The Toronto Maple Leafs have only won a single playoff series since they drafted Auston Matthews in 2016.
Despite all the losing, however, the Toronto Maple Leafs have been pretty successful when you take into account a few weird things that have happened to them over this period.
I’m not trying to excuse away their failure – it’s up to you how you want to view the team.
All I’m doing is saying that all things considered, I think they actually over-achieved.
That’s my opinion, you’re entitled to yours, but check the evidence before you make up your mind.
Their Accomplishments, Such as They Are
Yes, the Toronto Maple Leafs have done nothing but disappoint in the playoffs, but they have done the following:
- Made the Playoffs a current NHL best 7 straight seasons.
- Had a points percentage over .650 for almost 300 straight games and 4 seasons.
- Been a Cup / President’s Trophy favorite for the last 4 years
The Toronto Maple Leafs Did That ^ Despite This:
The Leafs have been one of the NHL’s top teams for years and even their harshest critic would have to admit that they’ve lost in some pretty bizarre ways.
One
Going 0-11 in elimination games is so statistically unlikely it shouldn’t have been possible for it to have happened. But even though it did happen, the fact that you likely couldn’t lose all 11 games in a row if you tried to means its hard to be too critical of the team because whether or not they would have won a Cup, they have deserved more playoff wins that they’ve achieved.
TWO
Nazem Kadri suspended for back-to-back game sevens. Not only is it likely that the Toronto Maple Leafs would have advanced to the second round in at least one of those games if Kadri played, but he also would have stayed on the team.
I think we can all agree that Alex Kerfoot never hit his full potential, while Kadri ended up being a lot closer to John Tavares than anyone thought possible. This hurt short and long term, and it was incredibly unlikely.
Three
They were also the team most done in by the pandemic freezing the salary cap.
The Pandemic happened right after the Leafs signed Tavares, Nylander, Marner and Matthews to huge contracts. They did it, in part, because they knew that expansion, a huge TV Deal and legalized gambling were all about to send the NHL’s salary cap to record heights.
It didn’t end up working out, but you can’t blame them for trying.
It’s amazing how good they were when squeezed right up against the cap (i.e they played .650 hockey for four years anyways) and you can only wonder how good they’d have been if they had the cap space they’d gambled on having.
You can make an excellent argument that the Leafs had the deepest team in the league in several of the last four seasons. They also had a star-stacked lineup. What kind of all-star team would they have iced had the cap not been frozen?
Four (Miscellaneous Grievances)
I’m not even going to count the Jake Muzzin or John Tavares injuries, or the fact that Columbus set a modern day save-percentage record for a playoff series a against them, or that there were several times where Auston Matthews couldn’t shoot the puck for extended periods, or the fact that they once lost a game in OT to Montreal after going up 12-0 in shots for the period and that the game ended on an 90 foot floater.
I also am not going to count the fact that the NHL forced the Leafs to win five games to advance for the first time against Tampa, the fact that they are the only team to ever force OT in back-to-back playoff games by surmounting a multi-goal deficit in each game only to lose, or that previously horrible goalie Sergei Bobrovsky was playing like the best goalie of all-time against them last year.
Five
In the years where they drafted their three core players, they also made 23 other picks, and the best players they got were Pierre Engvall, Travis Dermott and Joseph Woll.
The fact that the Toronto Maple Leafs played 4 x straight seasons of .650 hockey while being a major Cup Contender every single year, despite the things that I listed above is incredibly impressive. This team deserve more credit. They have been much better than they get recognized for.