The playoffs will bring a lot of fun for fans—and even greater scrutiny for the Maple Leafs….

If the Maple Leaf players—young as many of them are and never having been in exactly this position in this market before—perhaps feel the scrutiny has been a bit much the past week as they finally successfully stumbled their way toward a once seemingly certain playoff berth, the fun is only beginning, one would think.

The players may have felt their collars a little tighter around their neck in recent times as we well-meaning Leaf partisans pounced on—and commented on— every mistake, the giveaways, puck possession issues, shots (or not) on goal, breakdowns, coaching decisions, ill-timed fights, whatever.

Despite all that, I will say ‘kudos’ to them for making it this far.  Most hockey and Leaf observers, if we are honest, did not expect a playoff team, and I’ve noticed many Leaf fans (somewhat understandably) bouncing from one emotion to another.  One week it’s, “Burke sure deserves credit for putting this great young team together”.  The next, the more common views is apt to be, “Our defense stinks, other than Phaneuf.  Where is our secondary scoring?  Thank God Reimer has been outstanding lately.  We still need a first-line center….why is Carlyle doing what he’s doing?...”.

There’s nothing wrong with those views.  In the “good times”, fans can, if they wish, choose to laud Burke for the good things he did in his four loud years here. He certainly re-built the 'system', made some daring moves and while he was not the man who drafted/acquired current contributors Grabovski, Kulemin, Reimer, Gunnarsson or Komarov, he had a hand in pretty much everything else on the big club and in our system—good and bad.  (Arguably, Nonis’ contribution - beyond toning things down around here, which is actually pretty important -  was perhaps waiving Connolly, allowing Carlyle to sit Komisarek, and trading Lombardi, all Burke acquisitions.  This has allowed Carlyle to blend in youngsters with potential, playing to win now while still looking to the future...)

And if fans feel we still have a long way to go to be a true Cup contender, that’s fair, too— and likely realistic as well.  Some see this year as a mirage, a short season where good breaks and generally very good goaltending overcame statistical anomalies and what they perceive as Carlyle’s poor coaching or maybe a still limited roster.

Fans are always all over the map, and that’s part of what makes Leafworld a bit of a pressure-cooker. Sports fans in every market, in any sport, are passionate.  We’re no different in that regard. 

But Leaf fans are found in every corner of the earth.  And we tend to micro-analyze every little error, every coaching staff decision, pre- and in-game, every goalie flub.  The Toronto media is part of this equation as well, and when you have 24-hour sports radio, TV, hourly internet critiques, etc.—and all that with a huge focus on the Leafs 12 months of the year, the players may say they don’t “read the papers” but they know what’s being said, what’s “out there”.  And I would argue it has an impact.  Players are people first, with egos and feelings, obviously.

In a sense, despite the team’s relative “success” this season, the pressure is just beginning.

As I’ve written here recently, even though this was, in my view, an experimental year for Carlyle; even though fan expectations were modest, at best, heading into the season; even though the Leafs have now achieved more than most fans honestly thought they would or could…now the “second season” starts in this market for the first time in almost a decade. The dial is just now being really tuned up, as Leaf fans that have been on the sidelines after the lockout, etc. are maybe just now willing to let this team toy with their emotions—just a bit, for starters.

There is a whole new generation of young Leaf fans who barely (or don’t at all) remember Mogilny giving the puck away against Carolina in Game 6 in 2002 semi-finals to end that series. (That still hurts…).  They may not remember Roenick’s overtime goal that eliminated us against the Flyers in 2004.  Those were outstanding Leaf teams that weren’t perfect, no, but they were awfully good.  The days of Curtis Joseph and Ed Belfour, Sundin and Gary Roberts and McCabe and Kaberle—big hits, blocked shots, overtime magic and fond memories…though, yes, always heartbreak in the end.

My point, in a rather long-winded fashion?

Simply that even though this is an 'bonus', though we weren’t expecting it, despite the fact that we are, in a sense, “just happy to be here” (i.e. in the playoffs), as fans, we can’t help (at least most of us) now hope for more.  The bar in Leafland has been so low for so long that, hey, we can’t help but want to believe we can do better than just “squeak into the playoffs”, eh?  We’d like to see if this team can actually somehow surprise people in the first round, and then, who knows?

Goodness, I’ve said often enough (you're tired of hearing that, I'm sure, but it's true...) these past few years here at VLM that the East is pretty mediocre.  Of course there are elite players and some solid teams but every roster also has flaws.  It’s the reality of the cap era.  So, I tend to surmise, why can’t the Leafs—and here come the “ifs”—advance…if they get solid goaltending, if they block shots, if they drive to the net, if they play a smart, simple, tough game?

We all know they have some skill in players like van Riemsdyk (who was huge for the Flyers just a couple of years ago in the playoffs ands can go on "hot streaks" where he finds the back of the net), Kessel, Grabovski, and of course Lupul and Kadri (and some would argue, Bozak and MacArthur as well…).

They have toughness beyond just their fighters, who also try to finish their checks, at least.  They have McClement, who is tenacious; Komarov, who is certainly edgy; Fraser, who surely has surpassed any Leaf fan’s expectations, and of course the captain- all of whom are capable of a physical, playoff-style game.

And in reality, almost all players raise the level of intensity in their play when the first round starts.  The Leafs will, too.  Guys who don’t normally block shots, do.  Players who don’t finish checks hard, do so.  Players are more willing to take cross-checks to virtually sit on the goalie’s lap in the crease, and fight for pucks along the boards and in the corners.  That’s what makes hockey at this upcoming time of year so compelling—16 teams (and the Leafs now one of those teams, finally) fighting like mad not to be eliminated.  It brings out the passion in all players, who already are some of the most driven, competitive people around.

But the players surely know that with all this fan support, all this energy, we will also be raising, fair or not (maybe it is indeed unfair) our expectations for right now.  Not just hoping that this will be a great experience four our young players, and it will surely be that.  But we, as fans, will naturally want more.  We will harp on every mistake, every goalie flub, every giveaway, every missed check.  Our standards for players maybe not quite capable of hockey “perfection” will be higher than it maybe should be, but it is what it is. We are fans, after all.

And we fans are a bit desperate, too.  It’s been a while for us as well, not just some of the players or the Leaf organization.  We may all point to this as merely a building-block year, and it is.  But will that be enough to satisfy long-starving Leafers? Some yes, but maybe not all.

I hope we can all enjoy the ride, as short or long as it will be.  And yes, look at this opportunity as something that will help this young team out in the years ahead, when they are closer to being, we hope, a true Cup contender.

But in the meantime, I’m betting we’ll be rooting hard in the present, nit-picking along the way, and hoping against hope our guys overcome whatever obstacles they face in an Eastern Conference that is there for the taking.

It will be fun.  And about time.

I hope you feel the same!


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If you missed these recent (and slightly older) posts, I would enjoy hearing your thoughts...

• Favourite Leaf mementos, memories, trading cards, etc...

• A rugged old-time Leaf

• In light of the Leafs making the spring dance, a column about why the Leafs still matter after all these years...

• How I became a Leaf fan....