Autumn is hardly white-knuckle time for Toronto Maple Leafs fans.
That would be spring, when the National Hockey League’s Stanley Cup playoffs begin, assuming the Leafs are still playing.
What Leafs fans are feeling now is anxiousness about the new NHL regular season, which just started, and whether the roster changes will actually translate into wins during those 82 games, and a better playoff result.
Of course, last spring was another disappointment. There’s no satisfaction in taking Boston Bruins to overtime in Game 7 and losing.
So during the off-season the Leafs once again made changes, adding here, subtracting there, looking for the mix that will lead them to Lord Stanley’s silverware.
Hard-rock, veteran defencemen Chris Tanev and Oliver Ekman-Larsson are new Leafs, as is scoring right winger Max Pacioretty.
William Nylander went from the right wing to centre, then back again.
Auston Matthews is the new Leafs captain, and former captain John Tavares now has an ‘A’ on his sweater, and hopefully gets a break from having to address the Toronto sports media after every game.
And goalie Anthony Stolarz is expected to challenge Joseph Woll, who is already injured, for the No. 1 job once Woll is healthy again.
There are a few other additions and subtractions I haven’t noticed, which is because I never watch pre-season hockey or particularly listen to Leafs talk radio before the real games begin because, well, at this point I don’t think those talkers know much more about it than I do.
Why do I care about the Leafs? Why does anyone care about the Leafs?
Yes, I remember 1967, the last time the Leafs won the Cup.
Not the game itself, as I wasn’t allowed to stay up that late.
Mostly I remember my father waking me up the morning after and me saying “did the Leafs win?”
I got the nod from Dad, as if anything other than a Toronto win would have been a monumental shock.
Later I heard it was a 3-1 win against Montreal Canadiens, with Leafs captain George Armstrong scoring into the empty Habs net to clinch the victory.
Since then, the Leafs have not been back to the Stanley Cup finals — just a few top-four finishes, and that’s been it.
It’s not as though the Leafs haven’t had some world-class players since 1967 — centre Darryl Sittler, right winger Lanny McDonald (who famously won the Cup with Calgary Flames), winger Wendel Clark, centre Doug Gilmour, goalie Curtis Joseph, centre Mats Sundin and probably others I have forgotten.
But the team with the best player(s) doesn’t always win the Cup. Superstars Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl of Edmonton Oilers found that out in the final last season, although just by one goal in Game 7.
It’s not that today’s Leafs don’t have some world class players — Matthews is the best pure goal scorer in hockey, Mitch Marner a premier play-making winger, Nylander has speed to burn and great hands for shooting and passing.
It’s just that an NHL roster needs incredible depth, from top to bottom, to compete for the Cup.
Matthews, Marner and Nylander can only play, tops, 25 minutes in a 60-minute game without keeling over. And how the Leafs play in those other 35 minutes usually determines who wins and who loses.
So winning a Stanley Cup is a tall order for the Leafs.
When you look at the odds, there are 32 teams in the NHL. As the season starts, and if all the teams are equal, that gives the Leafs a one in 32 chance of taking the Cup home.
All the teams aren’t equal, of course, and the Leafs are probably, on paper, one of the top 10 clubs.
That’s not taking injuries into account and other things — lack of team chemistry, bad coaching, etc. — that can sidetrack an NHL team.
Let’s not forget that the team which wins the Cup usually pays a significant physical price for victory.
The Leafs have yet to show they’re prepared to pay such a price.
And an argument can be made that the Leafs erred in giving their best players lucrative, long-term contracts before they actually won anything, like even two rounds in the playoffs. (Notice I didn’t say the players erred in taking the big money. They did not.)
Anyway, Leafs fans need to relax and just enjoy the hockey. There will be plenty of time to panic in April.
Bob Bruton covers city council for BarrieToday, way back in the Council Chamber, where the Leafs' haters can’t be bothered bugging him.
