0-5, 1-8-1, 5-13-2: these are the Leafs’ records for the past 5, 10, and 20 games. Since February 1st, when they still sat in a playoff position, Toronto has managed to accumulate only 12 points out of a possible 40, landing them on the outside looking in for yet another year. Of course, with twelve games remaining the possibility of a postseason berth is still there, but to put it into perspective: the Raptors are closer to making the playoffs than the Leafs (4 games behind Milwaukee for the final spot in the Eastern Conference). So what happened? I thought this was the year Toronto would finally end its playoff drought, ongoing since 2004; they started off strong and we all had high hopes, but I was weary from the beginning. I understood that they were playing beyond their means with an extremely high scoring percentage and that it was only a matter of time before regression towards the mean kicked in, but lo and behold here they are several months later, not struggling for that 8th and final playoff spot, but trying not to embarrass themselves.
I use the word “struggling” lightly. Tuesday night against the Florida Panthers the Leafs seemed to have all but given up. Resigned to defeat yet again, Toronto lost 5-2 to a team that is still fighting for a spot in the postseason and showing the determination to get there. No, the struggle is all but over, and for new head coach Randy Carlyle, these next few weeks might be used as an opportunity to try new line structuring, give playing time to young prospects, and just build a team for next year; and wasn’t it just over a week ago we were all talking about trading for Rick Nash?
With the Leafs’ losses comes a silver lining however. Toronto has dropped down to 7th last in the league with 68 total points on the season. Minnesota has just as many points and right behind them are Carolina and New York (Islanders of course) with 67 points each; Montreal is also not far back, sitting at 3rd worst in the league with 65 points. With twelve games left and Toronto having the worst winning percentage over the past month and a half out of the five teams mentioned, it’s not ridiculous to imagine the Leafs winding up with a top five draft pick this year.
So is it time to just start tanking? Well, they started doing that a while ago, but I think now that the opportunity for a high draft selection in a somewhat deep class is there, I don’t see any reason the Leafs would want to win the rest of the year. If they sit back and/or play the way they have been playing for the last little while, they could allow all of Minnesota, Carolina, New York, and Montreal to pass them in the standings leaving them with a #3 overall pick. Even if only two or three of the teams surpass Toronto in terms of points total, a top five pick is totally within their grasp; they could use the selection to grab the power centre they’ve been missing, such as Grigorenko or even Galchenyuk later in the draft. Yes, the time has come to lose, and judging by the way they’ve been playing as of late, the Leafs are quite good at that.
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Nick McIsaac is Toronto Standard’s sports writer. Follow him on Twitter (for everything sports related) at @nickclass.
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