No. the Leafs biggest issue is not the Fan expectations set by the team.
the Leafs biggest issue is that they are not performing well collectively as a team. the end. They are capable of playing much better than this, and quite frankly, it doesnt bother me at all that we're 2-0 down - it bothers me that we're 2-0 down playing the way they played.
I expect them to play well.
I expect them to play like a team that had the 2nd best powerplay in the league. It's fine that PP% goes down but i think you can count on one hand how many goals they've had in 8 playoff games.
I expect their goalie to stop a puck.
I expect their defense to actually defend.
I expect their coach to make good coaching decisions
I expect the forwards to help with the defense, and drive to the net, not miss wide and be perimeter players
at the end of the day, I would argue that's what most people expect.
blaming it on Lou not trading the players you wanted them to trade is a cop-out. blaming the fanbase for wanting the team to win, is a copout. the team isn't playing well, and to me it doesn't matter if he team is under 25, or a bunch of 30yr old vets, if they get swept, they learn from it. (from Shanahan to the guys who make the team next year, of what happened, why did it happen, how do you prevent it from happening again).
then, we go into the summer making necessary changes. (starting with Lou's replacement (imo). and other things (ie: addressing the 3rd + 4th centre position, making some wholesale changes on the blue line, etc). However. I have the hope that this doesn't have to be in the next week, because the Leafs will get their heads out of their collective behinds, and win this series.
but if people want to bemoan that the Leafs didn't sell at the deadline. pick another tune. No they shouldn't have. (I'd argue what they should have done, was gone harder over McDonagh (who would be helping a lot right now), or another defenseman. If you want to argue they should have sold in the summer, that's what I said. (or early early in the season, then you adjust and then see what you had come TDL). This team is capable of doing really good things. They have to remember that. And if they fall flat on their face, it doesn't change the fact they are capable of doing really good things. They'll just have to prove that next year, after some necessary soul searching (from everyone), and changes to the team.