Flash back to February 4th, 2012 - the Leafs were ahead of the "first place" Ottawa Senators in the Eastern Conference standings and had just whipped the team of pretenders 5-0 in an impressive road effort. Man, these guys were looking good. Two nights later, a sloppy but convincing 6-3 win over the hapless Oilers had Toronto fans feeling that the playoffs were a certainty. Flash forward to 17 games later and only two total wins, one coming against the Oilers and the team was all but mathematically eliminated from the playoffs yet again. A season that started again so promising - 1st place in the eastern conference at one point - and had been consistent for most of the season, fell apart like the New York Mets or the Toronto Maple Leafs when it mattered most.
As the Leafs 2-15 mark landed them a mere point out of last place in the Eastern conference, enraged fans began calling for drastic changes in the off season. Many suggested that Phil Kessel, the team's most valuable asset, be peddled in the off season. The thought of a last place finish got Leafs fans excited, as they so seldomly finish lower than 9th place in the conference, and always tend to avoid a good draft pick, in any year that they possess their own pick. The exception of course was the season that the Bruins had acquired the Leafs first round pick as part of the ludicrously bad Phil Kessel trade, where the Leafs tanked the season and finished up 29 out of 30 teams. Tanking this season would afford the Leafs a high draft pick and set them up for the future. The season ending injuries to Joffrey Lupul (who looked like one of the only players who actually gave a damn) and Nikolai Kulemin looked to only raise the expectations of "Tank Nation" or "Fail for Nail". Well, not so much Kulemin, maybe we'd have been better off if he was still healthy.
But not so fast. The team was infuriated by the fans calling for changes and desire to see the team retooled. They used this as their motivation to start playing and have since reeled off a couple impressive victories; the most recent of which was last night against the juggernaut Ottawa Sens (seriously, how are they in first place???). These losers are more motivated by personal pride and ego, and a job for next season, than they are hungry to fight for the playoffs. Why is it the same with these guys year after year? They start playing hard and competing and become unbeatable when it is too late and the only thing to play for is their finances and personal stats. Then they get the "benefit" of some extra off time in the playoffs and still get to "stick it to the fans" who had expressed their frustration and desire to rebuild and trade away some of their buddies.
The example I will never forget was a few years back when the Leafs were sitting in a lottery draft pick position with a chance at the first overall pick with one game remaining in the season. With one loss, the Leafs franchise could have benefitted for 10+ years to come. The Leafs go out with one of their most hard fought victories of the season, led by a hat trick by Boyd Devereaux (who never played another game as a Leaf and was only playing for a job next season) and because of this single victory on the last day of the season jumped from a lottery pick, to the 7th pick in the draft. But hey it's not all bad, we ended up with Nazem Kadri, woohoo!
Come on Leafs - if you fight really hard you can prove us all wrong and end up in 9th place once again. You fans from the rest of Canada can back off us Leafs fans now. Being a Leafs fan is punishment enough.
