I appreciate you. I couldn’t be happier the leafs had such a good season where they maintained a 15+ point lead on pretty much all of the North Division teams, and essentially admitted publicly they felt the North teams were no match for this years leafs team.
I thank Leaf fans for never failing to comment under Armchair GM’s or social media posts that tout or celebrate another Canadian team, where you’d read things like “with no number one centre? Lol yeah okay enjoy first round exit” and “there’s no real talent. Compared to Toronto’s top four guys, they have literally no elite caliber players.” Or even, Matthews being asked about the North division, and saying that he hopes their will be a bigger challenge come playoff time.
Well I guess you got your wish bud.
All season (and as a negative Habs fan, rightfully so) the Habs were completely and utterly disregarded as contenders. Aside from the first 10 games of the season, once Price displayed weakness due to being injured, along with Gallagher, Chariot, and Tatar being injured, or even how quick people were to point out Drouin’s vast lack of offensive ability he’s proved this season, nobody ever even considered the Montreal Canadiens to eliminate the Leafs.
This is where the true colours of modern day post-2000s leaf fans are shown.
At the beginning of the season, we hear how this leafs team is the answer to Canada’s cup drought. Their top heavy roster was just simply superior to all the other teams. Throughout the entire season, every hockey fan has to deal with TSN, Sportsnet, and every sports broadcast panel in Canada, touting this leafs team like it’s the best team in the league, GAME IN GAME OUT (I’m mainly talking about Noodles, Hayes and O’Neil who are awful leaf homers who **** talked every Canadian team and is now spending the next week trying to recall their statements or rephrase, when really we know they’re eating their words.) every radio show, Steve dangle, name it; nobody thought this leafs team had clear flaws.
Yeah I saw the flaws early on.
1. Your stars are not at a level to take a team to the Stanley Cup finals, but they’re being paid like it.
- you overpaid your two young future stars and look what result it has gotten the Leafs since those contracts were signed. Signing Tavares was one of the most trigger happy dumb signings this franchise could have done, mainly because Tavares’ $11mil contract takes up the space you could use for:
2. At least ONE SHUT-down, dependable, x-factor defensemen. Every contender has at least one, whether they’re dominant and noticeable or not, every contending team has one stay at home consistent Dman. The leafs do not and have not had one. Reilly is an absolute beast, but that’s not his job. Reilly can get you points, goals, and can set up plays just as good as the rest of them. All you need is a Dougie Hamilton, Pietrangelo, Seth Jones, etc paired up with Reilly, yeah that’s truly scary.
3. Depth was dog****. Anybody whose watched the last 4 seasons of hockey, shook their head at the Leafs summer signings. Thornton? The guy was never all that dominant and has historically fizzled out during the playoffs literally his whole career in San Jose. That is not the grit you’re looking for and this playoff series proved that. Simmonds? He is nowhere near the guy he used to be. The grit is there but probably 75% less then it used to be. If MTL signed Simmonds, they wouldn’t have made the playoffs unless he sat. The guy isn’t useful nowadays. Vesey? Blinder pickup to distract leaf fans from actually acquiring the players the team actually needs. Bogosian?? A lame attempt at acquiring a shut down vet d-man like I just mentioned, but he’s a guy who looked mediocre on a stacked team in Tampa. The guy is washed out, and is a far cry from the type of d-man the leafs SHOULD have targeted.
4. Effort level. I’ve never seen this leafs team with its current core go full throttle to set up a goal. When you watch Tampa, or Boston, even Montreal, they TRY for their goals. They look like chickens with no heads trying to find openings. Leafs are built around a guy who makes all scoring look easy, so their goals don’t develop with the same energy as other teams (because they don’t need to rush when all they need is little openings for Marner to expose for Matthews so he can rip cheddar dogs). Though this game pace that the leafs maintained all season I feel hurt them. They never were very scary off the rush unless it was a two on one, and the only time I saw a terrifying leafs offence was during the POWERPLAY and while the team was already up.
In conclusion: STOP overrating your team during the season. Stop making hot takes about how far the leafs are going in the playoffs before they start. Stop ‘planning the parade’ as every other hockey fan calls it when the beginning of your season goes well. And LASTLY, don’t talk **** about other teams, when the faults of your own team stick out just as much. What makes someone able to identify a good leafs fan is how optimistic they are about the team.
I hope this season has taught you Leaf fans good. Good luck in the off-season. You’ll need it