The Toronto Maple Leafs enter the 2018-19 season once again in a territory they have not been in since the early 2000's. Stanley Cup Contender Territory.
Back when the Leafs were last in this position, there were clear rivals. The dismantling of the Ottawa Senators in the playoffs were the golden years of the Battle of Ontario, a rivalry that has since all been fizzled out. The Leafs fell to the basement of the NHL, and the Senators saw a trip to the Cup Finals and more recently a triped to the Conference Finals. Now that the Maple Leafs are back in the playoffs and starting this year, in the Contender discussion, the Ottawa Senators appear in the midst of entering their own Ballard years, with Eugene Melnyk running off star players.
The Philadelphia Flyers became another popular opponent to Maple Leafs fans. The Bay Street Bullies vs The Broad Street Bullies. The Leafs taking the 1999 series on their way to the Conference Finals, while the Flyers eliminated the Leafs in back to back years in 2003 & 2004. These days, there is potential for a playoff matchup, though neither team have the toughness they did back in the early 2000's that made the playoff matchups incredible to watch.
So who is the rival that is being birthed as I suggested? It must be the Boston Bruins. After surpringly making the playoffs in the shortened 2013 season, the Leafs entered Game 7 against the Bruins with a lead. Over the course of the first 10 minutes of the third period, that lead grew. What happen next, not even Bruins fans were expecting. Long story short, the Boston Bruins moved on, and the Maple Leafs went home. The Maple Leafs would face another three years of failure, though those years, and that loss in a way, led to the resurgance of the Maple Leafs. Flash forward to this spring, and the Leafs made the playoffs for the second year in a row, under the lead of elite young forwards Auston Matthews, William Nylander & Mitch Marner. Once again, the Maple Leafs had a lead entering the 3rd period of Game 7, and once again the Boston Bruins advanced.
It makes sense that the Boston Bruins is this generations top rival for the Maple Leafs. They have had playoff meetings recently, there is some bad blood between the fanbases, both original 6 franchises.
Except they are not.
Don't get me wrong. The Boston Bruins are absolutley a rival of the Maple Leafs. There is recent history, past history, and when the Maple Leafs ultimatley get to the place they want to be, the battles between the Leafs and Bruins in the 2010's will be something to be documented about the journey.
The new rivalry is something yet to be realized. There's 0 previous playoff history, and the Leafs have won nearly 60% of the matchups against this team. Yet, there's something brewing underneath, and there's several storylines that can be looked at already.
That team is the Tampa Bay Lightning.
The Toronto Maple Leafs and Tampa Bay Lightning are about to enter a half decade to a decade of repeated playoff battles. With the current playoff format, it's inevitable. In order for one team to win the Stanley Cup, they must go through the other. The unfortunate part is that most of these matchups will take place in the 2nd round of the playoffs, but the NHL insists that is a good thing.
This battle is going to be remembered as the man who went home, versus the one who didn't. Steven Stamkos sat in a room and listened to the Maple Leafs present their pitch, and shortly after that meeting ended resigned with the Tampa Bay Lightning, electing not to return to his boyhood team and stick with what he knew. Given the team Tampa Bay has become, no one can really blame him.
John Tavares on the otherhand, say in a room and listened to the Maple Leafs present their pitch, and shortly after that meeting, decided he wanted to go to the team he grew up watching, and help them get to the glory land. It is a natural storyline, and something that will be pushed hard once the inevitable first playoff series happens between the two teams. It's somewhat poetic that they will need to go through each
other to try prove their decisions right.
Yanni Gourde will likely be another story. The Athletic reported that Kyle Dubas was pushing the Maple Leafs to make a play for him at the end of the 2017 season. Yanni Gourde was a pending UFA and after playing just 20 games in the NHL the previous season, was considering his options, and Dubas wanted the Leafs to meet with Gourde when the speaking period opened. There's various reports on the further details, but the Leafs may have spoke with Gourde and his agent on the 25th of June, and may have even offered Gourde a one year deal. However Tampa Bay offered him a two year extension, and Gourde signed to stay in Tampa Bay. Flash forward a season and Yanni Gourde came off a season where he put up 64 points. Gourde is likely a player that now Leafs General Manager Kyle Dubas will regret not getting his hands on, even if it was a decision out of his control.
Steven Stamkos, John Tavares, Victor Hedman, Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, Nikita Kucherov, William Nylander, Ryan McDonagh, Morgan Rielly, Andrei Vasilevsky, Frederik Andersen, Brayden Point, Nazem Kadri. There's no shortness of star power on these two divisional rivals, and neither team is likely losing any of it any time soon.
This year starts the birth of a rival.
Back when the Leafs were last in this position, there were clear rivals. The dismantling of the Ottawa Senators in the playoffs were the golden years of the Battle of Ontario, a rivalry that has since all been fizzled out. The Leafs fell to the basement of the NHL, and the Senators saw a trip to the Cup Finals and more recently a triped to the Conference Finals. Now that the Maple Leafs are back in the playoffs and starting this year, in the Contender discussion, the Ottawa Senators appear in the midst of entering their own Ballard years, with Eugene Melnyk running off star players.
The Philadelphia Flyers became another popular opponent to Maple Leafs fans. The Bay Street Bullies vs The Broad Street Bullies. The Leafs taking the 1999 series on their way to the Conference Finals, while the Flyers eliminated the Leafs in back to back years in 2003 & 2004. These days, there is potential for a playoff matchup, though neither team have the toughness they did back in the early 2000's that made the playoff matchups incredible to watch.
So who is the rival that is being birthed as I suggested? It must be the Boston Bruins. After surpringly making the playoffs in the shortened 2013 season, the Leafs entered Game 7 against the Bruins with a lead. Over the course of the first 10 minutes of the third period, that lead grew. What happen next, not even Bruins fans were expecting. Long story short, the Boston Bruins moved on, and the Maple Leafs went home. The Maple Leafs would face another three years of failure, though those years, and that loss in a way, led to the resurgance of the Maple Leafs. Flash forward to this spring, and the Leafs made the playoffs for the second year in a row, under the lead of elite young forwards Auston Matthews, William Nylander & Mitch Marner. Once again, the Maple Leafs had a lead entering the 3rd period of Game 7, and once again the Boston Bruins advanced.
It makes sense that the Boston Bruins is this generations top rival for the Maple Leafs. They have had playoff meetings recently, there is some bad blood between the fanbases, both original 6 franchises.
Except they are not.
Don't get me wrong. The Boston Bruins are absolutley a rival of the Maple Leafs. There is recent history, past history, and when the Maple Leafs ultimatley get to the place they want to be, the battles between the Leafs and Bruins in the 2010's will be something to be documented about the journey.
The new rivalry is something yet to be realized. There's 0 previous playoff history, and the Leafs have won nearly 60% of the matchups against this team. Yet, there's something brewing underneath, and there's several storylines that can be looked at already.
That team is the Tampa Bay Lightning.
The Toronto Maple Leafs and Tampa Bay Lightning are about to enter a half decade to a decade of repeated playoff battles. With the current playoff format, it's inevitable. In order for one team to win the Stanley Cup, they must go through the other. The unfortunate part is that most of these matchups will take place in the 2nd round of the playoffs, but the NHL insists that is a good thing.
This battle is going to be remembered as the man who went home, versus the one who didn't. Steven Stamkos sat in a room and listened to the Maple Leafs present their pitch, and shortly after that meeting ended resigned with the Tampa Bay Lightning, electing not to return to his boyhood team and stick with what he knew. Given the team Tampa Bay has become, no one can really blame him.
John Tavares on the otherhand, say in a room and listened to the Maple Leafs present their pitch, and shortly after that meeting, decided he wanted to go to the team he grew up watching, and help them get to the glory land. It is a natural storyline, and something that will be pushed hard once the inevitable first playoff series happens between the two teams. It's somewhat poetic that they will need to go through each
other to try prove their decisions right.
Yanni Gourde will likely be another story. The Athletic reported that Kyle Dubas was pushing the Maple Leafs to make a play for him at the end of the 2017 season. Yanni Gourde was a pending UFA and after playing just 20 games in the NHL the previous season, was considering his options, and Dubas wanted the Leafs to meet with Gourde when the speaking period opened. There's various reports on the further details, but the Leafs may have spoke with Gourde and his agent on the 25th of June, and may have even offered Gourde a one year deal. However Tampa Bay offered him a two year extension, and Gourde signed to stay in Tampa Bay. Flash forward a season and Yanni Gourde came off a season where he put up 64 points. Gourde is likely a player that now Leafs General Manager Kyle Dubas will regret not getting his hands on, even if it was a decision out of his control.
Steven Stamkos, John Tavares, Victor Hedman, Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, Nikita Kucherov, William Nylander, Ryan McDonagh, Morgan Rielly, Andrei Vasilevsky, Frederik Andersen, Brayden Point, Nazem Kadri. There's no shortness of star power on these two divisional rivals, and neither team is likely losing any of it any time soon.
This year starts the birth of a rival.