SIMMONS: Beyond the Panthers and Oilers, who's better than the Toronto Maple Leafs?

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2 days ago

A question to ask now that the noise has quieted, the president has lost his job and free agency of Mitch Marner and John Tavares remains but a month away: Which teams right now that are better than the Toronto Maple Leafs?
You can start with the Eastern Conference champion Florida Panthers and then move to the Western Conference champion Edmonton Oilers.
But after that, who? The Carolina Hurricanes? No. The Washington Capitals? No. The Tampa Bay Lightning? No. The New Jersey Devils? No. The Ottawa Senators? No. The Montreal Canadiens? No.
You move to the Western Conference and you can't feel good about how the Dallas Stars played against the Oilers. You can't feel good about the President's Trophy winning Winnipeg Jets or the ease with which Vegas lost to Edmonton in the second round of the playoffs.
St. Louis proved to be a tough out and they were. But the Kings of Los Angeles imploded as their best two players head into their 18th and 20th seasons.
With Marner and Tavares or without the duo — and assuming the replacements put in place by general manager Brad Treliving will be reasonable and not necessarily equal — where exactly are the Leafs heading into the draft, free agency, and what will certainly be a busy off-season?
What hurt wasn't that the Leafs lost in seven games to the defending champioin Panthers. Tampa and Carolina lasted just five games apiece against Florida. There's no certainty Edmonton will take them to seven games again — although I'm picking the Oilers to win.
What hurt was how the Leafs lost. How they lost themselves in Games 5 and 7 at home. How they didn't compete in any meaningful way. How they seemed incapable of matching the intensity of the Panthers.
Even as Carolina went down in five games, they fought right to the end. They weren't trampled on. They weren't embarrassed. But still, they lost in 5. Two games fewer than the Maple Leafs managed to last.
Perspective doesn't come easily when a season ends so drastically. Perspective comes from stepping away, gauging the accomplishments, gauging the history of the franchise and trying to take stock of who the Leafs are and where they might be heading.
It is now a very long 58 years since the Leafs won a Stanley Cup — back when the NHL only had six teams and it took only eight playoff wins to celebrate. But ask yourself this, if you are anything resembling a Leafs historian — or even a long-time fan — has there been one Leafs team since 1967 that should have won a Cup?
Was there a Leafs team good enough?
The answer is no.
Roger Neilson coached some impressive Toronto teams in the 1970s, led by Darryl Sittler and Lanny McDonald up front, with Tiger Williams fighting everyone, with Borje Salming and Ian Turnbull on defence and Mike Palmateer in goal. The most points they had in a season was 92 in 1978.
They made it to the third round of the playoffs that year, being handled rather easily by the Cup champion Montreal Canadiens. The Leafs finished sixth out of 18 teams in the league.
They weren't legitimate Stanley Cup contenders.
Pat Burns coached some impressive Toronto teams in the 1990s, led by Doug Gilmour, Dave Andreychuk and Wendel Clark up front, with a defence that included Dave Ellett, Sylvain Lefebvre and Jamie Macoun, and with Felix Potvin in goal.
Twice in a row the Leafs advanced to the third round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. The first time they went seven games and lost to Wayne Gretzky and the Los Angeles Kings and, all these years later — 32 in fact — that loss still stings.
The team, though, was thin when compared to the current Leafs. The club finished eighth overall in 1993, lost in the semifinals the following year in a rather upsetting one-sided series against Vancouver.
Those were the highlight years for Burns. Close as they may have been, they were never the best team in hockey.
In Pat Quinn's first year coaching the Leafs, the club made it to the Eastern Conference final and Toronto had the third-best record in the NHL.
The team was led by Mats Sundin in 1999 with a rather ordinary group of forwards coming after him such as Steve Thomas, Sergei Berezin and Mike Johnson. The defence had character and characters such as Dmitri Yushkevich, Danny Markov, Sylvain Cote and Tomas Kaberle. Curtis Joseph was difference maker in goal.
That team lost to a Buffalo Sabres team missing Dominik Hasek. That never should have happened. But it happened once again in Quinn's time coaching the Leafs.
In 2002, the Leafs were deeper up front with Sundin, Alex Mogilny, Gary Roberts, Tie Domi, Darcy Tucker and Shayne Corson. It wasn't exactly a Stanley Cup-winning defence that included Jyrkki Lumme, Cory Cross and Karel Pilar — even with the Leafs having Kaberle and Bryan McCabe. Even with Joseph in goal, the Leafs couldn't overcome Paul Maurice's Carolina team in the Conference final.
The two best Neilson teams, the two best Burns teams, the two best Quinn teams were all sound NHL competitors — just not teams ready or able to grab the Stanley Cup.
The most points the Leafs have ever had in a season was 115 and that came with Sheldon Keefe coaching and Auston Matthews scoring 60 goals and winning the Hart Trophy. That was in 2022. That Leafs team lost Games 6 and 7 of the first round to the eventual Eastern Conference champion Tampa Bay Lightning.
Keefe followed up the 115-point season with 111 in 2023. That year, the Leafs won first round against Tampa but lost rather quickly to Florida in five games.
Now, here are the Leafs of Brad Treliving and Craig Berube. They have Matthews, William Nylander and Matthew Knies up front and who knows after that.
They have the deepest blueline of the past half century, starting with Chris Tanev and Jake McCabe as a sound shut-down pairing. They have depth in goal with Anthony Stolarz and Joseph Woll, who may not individually compare to Joseph, Ed Belfour, Potvin or Palmateer, but they are sound as a pair, probably the best Toronto duo since Bernie Parent and Jacques Plante shared time in goal.
A look at Brad Treliving's work two years into his tenure as Maple Leafs GM
MAPLE LEAFS SNAP SHOTS: Brad Treliving, Craig Berube share new powers
They have a coach Berube rather similar in style to Burns and similar in respect to Quinn. They have a 50-goal scorer, considering Matthews' average season, and a 40-goal scorer in Nylander — who in the East, other than Tampa, has anything to compare with that?
No matter how the playoff series ended with Florida, this Leafs team had more elements than any of the previous squads of the past 58 years.
Just how management turns the roster over with Marner likely leaving and Tavares growing one year older will be fascinating to observe. But they're not starting where Burns started or Quinn started, having to turn nothing into something.
The booing happened at the end of Game 7 in Toronto. The firing of Brendan Shanahan happened not long after. The screaming from the bench and at the bench happened.
The Maple Leafs unravelled on the ice, off the ice, at the worst of possible playoff moments and when opportunity was at its greatest.
But when you look at the teams before them — coached by Neilson, Burns, Quinn and Keefe — this team still seems to have more.
Right now, early June in today's NHL, we ask the question: Who is better than the Maple Leafs?
The two teams who are playing for the Stanley Cup are better. After that, who else?
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