised for it, if it actually happened, because winning two rounds would probably mean they beat the Boston Bruins and Tampa Bay Lightning, who are their biggest foes, as of late.

Maybe this is the year where the Leafs actually win a round. Maybe they make a huge splash at the Trade Deadline and acquire a player who makes a difference. Or, maybe the world continues to be cruel and they lose in the First Round.

We’ll have to wait and see but unless this team makes it to the Eastern Conference Finals, I’d consider it an unsuccessful season and would expect many changes to happen.