For the first time in a decade, the Maple Leafs are playing out a stretch run with no playoff implications. While they haven’t been mathematically eliminated quite yet, the Leafs have been a dead team skating since the week after the Olympic break, when they vowed to make a late playoff push and then immediately face-planted to the tune of eight straight losses.
It’s over. This team stinks. Hello darkness my old friend, and all that.
But that’s the twist this time, because it’s been ten years since we’ve seen this story play out. Until the season ends, the Leafs still technically hold the league’s longest active postseason streak. Their fans haven’t had to endure a stretch run like this since 2015-16, the year the team flipped into tank mode down the stretch and was rewarded with Auston Matthews.
That means that there’s an entire cohort of young and/or new Maple Leaf fans who are in uncharted territory here. And they may not be sure how to handle it.
If that’s you, I have good news: There are plenty of crusty veterans like me who’ve been through this before. Oh, have we ever. There was a time when this kind of season used to be the Maple Leafs' whole thing.
We might be going back to those days. So today, let me help you doe-eyed newbies with a few tips. Gather round, kids, grandpa's got some advice. Let’s see how it long he can last before he just ends up rambling about Wendel Clark.
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