Why Toronto Maple Leafs Fans Shouldn't Be Cheering for Oilers
If you're a Toronto Maple Leafs fan, you should not be rooting for the Edmonton Oilers to win the Stanley Cup this year.
The whole idea of "Canada's team" is one of the dumbest things in the NHL, as we currently have seven Canadian teams with a ton of rivalries from coast-to-coast. When the Toronto Blue Jays won the World Series or the Toronto Raptors won the NBA Championship, there was no issue with a fan from Vancouver or a fan from Halifax rooting for them to win their respective championship's, because that was the only team in Canada.
However, when it comes to the Stanley Cup Finals, as Toronto Maple Leafs fans, we should not be rooting for the Oilers to win the Cup. We should be hoping that the Florida Panthers take home the trophy because we want the Leafs to be the first team to break that curse and we want McDavid to eventually do it wearing the blue-and-white instead of blue-and-orange.
It's funny seeing the Oilers in the Finals right now because they compare so much to old Leafs teams. For example, Toronto's team last year was built very similarly to the Oilers, except they ran into a hot Sergei Bobroskvy and hopefully that also happens to Edmonton this year.
Toronto Maple Leafs Fans Should Be Rooting for Florida
When you look at their roster, they're built on two superstars with a bunch of complementary players, an average defensive-core and decent goalie. However, the biggest difference is that their best players actually showed up when it counted. Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, alongside Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Zach Hyman have all scored at a high rate, while the Leafs stars barely did anything and fell to the Boston Bruins.
If the Oilers win the Stanley Cup, I'm afraid the Leafs will fall into a similar trap thinking that they can win a championship the same way the Oilers did, however it won't happen unless the team changes it's core. I know that Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner are fantastic players, but I'm sorry, they're not close to the combination of McDavid and Draisaitl.
McDavid and Draisaitl have shown each season that they can be the difference-maker in the playoffs and if they had steady goaltending, they could be successful and they finally found that with Stuart Skinner. That may eventuallybe their downfall against Florida, but it's at least been good enough to win the Western Conference.
GM Brad Treliving may see what's happening in Edmonton and think he can save money on a goalie, when in fact, he should be taking Florida's approach and investing heavily in a number-one goalie and number-one defenseman. No duo is better than McDavid/Draisaitl and the Leafs shouldn't trade to compete with that, but if the Oilers win, Treliving may think he can, as this is a copy-cat league.
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As much as it's been a fun ride for the Oilers, let's hope it stops now, as them winning the Stanley Cup could have a ripple effect on the Toronto Maple Leafs, when they should be copying Florida's recipe.