12 very basic reasons why the Leafs not making the playoffs is disappointing—even worse than in previous years

Let me start by acknowledging something:  maybe there isn’t much of a nuance in what I am about to say, but there is for me.  The Maple Leafs didn’t miss the playoffs this season.  They did not make the playoffs—and they did it the old-fashioned way:  they earned not making it.

To say they “missed” the spring dance would imply that they gave it their all, played their best and hardest, and just came up a  bit short.  We’d be kidding ourselves if we tried to make that case.  They fell short, far short, and took major steps backwards in doing it.

This may have been—no, in fact for me it was—the most disappointing mis-step by far since the blue and white last made the playoffs back in 2004.

Back then, the Leafs were still Pat Quinn’s team.  His authority had been usurped, yes, by Richard Peddie, and through Peddie, the neophyte General  Manager, John Ferguson Jr..  But it was still the team that Quinn had built and nurtured through his tenure as General Manager and they were still pretty darn good.  That they ran into a slightly better (but very good) Flyer team in a bruising playoff series that left Philly with nothing for the next round is sometimes forgotten, but the Leafs had a solid, contending team back then.

By the next season, Ferguson (after the 2004-’05 lock-out year) had put his “stamp” on the team, and he left Quinn with a broken-down roster that predictably fell short of serious playoff contention, though they started the season (much like the Leafs this year) very well.  A loss when they gave up a big lead to the Wayne Gretzky-coached Coyotes in late December, I think it was, seemed to put the Leafs on a slide they could never rebound from until it was too late.

In subsequent years, let’s face, it, we just haven’t been very good.  Paul Maurice’s teams sort of came close, but they weren’t truly playoff caliber.  Burke arrived and burnt the roster to the ground in his first couple of years so we were prepared for some short-term pain.  But after being told by the brass and coaching staff the last two seasons that we were good enough to make the playoffs in the East, we have failed.  Last year, OK, I’ll give them a mulligan.

This season.  No, I won’t. 

I heard the words, I heard the indirect “promises”, I heard the optimism.  But in the end, this season was a failure.  An abject failure.  And if Brian Burke says anything but that—and not in the insincere way he has of “accepting” responsibility as in “I didn’t give the coach a good enough team…”—he will be providing even more fodder for those of us fans who have seen his b.s.-filled movie way too many teams before.

No, we need a tiny bit of self-reflection.  Less pomposity.  Less hubris (in fact none would be nice).  Instead, the moment will require a genuine sense that this management team has seen their mistakes and will move forward thoughtfully, not with knee-jerk, ego-driven decisions.

Why, then, was this particular season so frustrating?  The reasons are too many to list them all, but let me try a few and see if you agree, disagree, or have anything to add:

The East was so, so bad this season. 

I mean, parity has been creeping into the NHL (and in fact has been here for years), but this season, it was wide-open for a really average team with a mediocre roster and talent base to at least “get in”.  The Leafs have that kind of talent pool/roster.  Yet they didn’t get in.  In the end, there weren’t even really close.

The team controlled it’s own destiny.

For the first time in almost a decade they were in the driver’s seat, and couldn’t handle it.  They were well into the playoff zone early in the season, and were still there in January.  Even when the wheels started to fall off, where was the coaching to stop the slide, make adjustments, re-build the team’s confidence?  Where was the leadership in the dressing room?  Where was the GM to stop the bleeding, make a move that would tell the roster, “I have your back. We’re making the playoffs this year…”.  Burke didn’t have to sell the future to get a player or two to help the Leafs down the stretch.

Where are all those "first-round" draft picks?

Not that I believe Burke’s comment (how many times do we have to get feed this garbage?), but why aren’t people holding his hand to the fire?  If he really could have gotten four first-round draft choices for guys who weren’t good enough, collectively, to get us into the playoffs, why didn’t he do it?  Especially since his lieutenants are going around telling every media person that will listen to their “message track” recording that they will not trade youngsters for veterans?  Hell, four first-round picks?  If we really could have obtained those, why not do it?  We missed the playoffs by a mile anyway.  Just another roster miscalculation by the GM, who  is either full of crap or yet again misread the capabilities of his roster.  Take your pick.

The Ottawa Senators got in.

I mean goodness, the Ottawa Senators got in.  I don’t hate the Sens as much as some do. (I understand the feeling…I had it in spades for the Habs in the ‘60s and ‘70s; I just don't have the oomph I used to have, and besides, Ottawa has never beaten us when it really mattered, so what’s the point?)  Here is a team that was a mess with a capital “M”, with their hundredth new coach in the last 4 years and they make the playoffs in the lousy East before us?  C’mon.

Did you watch the Flyers and the Penguins on the weekend?

If you did, you don’t need me to tell you how far away we are from looking remotely like either of those two teams.  We are not even close.  They’ve lapped us and they are coming around the bend again.  We’re that far away.  Even if we assume all of our promising youngsters develop exactly according to their best possible scouting projections, we will not be as good as the Rangers, Bruins or Flyers in two seasons.  Full stop.  (I’m open to arguments to the contrary, but I won’t be easily won over this time…)

We burned a coaching hire out of panic

Hey, Carlyle may turn out to be the best guy available, and the right guy for this team.  But he sure isn’t the right guy for this roster right now.  I don’t buy that they haven’t had time to adjust to him.  They’ve had plenty of time.  They just couldn’t play his way—at least not consistently or effectively.  So now we have a roster that needs to be adjusted in a major way, or have to ask a coach who doesn’t like to adjust (couldn’t do it in Anaheim when things went south) to do just that with a roster he obviously doesn’t like—and doesn’t instinctively play the way he wants.

And, as some thoughtful readers have mentioned in this space, is it possible there would have been a way better fit out there this summer?  Usually, as I’ve said here before, you go from tough coach to player’s coach, not tough coach to toughest coach.

We’ve still losing--and we've become boring.

We all noticed that when things no longer mattered, when the playoffs were officially out of sight, Carlyle then said the Leafs should just enjoy themselves. So what did they do?  They went out and beat a tight Sabres team that needed the win in the worst way Saturday night.  But it was way too late to make a difference.

Yes, the team, including its few "star players", need to play a well-rounded game.  But message to Randy:  Secretariat wasn't asked to pull a plough.  he did what he did best- he ran faster than everybody else.

The Leaf management team ahs been reduced to being p.r. flakes.

As I posted here recently, hat have we heard from the “brass”, Burke’s lieutenants, for the last three or more weeks?  More empty talk about “the plan”, how good the kids will be, why next year is now the year.

Spare me.  If all you can do is show re-runs, go off the air until you have something worthwhile to say.  Even better, say nothing until you’ve fixed the problems.

Maybe I’m alone here, but wouldn’t you love it if Burke just said (next week, at the season-ending press conference):  “You know what.  Things will get better.  We really believe that.  But we agree with the fans. This hasn’t been near good enough under our watch.  We have zero excuses.  Three and a half years has been plenty of time, in a cap world, to be competitive and make the playoffs.  Other teams have done it with less money and in less time.  I’m sorry.  You won’t hear from me again until we have made things better for this organization…”.

What do you think the odds are of that happening?

It’s another spring with no honking horns and no Leaf flags on cars all over Ontario.

Forget the ‘60s and ‘70s when the Leafs made the playoffs often, and the uneven ‘80s, when the Leafs made the playoffs once in a while.  Do you remember 1993 and ’94, those wonderful playoff runs under Pat Burns?  Do you remember the Quinn era between 1999 and 2004, when every spring we won (maybe we missed one year) playoff rounds and happy fans were calling talk shows, honking horns and proudly driving around with Leaf flags on their cars?

Sure, it’s a bit much the way we Leaf people react to winning a playoff game, when other franchises actually win Cups.  But at least when you get to the playoffs you have a chance to relieve some of the excess frustration that has built up over the years?

I’m not sure we are any further ahead in our “re-build” than either Montreal or Edmonton.

I’ve posted on the Edmonton comparison before, but I think more than ever, the debate applies now.  The Leafs and Oilers were two of the worst teams in the NHL two years ago at this time, and they both still are.  The standings after a long NHL season don't lie.  But….look at Edmonton’s young talent on the forward lines.  It is stunningly good in spots.  Do we really have that kind of talent?

As for Montreal, we shouldn’t feel too smug on that front, either.  Take a good look at their roster, and then tell me we are way ahead of them.  I don’t really think so.

I’m not sure we are guaranteed a playoff spot next season and even if we make it, how long would we last?

I know it takes time for a young team to mature, but I’m just not sure where the real leadership is coming from.  Most of our highly-paid “leaders” were sitting up in the press box as healthy scratches.  That reflects either lousy coaching decisions or lousy work by the GM.  I’ll let you decide.

How long do we have to have a poisonous relationship between our front office and the media?

Oh, I know the media-unfriendly Wilson is gone and Carlyle has played nicely so far in the sandbox in his early, “no expectations” days with the Toronto media.  And yes, Nonis, Poulin and Dudley all have been out there trying to generate tolerance for an even longer re-build.

But everyone knows that Burke loathes many of the local media, just as he did in Vancouver.  We’re back to the old Imlach days here.  If Burke likes a guy, and that reporter just takes his “messages” and spreads what Burke wants spread, he’ll talk.  If you don’t play by his narrow rules, well, we all know the names that media types have been called by Burke here- and dating back to his days in Vancouver.  It’s sad, it’s unnecessary and it’s bad for the image of the organization.

Yes, the media can be annoying.  I get it.  I feel it.  But by and large these people are simply trying to do their job.  A phone call to a player’s parent doesn’t make them evil.  It’s a journalist trained to do their job with diligence—even if it’s not the way some people think business should be conducted.

But it’s way more than that one ”incident”.  And it really has to stop.

I know many of you disagree, but it hurts the team and I believe it leads to even more ego-driven management decisions.   It’s simply bad public policy.

Hey, there are so many other reasons I could name for the disappointment Leaf fans feel right now, but I’d rather post this and see if you of you agree, disagree, or have some things to throw into the hopper as well.

Thanks for visiting.