Every Toronto Maple Leafs player is important during the playoffs, but some bigger than others.
It wasn’t that long ago that a Toronto Maple Leafs playoff game wasn’t a guarantee, however that’s all we look forward to now as fans.
Just a few short years ago, we were losing our minds about making the playoffs, but now, as crazy as it sounds, we dread it.
The Leafs have been successful for 82 regular season games over the past six years but they haven’t been able to string together four wins in seven games, yet.
After another seven-game loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning last year, the Leafs will once again face the three-time defending Eastern Conference champions.
The Lightning are an example of a modern-day dynasty and everything Leafs fans hoped their team would become.
They’re built in a similar fashion, except that they have one of the best defenseman and goaltenders of the past decade. Victor Hedman and Andrei Vasilevskiy give the Lightning a huge advantage in any series that the Leafs can’t match, but we shouldn’t doubt their chances.
Toronto is solid from top-to-bottom and if they can get a little lucky, there’s no reason to believe they can’t beat Tampa.
There are some players that are more important than others so if the following players can play their role and be the best they can be, the Leafs should go a long way. Let’s rank the Leafs roster from 20-1, from least to most important to beating the Tampa Bay Lightning.