What were many Toronto Maple Leafs fans reaching for after seeing Tyler Toffoli’s overtime goal complete a four-game sweep of the Winnipeg Jets for the Montreal Canadiens on Monday?
A) The remote, B) The Pepto Bismol, C) A bottle of vodka, or D)All of the Above.
The Habs could be the most fortunate club in recent playoff history, playing a Jets club whose captain’s momentary lapse of good sense found him getting suspended for four games after facing a Leafs squad whose only accomplishment over the last five seasons has been their consistent futility in the playoffs, but Montreal has to be given credit for making the right decisions (and some that you may have wished Toronto made) after losing to Philadelphia in the bubble last August.
GM Marc Bergevin swapped Max Domi to Columbus for Josh Anderson and signed the big winger to a seven-year contract, traded for goalie Jake Allen to backup Carey Price, dealt for the rights to defenseman Joel Edmundson to solidify their blueline and added veterans Toffoli, Corey Perry in free agency and Eric Staal, Jon Merrill and Erik Gustafsson at the deadline.
The Canadiens struggled at times during the regular season, but throughout the mantra being chanted was that they were built for the playoffs, and it is hard to argue that point after winning seven straight postseason games to reach the semi-finals.
No one quibbled with what the Leafs did last October and before the deadline, adding TJ Brodie, Zach Bogosian, Wayne Simmonds, Nick Foligno, Riley Nash and others to their core group. Brodie and Bogosian solidified the Leafs blueline as Edmundson did for Montreal, but in hindsight how would Anderson's “bull-in-a-China-shop” methods look in Blue and White with the prospect of Zach Hyman departing via free agency next month.
How would have Perry looked (after playing great for Dallas in their run to the Cup Final last season) at half the price of Simmonds, who was ineffective after returning from a broken wrist. Or Staal (who stole the puck from Mitch Marner on Brendan Gallagher’s goal in Game 7) over Thornton, who scored a near-meaningless power play goal in Game 4.
It is very easy to have 20/20 hindsight when it comes to roster decisions. Had John Tavares not been injured in Game 1 or Marner and Auston Matthews been able to come through in more than one game in the series, we could be talking about how the Leafs would fare against Tampa, Vegas or Colorado.
If you look at the construction of teams having success in the playoffs, such as the Habs, New York Islanders, Tampa Bay, Vegas, Boston and Colorado, they all have good to great goaltending, a solid and deep blueline, the ability to play tough playoff hockey and enough offense to get by in tight games.
Although Jack Campbell cannot be blamed for the defeat, his ability to be able to handle the workload as the Leafs primary starter next season is in question. Toronto’s defense was much improved, but losing Jake Muzzin in the postseason for the second straight year, Morgan Rielly’s uncertain contract status and the potential of losing Justin Holl or Travis Dermott in the expansion draft casts some doubt.
The biggest question is up front, where the Leafs face the prospect of losing their most valuable two-way player in Hyman and five other unrestricted free agents, as well as continuing doubt about whether allocating nearly 50% of the club’s salary cap towards four players who have won nothing the last three seasons makes any sense.
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