It was 1966/67 the last time the Maple Leafs won the vaunted Stanley Cup. Toronto used to be a great Hockey team in the sixties with Coach and G.M Punch Imlach and the likes of Frank Mahovlich, George Armstrong, Dicky Duff, Johnny Bower, and Terry Sawchuk. The Leafs looked like they were going to do some damage in the late seventies when they had Darryl Sittler, Lanny McDonald, Borje Salming, Ian Turnbull, Jerry Butler, Tiger Williams, and Mike Pamateer, but came up short in 1977/78 losing in the Semi-Finals to the Montreal Canadians. The fact is that Harold Ballard traded away Lanny McDonald to the Colorado Rockies for Wilf Paiement in late 1979 and it resulted into a downward spiral to Toronto for the eighties. It is my contention that had Ballard just signed Paeiment in Free-Agency the year before and kept Lanny than the Leafs would have had a shot at being in the class of the New York Islanders in the early eighties. The Maple Leafs had shown in the 77/78 playoffs that they could beat the Islanders as evidenced by the Leafs beating the Islanders four games to three on a game seven overtime winning goal by Lanny McDonald. Ballard was known to give up on guys (Randy Carlyle and Jack Valiquette come to mind) and we saw the parting of ways of greats like Sittler and Palmateer who decided Ballard was too heretic to win the heralded Stanley Cup. The team gave up on Ballard and he was not a bright spot in the minds of Leafs fans. Had Ballard spent a dollar (like Conn Smythe did when building the prestigious Maple Leaf Gardens), the Leafs would surely have had won a few more Cups by now, but as is part of the curse.
Although the Leafs had their first fifty goal scorer in Rick Vaive through the eighties, they were rarely in the playoffs. It was a hard time for the organization until Cliff Fletcher arrived on the scene. When Fletcher orchestrated the Gilmour trade in 1991 it looked like Toronto was going to finally do it. The Leafs looked poised in 1992/93 to reach the Stanley Cup Finals as they were the better team against the Los Angeles Kings in game six (needing just one more win). After Kerry Fraser blew the call when Gretzky slashed Gilmour, we lost the game, and game seven to boot. The kicker being that Fraser gave the Kings the powerplay in the overtime game, just after negating the slash that Gretzky gave in game six. Although the Leafs made Semi-Finals in 1993/94 against the Vancouver Canucks they just couldn't get over the hump. When Sundin took the helm in the mid-late nineties we saw a competitive team but the curse was still there and although we got great goaltending in the playoffs with names like Felix Potvin, Curtis Joseph, and Eddie Belfour in the nineties we just haven't shaken the curse of Kerry Fraser and the non-call on Gretzky.
The Leafs have been competitive in the last thirty years but we haven't even reached the Stanley Cup Finals since 1967. The fact is that since we picked Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, William Nylander, Morgan Rielly, Matthew Knies, Bobby McMann, and Joseph Woll in the drafts from yesteryear, the Leafs have been one of the best teams in the N.H.L in developing their talent. The A.H.L Toronto Marlies was harmonious in adopting big-club philosophy as an organization on a professional level. In 2018/19 the Toronto Marlies won the Calder Cup with ex-Leaf coach Sheldon Keefe at the helm and the Marlies have been a top A.H.L team over the past 10 years. The Leafs also signed Free-Agent John Tavares in 2018 and he has provided us with perhaps the best second line Centerman in the game neigh Leon Draisaitl. The Toronto Maple Leafs have shown this year with Coach Craig Berube that they are resilient and efficient as a team. The Leafs play excellent defense and their top two lines are always dangerous. The third line consists of Scott Laughton, Nick Robertson, and Max Domi and on the fourth line Pontus Holmberg, Steven Lorentz, and David Kampf. Both lines are excellent defensively and the reason as to why Brendan Shanahan picked up Scott Laughton at the trade deadline. The first line of Matthews, Marner, and Knies is one of the best lines in the game and by saying that, our second line of Tavares, Nylander, and McMann makes our offence formidable.
In net for the Toronto Maple Leafs to start this year's playoffs was Anthony Stolarz. Stolarz was the N.H.L leader in save % this years ranking .01 point higher than Connor Hellebucyk with a mark of 0.926. This is Stolarz first time starting through a post season but he looks poised to deliver, and the Leafs also have a healthy Joseph Woll in emergency. Will Stolarz step up his game as he has through the regular season? I believe so.
We witnessed the first playoff series for Toronto versus the Ottawa Senators in round one. While the Maple Leafs cruised to three straight wins to start the series with provincial rivals Ottawa, the Senators responded with two wins to deflate the Leafs. We responded well last night finding resiliency yet again after losing another two goal lead, and miraculously regaining it in the third period to finish off Ottawa for good. The Leafs go up against a Florida team with a great net-minder in Sergei Bobrovsky and a team well coached by Paul Maurice. The Leafs look stronger on paper and with the magic Craig Berube is showing in overtime games this year anything's possible. With Stolarz and Bobrovsky cancelling each-other out in terms of advantages (as they're both considered to be top 5 goalies in the NHL today, the only advantage I see with the comparison of these two teams is that Toronto's second line is dominant to Florida's second line. John Tavares and William Nylander on the second line is going to destroy their second line unless they're pitted against the Panthers first line in Florida. Time will tell if bringing in Laughton from Philadelphia at the trade deadline was a smart move. The reality is that Scott Laughton is a quality center-man, a Jerry Butler type player, who has engineered a 19-7 run since he came to Toronto. My prediction for the series; Toronto Maple Leafs 4 games - 1 game for the Panthers. I believe Stolarz will shine the rest of the way and to this writer he look's poised to whip off a couple of shutouts against Florida (a team not known for their offence). It's exciting to see so much of the offensive cog showing up in the Senators series. William Nylander, Mitch Marner, Auston Matthews, John Tavares, and Matthew Knies all showed up this round to shine offensively and the Leafs resiliency in overtimes was tested again and we won that battle again winning two and losing one in round one overtimes against Ottawa.
Of course a Coach has to get accredited to be associated with such a fine team, and wasn't it funny that Berube had Max Domi on the ice in overtime in game two resulting in a game winning goal. Ironically It was another tertiary scoring threat that came through in a game three overtime when Simon Benoit whipped one home for victory. With Craig Berube at the helm the Leafs seemingly have an answer for any given threat deep in a hockey game as we have brought our A-game when overtime hits. I look for Matthew Knies and Bobby McMann to pick up their socks a little bit going into the second round as secondary scoring from them would give the primary scorers some room to work. We also saw there may be another scoring option with Max Pacioretty as in game six against the Senator's last night he scored a goal and added a helper. Wouldn't that be a nice cushion to have; as it looks like Toronto has a strong advantage in their top three lines. With that I say welcome to Round Two sports-fans;
Forecast for Game 1 - Toronto Maple Leafs Lines
Line 1
LW - Matthew Knies C - Auston Matthews RW - Mitch Marner
Line 2
LW - Bobby McMann C - John Tavares RW - William Nylander
Line 3
LW - Max Pacioretty C - Scott Laughton RW - Max Domi RW
Line 4
LW - Pontus Holmberg C - David Kampf RW - Steven Lorentz
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