A season of failure and denial.

The season started with the exit of legendary Stanley cup winning GM Lou Lamoriello and the hiring of the inexperienced Kyle Dubas. He(Dubas) went out and signed New York Islanders star Center John Tavares ,who wanted to come here, while Lou slipped off to the New York Islanders. The segment of the Leaf fans known as the "snowflakes" heralded Dubas as a hero of analytics, a progressive young new face who had probably never even played hockey before. The NHL no longer needed grit or heart but was now all about small, skilled players (ROFL) who would simply dance around the bigger players untouched. The Islanders won the first round 4 to zip while Johnny Gaudreau and Marner were eliminated, scratch that pathetic theory. The politically correct snowflakes cheered as losing was now back in fashion and the weak excuses could now be rolled out for losing again while achieving nothing.


Dubas put backup Curtis McHilheney on waivers so he could be scooped up by rival the Carolina Hurricanes and refused to see Sparks was not good enough. The result was Toronto lost home advantage to the Boston Bruins and of course, the series. Stanley cup winning Lou Lamoriello was fired for far less. During the Leaf's last 2 years they lost the chance to cash in on unrestricted free agents winger JVR and defenseman Jake Gardiner, while losing in the first round anyway. Toronto now has a team that isn't good enough to win with only a 4 year window to win a cup. You see star Center Auston Mathews ,while signed to only a 5 year contract, one of which is a strike year, will walk for free at only age 26. This summer the explosion of this team will begin as star Mitch Marner is unsigned, while players such as Kappanen and Andreas Johnsson will come for their well deserved raises.Luckily, Mark Hunter drafted RW star Jeremy Bracco who is currently playing very well with the AHL Toronto Marlies. "The time to sign the kids was last summer." -Mark Hunter.


Toronto's defense is clearly not good enough and Dubas should have seen that, yet his failed analytics blinded him. The Toronto Maple Leafs lacked the grit and character to win at the Stanley Cup playoff  level and were never going anywhere, yet Dubas was blissfully unaware. As the propaganda about Toronto having a 7 year window was marched out , the Colombus Blue Jackets, a younger team, marched straight past the excuse makers aka losers.This organization needs big changes or it will soon be in big trouble. They added John Tavares and defenseman Jake Muzzin, got a year older and got the exact same result. This is professional sports and the ever patient Maple Leaf fans who pay big money to watch this organization, deserve far better. Instead they get excuses...again.


This team needs to get rid of several passengers and that includes Kyle Dubas. He clearly lacks the experience, vision, knowledge and understanding of the real game known as the NHL playoffs where size, grit and character are king. This team has too many passengers and in it's current form will fail again next year. Brown, Marleau, Nylander, Sparks among others, need to be vanquished just as Lou and Hunter were. Spare me the excuses , those are for losers. The Maple Leafs must now go out and find a backup goalie, a stud defenseman and some forwards with size, heart and grit, all while their salary cap starts to rapidly expand. Is Kyle Dubas the man to do it? Absolutely not. In the real world he would already be fired. Toronto also needs a fan culture change. They have a segment of fans that enjoy losing, making excuses and being lied to. Maple Leaf fans need to demand winning or they will never have it. Instead they will be fed a package of propaganda, lies and excuses as the team loses year after year after year, after year. All the while being in denial as their gas prices reach $2 /L. "Oh well there is always next year."


Or is there? For Toronto to ever win they must first can the denial as big changes are now needed and their prospect pool will soon be completely depleted. This team may have already run out of time. After all garbage in = garbage out. This season was not a success, it was total failure and absolutely nothing was accomplished other than exposing that Kyle Dubas is not the man to lead this team to the Stanley Cup. Let's just hope record gas prices and inflation combined with fed up Leaf fans doesn't start to lead to empty seats next year.

When Boston made it to the Stanley Cup finals losing to a robust and very physical St. Louis team, GM Kyle Dubas was asked if the Leafs missed their chance at a Stanley cup. Dubas in typical loser style responded  " I don't know how we would have stacked up against Columbus. "  This kind of thinking is very disturbing coming from management. There is an acceptance for losing in Toronto that needs to end. An endless string of excuses about how there is always next year. We have been saying that since 1967 and it hasn't worked. Toronto fans must demand a winner or they will never have one.