We’re only two games into the Toronto Maple Leafs’ regular season, and the fevered worries of Leafs fans are at DEFCON 1. Off-season pickup Petr Mrazek, who has had health issues throughout his nine-year NHL career, was injured in Thursday’s game against the Ottawa Senators, and his timeline for return has not been revealed by Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe. The Buds already were without the services of superstar Auston Matthews, who won’t make an appearance until at least the Leafs’ fourth game of the year. And much-criticized winger Mitch Marner is under the gun to justify his hefty $10.9 million salary; Marner has one assist in Toronto’s first two games, but a 0.5 points-per-game average will not endear him to Leafs watchers.
But you have to understand, this is life in Leafs-crazy Toronto. Expectations for the 2021-22 roster are about as high as they can be. And there will be drama – right from the get-go, through Game 82.
It has always been this way, for the nearly 50 years I’ve been alive, and well before it. I grew up in the Harold Ballard Era, which was brutal, and which gave critics and observers plenty of ammunition to rip the franchise over. And the pressure to win has never been greater – a direct result of the full franchise rebuild team president Brendan Shanahan has overseen in the past seven years. If the Leafs had less talent, savvy fans would give them more breathing room; and indeed, that patience was on full display in the early years of Shanahan’s rebuild. But now that they’re one of the league’s most dangerous teams, the expectancy of their game-to-game results has skyrocketed. Fans are going to pick apart their every move, and that’s already happening this season.
To wit: If the Leafs started the game with two wins, there would still be debate and discussion of (a) how they won those two games; and (b) whether that would be sustainable. In this year’s example, Toronto was extremely slow out of the gate in both their win over Montreal and their loss against Ottawa, and that will be an issue for them until Keefe and his staff correct it. And given that they’ve earned *just* two points in two games, the Leafs will be pestered with the anxieties of their fans.
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That’s what happens when your team hasn’t won a Stanley Cup since 1967. That’s what you have to deal with, day in and day out, as an Original Six franchise whose modern-day struggles and collapses are like open wounds. This is not Dallas, a decent NHL market, which saw its Stars make it to the Cup Final in the 2019-20 campaign, then miss the playoffs altogether last season. The Stars were allowed to recalibrate without major changes to their roster, and I’m not sure that would’ve been true if the Leafs were in the same position. The microscope they’re under in Toronto is just too powerful, and the status quo would not have been acceptable had the Buds followed up playoff success with regular-season failure.
Again, this is considered “normal” life in a hockey-crazed city where there is a huge media presence and a fan base with an insatiable desire for more commentary and analysis. This is what the Cowboys are to Dallas, and what the NBA’s Knicks are to New York City. There will always be a high-drama story in tomorrow’s newspaper or website. And there are certain players who will want to avoid playing for Toronto like the plague because of the constant pressure to produce, while other players thrive because of it.
Short of winning a Cup this season, there’s nothing the Leafs will be able to do to satisfy all their critics. Every win and loss will be second-guessed. Every good or bad period will be part of a larger roller-coaster existence.
For better and worse, that is never going to change.
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