The Florida Panthers won the Stanley Cup last night with a roster no better, and maybe even worse, than the Toronto Maple Leafs.
The Panthers, who made it to back-to-back Finals, are a great team, but it's a salary cap league and they aren't much better than the Toronto Maple Leafs, who outplayed them last year in the playoffs but couldn't score, and who didn't get a shot at revenge this year.
The Leafs have been right there for years, and despite their bad luck and some current roster questions, I really like their position right now with their main core coming in to their prime years while a younger core of Knies, Cowan, Liljegren, Robertson and Woll takes over.
Anyways, the Edmonton Oilers played good enough to win and were the best team last night and in the series. They deserved to win, but didn't.
Much like the Toronto Maple Leafs!
Toronto Maple Leafs Record Safe + Marner Rumour False+ Maurice + Stanley Cup
While I'd rather the Oilers had won, it's cool that the Toronto Maple Leafs best record as the only team to ever overcome a 3-0 deficit in the Stanley Cup Final, which they did in 1942, remains in tact.
The Oilers winning would have been worth losing the record, but there is at least a silver lining here. The Leafs are a team that hasn't even made the Finals since they last won when there were only six teams. In the time since, the Florida Panthers have made the Finals three times, despite only coming into existence in 1994.
The latest Mitch Marner to Utah rumour is laughable. Some guy no one ever heard of made huge waves by claiming a trade was done, but it isn't. All Marner rumours so far are ridiculous. Why would the Leafs trade a guaranteed hall of famer when his value is at the lowest before he even hits his prime?
That would dumb, even for the Leafs, who are basically the kings of making terrible roster moves.
I don't know how many different ways to say this, but trading Mitch Maner is a horrendously bad idea.
Finally, congrats to the king of smugness, Paul Maurice, the ex-Leafs coach who now actually has a reason to act so smugly all the time.
Oh, and a shout out to Connor McDavid for recusing to come out and accept the NHL's second-most coveted award. It's the coolest thing anyone in hockey has done in years.