News Article: Looking Back on the Maple Leafs Playoff Woes

[JustinCaron]

Creating this thread looking back at Toronto’s playoff woes. Are they legitimately cursed? What do they need to do to finally win a series?

It’s no secret that the Toronto Maple Leafshave had some heartbreaking playoff exits in recent years. The Original Six franchise hasn’t provided their fanbase with much to cheer about when hockey matters the most. Toronto’s last playoff win was eighteen years ago and lots of their younger fans have not seen such a thing happen. Now, they’re getting close to an unprecedented two decades without winning a single series. Their last playoff series win came in the 2003-04 season against the Ottawa Senators. It’s hard to imagine but they haven’t won a series since the beginning of the salary cap era.

Toronto Maple Leafs Playoff Struggles Near Two Decades

The Toronto Maple Leafs playoff struggles are no secret. Take an in-depth look at the 18 years since their last playoff series win.

lastwordonsports.com

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[LeafChief]

A much needed thread. Can't wait to re-live this.

 

[keonsbitterness]

Self-promotion for a thousand, Alex.

 

[JustinCaron]

Self-promotion for a thousand, Alex.

I’d really like to here some input from fans what the reasoning is? Bad luck? I’d say goaltending has been the most common theme throughout the drought. The leafs have a great team so what is your opinion?

 

[Obo]

Self-promotion for a thousand, Alex.

Ah-yup.

Plus it's a borderline troll topic.

 

[Leaf Fans]

Joined today to make the thread. and a Bruins fan.

 

[All Mod Cons]

Bad luck and refs is all.

 

[Ianturnedbull]

There's still a **** load of teams that have never won a cup.

There's a **** load of Canadian teams that haven't won a cup in 30 years.

Our current predicament is easy to summarize: They are not built to win in the playoffs.

Our President of hockey ops knows this, but is too proud to rectify his past decisions.

 

[TheGoldenJet]

I’d really like to here some input from fans what the reasoning is?

A clueless GM who shouldve been fired already.

 

[Nineteen67]

No, it’s not a curse, it’s a mindset and the results were expected based on the effort.
Watch how other teams have sacrificed to to win in the playoffs.

 

[DarkKnight]

Apparently someone missed the expected goals parade and the latest unveiling outside the arena:

 

[Magic Man]

The only plausible explanation would appear to be black magic.

 

[Sypher04]

There hasn’t been any one common theme.

One year we were simply too young and inexperienced. Maybe even two.

One our goaltending was subpar.

One our forwards couldn’t muster offense.

One our defense really let us down.

One we lost on predominately on the back of a historically bad penalty kill.

Every one of them close. But the fact is there’s always been something.

Just need to get over the hump and sky is the limit, but they have to avoid obvious pitfalls and at least be average to good in all areas.

Weaknesses get exposed come playoffs

At this point though, and maybe this is easier said than done, they just need to get out of their own heads and prove they want it more than the other team

 

[zeke]

There hasn’t been any one common theme.

One year we were simply too young and inexperienced. Maybe even two.

One our goaltending was subpar.

One our forwards couldn’t muster offense.

One our defense really let us down.

One we lost on predominately on the back of a historically bad penalty kill.

One we got absolute screwed by the refs.

 

[TMLegend]

This is to be expected when you hire an entire green management team who has to learn on the fly.

The whole lot of them shoulda been given their walking papers after the debacle vs Montreal. What's this? The third year in a row they lost as a favorite in round 1?

 

[acrobaticgoalie]

I’d really like to here some input from fans what the reasoning is? Bad luck? I’d say goaltending has been the most common theme throughout the drought. The leafs have a great team so what is your opinion?

I would say different reasons at different times.

Coaching decisions.
Shaky goaltending at times.
Injuries
Kadri getting suspended 2 yrs in a row.
Star players not showing up.

If Kadri could actually keep his head on straight we should have been able to get past Boston. He took himself out early 2 yrs in a row and if we had him in the lineup, it would have significantly changed how the series would have went by having the depth of having 3 high quality centers.

Tavares and Muzzin getting injured and being out of the series were huge impacts for us but I don't see that as necessarily a good excuse because even without them, we should have still been able to get past Columbus and Montreal as we still had a higher quality roster. Other teams go through injury woes a well and can still win series. Fact is our star players making 11M weren't producing enough. When Kerfoot is your 2nd best player in a series, it's a problem.

In some of these series, it was clear that there was some inconsistent officiating not just in our series, but across the NHL in general and I think the NHL has a problem in that regard. Some of the bad or soft calls and inconsistencies, could have changed the series.

Freddy Andersen throughout his career has failed to come up with saves in game 7s that would cost series wins. Freddy also seems to be weak minded and just seems to pull the chute on seasons instead of powering through. Campbell, the same in the Montreal series was inconsistent with his play. There was games where a save on a routine shot would have been the difference with moving on to the 2nd round or not.

Overall I blame the players for just not having consistent efforts. There were some games where one team showed up for a playoff game while the Leafs looked like they showed for some shinny hockey. Some people will blame the GM for roster construction. Some will blame the coach for not having them ready but the fact is, it is on the players who are getting paid a lot of money to perform and it is them that are on the ice. You shouldn't need someone else to get you amped up for a playoff game and the GM has had a revolving door of support players and yet the core was getting the same results year after year. There just seems to be a flaw with the core's mental strength/heart. Matthews being an absolute force in the first half of the Montreal series and then disappearing in the last half or Marner not being the same player in the playoffs as he is in the regular season, as well as playing scared for example.

That's my take.

 

[leafsfan5]

idk man we might be cursed lol

Even if we're soft and don't have the right mentality to win, we should fall ass first into at least 1 series win out of the last 6 years, hockey is random enough that it would eventually happen. Especially considering 5 of them went to winner take all games. How do you lose every single game 7???

 

[Notsince67]

The hockey gods deemed some of the fanbase unworthy. I hope some of you guys do better.

 

[Ianturnedbull]

The biggest joke of all is that many if not all Canadian teams need to see themselves as failures, and not just TOR.

The Canucks came into the league as an expansion team in 1970. They've never won a cup.

The Flames have 1 cup and did that in 1989. That's 33 years ago!

The mighty Montreal Canadiens. The storied franchise. The most intelligent/cultured fans. The home to the invention of the game hockey. The city that rioted over Rocket Richard, etc. They won their last cup in 1993. So soon it will be 30 years for them.

Winnipeg lost their franchise and then got it back. They've never won.

Ottawa won a cup last in 1927. No one ever mentions how long their cup drought has been.

Quebec never won a cup. They are now the way of the dinosaur.

Edmonton last won in 1990.

Ottawa, Winnipeg, Montreal, and Vancouver don't even look close to getting to the playoffs any time soon. So their droughts will go for much longer.

Fans of other Canadian teams need to give their heads a shake. It's hard to win and Toronto isn't the only team that can't find the16 wins possible to win it all.

 

[tmlms13]

Lets See

2017: Lost as the 8 seed to the 1 seed
2018: Lost a road Game 7, with a key player getting suspended
2019: Exact same as 2018,
2020: Lost a 5 game series with no fans, doesn't count imo
2021: This is the only legit big disappointment imo, but don't forget Tavares missed the entire series
2022: Technically a first round loss but it really wasn't. Two of the top 4 teams in the East. That's the playoff format bad luck. Also vs the 2x defending Cup Winner.

It's not like they got upset 6 years in a row.

 

[Shanwhatplan]

The biggest joke of all is that many if not all Canadian teams need to see themselves as failures, and not just TOR.

The Canucks came into the league as an expansion team in 1970. They've never won a cup.

The Flames have 1 cup and did that in 1989. That's 33 years ago!

The mighty Montreal Canadiens. The storied franchise. The most intelligent/cultured fans. The home to the invention of the game hockey. The city that rioted over Rocket Richard, etc. They won their last cup in 1993. So soon it will be 30 years for them.

Winnipeg lost their franchise and then got it back. They've never won.

Ottawa won a cup last in 1927. No one ever mentions how long their cup drought has been.

Quebec never won a cup. They are now the way of the dinosaur.

Edmonton last won in 1990.

Ottawa, Winnipeg, Montreal, and Vancouver don't even look close to getting to the playoffs any time soon. So their droughts will go for much longer.

Fans of other Canadian teams need to give their heads a shake. It's hard to win and Toronto isn't the only team that can't find the16 wins possible to win it all.

Maybe instead of thinking they need to win 16 games, let’s start with a more reasonable number, like 4. Have to admit, though, after having waited for so long, winning 4 games and then losing the next series, wouldn’t scratch the itch quite enough.

 

[Hellcat]

Sitting here watching a Sydney Crosby interview and him glowingly talk about MacKinnion, makes me think about our roster and notice our top end talent lacks the competitive component that the Avs had: Landeskog, MacKinnon, Kadri all are in the trenches warriors + high end talent. Nylander is a wimp, Marner is a feather weight, Austin is competitive but not a guy who is thought of as a gritty in the trenches warrior and Tavares is slow, soft, ineffective on many nights. Our grit guys are bottom 6 minute guys.

I cant help but think that if you always do what you've always done, you always get what you always got. Our main guys are mostly unchanged and I think our goalies are worse than last years group... how does this years team compete? Outscore their warts is our only chance ... we lose one of our soft stars, we are done...

 

[ShaneFalco]

Lets See

2017: Lost as the 8 seed to the 1 seed
2018: Lost a road Game 7, with a key player getting suspended
2019: Exact same as 2018,
2020: Lost a 5 game series with no fans, doesn't count imo
2021: This is the only legit big disappointment imo, but don't forget Tavares missed the entire series
2022: Technically a first round loss but it really wasn't. Two of the top 4 teams in the East. That's the playoff format bad luck. Also vs the 2x defending Cup Winner.

It's not like they got upset 6 years in a row.

Yeah just unlucky

 

[Mad hatter]

Can’t score in games that we have the opportunity to eliminate teams for some reason. Bad goals/refs/luck play a part but we need a big game player, that is something that we don’t have and need.

 

[Ianturnedbull]

Can’t score in games that we have the opportunity to eliminate teams for some reason. Bad goals/refs/luck play a part but we need big game player is something that we don’t have and need.

The sad thing and a lesson Dubas/Shanny will learn is that you don't need to spend 11 million. A 6 million dollar player has the ability to be a game breaker in the playoffs.