5 Things the Toronto Maple Leafs Will Regret This Summer.
The Toronto Maple Leafs haven’t been clicking this season. They were a work in progress from the start following a poor summer, but the strange thing was that the new Toronto Maple Leafs didn’t do much work during the season. Several times, it appeared that Keefe was about to be fired, but the team would stage a spectacular recovery and go on a winning streak.
I’m specifically thinking of an early-season game in Tampa, which would have been their sixth defeat in a row if they hadn’t won after falling behind three goals in the first period, but there were at least two similar instances. There were times when the team appeared to be in severe need of both a goalie and a defenseman, yet they did nothing. I’ve never seen a championship-caliber team sit there and do nothing whenever an opportunity arose throughout the season.
Ultimately, having five superstars plus a fantastic supporting cast of scorers worked out, at least for a while, and the Leafs ended up being a top team over a 28-game span, winning more than 70% of their points and leading the league in scoring. The only problem? Despite this fantastic run, every club the Leafs were fighting with went on a similar one, and now, with only ten games remaining, they have lost the Atlantic Division to Tampa, who may pass them and turn them into a Wild Card team, which would be humiliating.
And, while anything can happen in the NHL’s annual Tournament of Variance, also known as the Stanley Cup Playoffs, the Toronto Maple Leafs do not appear to be a good bet to win the Stanley Cup. If we’re lucky, this will serve as a reverse jinx for the squad, and my never-ending litany of regrets will come back to punish me when they win the Cup.