Is the bar in Leafland set high enough?

One of the things that I’ve contemplated lately, as a long time Maple Leaf follower, is this: the expectations of Leaf supporters are, well, not that high, it seems.

Oh, I’m not saying Leaf fans don’t want the team to win—they most certainly do.  And everyone wants to see a championship here before long.  But as year after year passes since the last time the blue and white have won even a single, solitary playoff round (2004), it almost feels as though fans will be satisfied if the Leafs simply make the playoffs. In fact, winning a round would be cause for celebration.

While that, on the one hand, is OK and quite understandable, I’m not sure the level of expectation is high enough.  Back in the Quinn era, I recall fans complaining about the Leafs trading away all these great young prospects —usually after the fact—when the club made moves at the deadline to acquire players (e.g. Owen Nolen).

But I supported those moves at the time and still do.  I’d trade a “possible” future star any day for a legitimate chance to win a Stanley Cup now.  (As I recall, the Dallas Stars traded away future superstar Jarome Iginla for Joe Nieuwendyk. Long-term, Calgary obviously "won" the trade. But Dallas won a Stanley Cup with Nieuwendyk.) And in the Quinn era, the Maple Leafs were serious contenders almost every single season.  Twice they made the “final four”, and there were a couple of years when I thought the team looked like they had the capability of going even further than that, including 2004. Besides, while we can all look back and bemoan the fact that the Leafs did not win anything, I still ask: when all was said and done, who were all these great young draft picks and prospects that we traded away back then? And would the hard-working players on those Leaf teams have been satisfied had Quinn did nothing to try and give them a real chance to win? They did not win a championship in the end, but management surely tried.

So here we sit, more than a decade later, and what would have been absolutely unacceptable a decade ago—the "bar" being the hope of just making the playoffs—is now cause for rejoicing. We hope our uneven defense has improved with a trade and a UFA signing. We hope our third and fourth lines will be better next season.  We hope some youngsters from the Marlies will be as good as billed. And we hope that some recent signings will be better than the guys we similarly signed a year ago, though in truth, my guess is most Leaf fans, myself included, could not have named these individuals (Santorelli, Kontiola) two weeks ago.

I’m not suggesting these guys can’t play. I have no doubt every player the Leafs have recently traded for or signed can play.  But has this team really moved the needle beyond maybe being a bit better on the blueline, and maybe bit a bit better in terms of their “bottom-six”? And even if the Leafs are indeed better than they were, how do they compare with really good teams?

And this all ties back to my point above: what is our expectation for next season and beyond?  Is it about “making the playoffs”? Winning a round or two? Because it feels as though what was supposed to be a non-five year plan (“no patience for a five-year rebuild”) several years ago has now turned into an even longer project—with no discernable end point in sight. And we also seem to be having the same conversation every year.

So while I will concede the roster on paper does feel and look better (and hey, I know, I was one of the people saying all last season, and the year before for that matter, that the Leafs could contend with just about anyone in the East, even with the roster they had) is that really enough?

I know this isn't like the old days when I was a kid back in the early '60s.  Back then, the Leafs had access to a Junior A "farm system", basically, that provided them with stars like Bob Pulford, Dickie Duff, Billy Harris, Bob Nevin, Frank Mahovlich, Dave Keon, Bobby Baun (right)  and Carl Brewer on an ongoing basis.  Those guys were, in hockey terms, true warriors who bled blue and white and wore the Leaf crest with immense pride. They also happened to win (most of them, at least) four Stanley Cups in the old six-team NHL.

This is a much more complicated, challenging NHL, for sure. But some teams, like the Devils and the Red Wings for the past two decades (we could throw the Avalanche in as well, and in more recent years the Hawks, Sharks, Bruins and Kings) seem to get it right more often than not.

Like most Leaf observers, I agree that General Manager Dave Nonis was wise not to throw money around last week.  And I realize these things take time. Rome was not built in a day.

But to me, we have seemed caught between a rebuild and “win now” for years in Toronto.  And I see no certainty that much has changed.  We all recognize there are some nice top-end players here,  two very promising young defensemen and some prospects.  But we can say that for almost half the league, eh?

Where is the clear plan?  We have some skill, sure, and that’s important.  But where is the feeling that we have the stud defense, or the strength up the middle, or the proven playoff experience or the team leaders required to make this roster what the best hockey market the world deserves?

Mainly, my question today is: has the bar been so low for so long, that even the tiniest bit of hope makes Leaf fans believe brighter days are ahead, when we are actually watching the same middlish movie every season—simply with a few different actors?