Toronto Maple Leafs Season End Review

As the “painful” season comes to an end, the hard part begins for the Toronto Maple Leafs with evaluations, the draft and free agency to plan for.

Usually at the end of a season for Toronto Maple Leafs fans, there is a feeling of disappointment, confusion and in some cases anger and uneasiness about what lies ahead. This time around feels different and that is because things are different.

No unreal expectations, a lot of players getting moved, young prospects gaining valuable experience, but not without some bumps and bruises along the way. Ever since head coach Mike Babcock spoke about the pain that was coming to the team and to fans, it has been a constant point of conversation especially in the media.

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Now with the season over many fans will want to know whether all this pain will be worth it in the end and how much longer will it last? There is no telling how long this rebuild will last, because there are certain aspects the Leafs cannot control and will need some luck, like whether they get the first overall pick in the draft lottery.

If the time comes where Toronto do not get the first overall pick in the draft lottery, this season cannot be seen at as a total loss, because the organization wanted to make sure that it was not. Bringing up the prospects was vital to the rebuild because they need to see whether some of these players will have a future in the NHL.

Babcock did caution getting too optimistic with how the young players were playing, because there was no pressure for them to win. Other NHL teams did not take a serious approach when it came to playing the Leafs, like Ryan Getzlaf when asked about playing against William Nylander.

Going into next season ,the Leafs will most likely have prospects like Nylander, Zach Hyman, Connor Brown Josh Leivo and Nikita Soshnikov start the season. It is tough to say how many players from the Marlies will make the jump to the NHL, but given how some of them played in their brief stint in the NHL this team will be full of young talent.

That means there could be growing pains with the young players, due to their lack of experience. It will be tough for the coaching staff to give a proper review of the performance of the team, but that is why the Leafs went out and got a top notch coaching staff.

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