Hockey has a lot in common with life.
This is something I gathered through playing the game, watching it every chance I have, consuming every morsel of content whether it be tangible or digital, and now writing about it.
In hockey, teamwork, collaboration, resilience, adaptability, and continuous dedication toward improvement all run parallel with the core values of what it means to live.
Hockey is a representation of celebrating success and learning from failure. Hockey has shown that a community is willing to come together when needed to rally behind a person, a team, or a faction.
The Toronto Maple Leafs Need To Commit
The way I see it, the one area that stands out is commitment. In life, we commit to things.
We may commit to a cause that is greater than ourselves. We may commit to someone significant in our lives to show how much we care. We may commit to our work to better our lives or the lives of our loved ones. Regardless of how you shape it, commitment is a key aspect of anyone's life. By that logic, the same is true for hockey.
Those who love hockey understand that committing to finishing checks, dedicating ourselves to improving in the areas where we may be weak, and sacrificing our time, bodies, and pride for the betterment of the team is what it takes to win.
We do this whole-heartedly knowing that by making these sacrifices, we will reap the reward of success. It is time for the Toronto Maple Leafs to accept the fact that to finally achieve success, they need to commit by going all in this season.
Every season (for the past few years), the Leafs have been able to “improve” their roster at the Trade Deadline without gambling much of their future. However, after only making it out of the first round once in the Matthews Era, Toronto’s strategy needs to change. The Maple Leafs (and their management) need to invest in this core group of players by not being afraid to sacrifice their future.
Sure, in a perfect world, we could retain draft picks, retain young prospects and everything would be, well, perfect. We do not live in a perfect world. It’s time that the Leafs go into a deadline day and be the big fish they are capable of being.
It’s time they commit to acquiring players who are beyond exceptional by making difficult decisions. Management needs to step up big this year and obtain key pieces that will help this group move forward.
The Toronto Maple Leafs should not squander this opportunity to go all in while we have many players in their prime. Matthews, Marner, Nylander, and many other players are starting to find a consistent rhythm within their game (yes, I too am excited to see Domi and Bertuzzi playing better). Management must address the Leafs defensive depth as well as goaltending. The saying is defence wins championships after all.
The Leafs have won their last 7 of 8 games, losing only to Vegas during this stretch. The team may not continue at this pace heading into the Playoffs. That said, with the Trade Deadline on the horizon, we will all have to see what the Maple Leafs decide to do for this year's playoff run.
Let me know your thoughts on who you think would be a great addition to the Leafs roster over on X (Twitter) by tagging me @ShowtimeWagon.