No he was right. The reason is the Leafs just don't want it bad enough. They definitely don't want it more than the other team. All the big dogs on the Leafs play just like the "Rink-Rat" spoiled brat kids that end up on the same team in a pick-up game. I don't know how they managed to assemble all those kids onto the same team, but if you think the Big Four on the Maple Leafs were good enough this post-season, you've been watching mediocre hockey too long.
I am/was a huge Red Wings fan, i'm really just a fan of good hockey. I started following the Leafs hard when Babcock came over and I was really excited to see this Leafs roster develop, and what Babcock could do with them. He immediately started to trend them upwards and I got more excited. Started seeing all the Marner, Matthews, Nylander pieces coming together and thinking "damn, they're going to be like the Red Wings, dominant for years".
But then they started souring on Babs because "he's tough". Boo-hoo, I don't need a coach who is super friendly with his teammates. I don't care about what kind of guy babcock is, he wants to win more than anything else. I believe Mike Babcock would drown his mother to win the Stanley Cup, and if that's your goal you need someone with that kind of focus, someone who would do anything to win. There is no one on the Leafs with that, currently. There wasn't any Leafs who actually looked disgusted or pissed not to make the First round of the playoffs.
They just play a very non-cohesive, non-commital style game. This superstar team, excuse me, group of superstars, is designed for more of an All-Star type game, and you can make whatever excuse you want about them not making Round 1 of the playoffs. The fact of the matter is Columbus was a better team and that's what it takes. I am absolutely knocked sideways that people who have been watching hockey for years and years can watch this team and think they're "right there".
If the Leafs as a group are really believing this core as-is is good enough, I hope you have a lot of excuses prepped for the coming years. Nothing will change unless the big dogs attitudes change. You can't bring in one guy to re-arrange the culture of the team. There is no one in that locker room who is going to stand up and say "enough of this crap" and go out and put up and shut up. 4th line Clifford wasn't going to come in and tell Marner, Matthews and everyone else "HEY you're not playing hard enough". You don't come into a new locker room and just dictate like that from the 4th line.
What one guy in the League could come onto the Leafs and bring that kind of culture change with them? Ovechkin? Crosby?
What one guy are they going to bring in to give culture shock to the Big 4 and challenge their style of play? They traded away all their tenured veterans who would've had clout to say something. Matthews, Marner and Tavares can't tell the team "hey YOU guys need to play harder while we play pretty". The Big 4 are running the team and with that, their attitudes are on full display.
It is fun to watch when they are engaged, but it's not winning hockey. I wish it was, I'd love to see them just skilling out and dominating, but it's terrible to watch such talent and time wasted because they don't want to play harder. I'm not bashing on them, this is just my opinion, but i think they need to upgrade their MF attitude towards playing the game. It's not an isolated incident or a one off, it's a trend.