JETS, LEAFS CARRY CANADA’S HOPES
Both teams have chance to go far in the Stanley Cup playoffs — one may even win it
The wait is over.
After countless restarts and rebuilds, of preaching patience and drafting and developing, the time has come: There is a legitimate Stanley Cup contender coming out of Canada.
Well, two of them actually. Winnipeg or Toronto. Take your pick. Or better yet, pencil them both in for the first all-Canadian final since Calgary played Montreal in 1989. It could happen. And for once, it’s not just wishful thinking.
A year ago, five of the seven Canadian teams qualified for the playoffs, with the Edmonton Oilers reaching Game 7 of the second round and the Ottawa Senators coming within a double-overtime goal of advancing to the final. This year, it’s down to just the Jets and the Maple Leafs.
But while there is a lack of quantity, the two teams certainly make up for in quality.
The Jets, who will play the Minnesota Wild in the first round, finished with the secondbest record in the NHL this season. The Maple Leafs, who will play the Boston Bruins, tied for the third-most points in the Eastern Conference and this season set franchise records for both wins and overall points.
According to Bodog betting site, the Jets are 8-to-1 favourites to win the whole thing. The Leafs are 11-to-1. Only a handful of teams (Nashville, Tampa Bay, Boston, Vegas and Pittsburgh) have better odds, all of whom Winnipeg and Toronto can — and have — beat during the season.
This might be the best chance since Vancouver lost 4-3 to Boston in 2011 of a Canadian team ending a championship drought that has stretched on for almost 25 years (Montreal beat L.A. in 1993). That is, if Winnipeg and Toronto don’t stub their toes and bow out in the first round.
“I like expectations,” Leafs GM Lou Lamoriello told Postmedia in a phone interview. “We expect a lot out of ourselves — and rightly so. And we want our players (to have those expectations) too. What we have to do right now is avoid any distractions and focus on the way we have to play and the way we have to play collectively.
“We do have (105) points. We have played well. We have played well against good teams, so we do know we are a good hockey team, but the playoffs are a different season. Everything is new. None of the points that you had during the season — as far as players go — matter. It’s just the score at the end of the game. That’s all that matters. You have to win four games to win a series.”
The thing is, expectations have been noticeably measured in either market. If people are planning parades, the permits are being date-stamped for 2019 or beyond.
Maybe it’s because Toronto has to go through the buzz saw that is the Bruins, who finished one point back of the top-seeded Lightning, while a trip to the final for Winnipeg would include beating the Presidents’ Trophywinning Predators in the second round. Maybe it’s because both rosters are still so young and inexperienced. Or maybe it’s because this is still all so new.
A year ago, Toronto qualified for the playoffs for only the second time in 12 seasons and lost to Washington 4-2. In Winnipeg ’s only playoff appearance, the team was swept by Anaheim in 2015.
There is a reason for fans to be guarded. Success is still a relatively new concept.
For the Jets, just winning one game would be an improvement. After all, this is a franchise that has gone a collective 0-8 in playoff games, including the 11 years in Atlanta. The Leafs, whose championship drought goes back to 1967, haven’t won a playoff round since 2004.
And yet, neither team should be content with just getting to this point. If this year’s Oilers showed the hockey world anything, it’s that the window of opportunity can shut as quickly as it opens.
“We’re living in the moment and that’s the most important thing for us right now,” Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff told Postmedia. “The more you can stay conditioned to do that in respect to this journey and see where this journey takes you, I think you set yourself up for success in the future. But the moment you start paying a little too much attention to the future, the moment will pass you by.”
The Jets and Leafs play in different conferences, but they have similar approaches when it comes to how they were built and what they built.
Both are three-lines deep, with an 1980s-era offence that had Winnipeg and Toronto among the top three in goals per game, as well as a top-five power play. While the Leafs had three 30-goal scorers and seven 50-point scorers, Patrik Laine finished second in the Rocket Richard Trophy race with 44 goals and Blake Wheeler had 91 points for the Jets.
And thanks to above-average goaltending from Toronto’s Frederik Andersen and Winnipeg ’s Connor Hellebuyck, both teams tied with the fourth-best save percentage.
Expectations have been noticeably measured. If people are planning parades in either market, the permits are being date-stamped for 2019 or later.
This didn’t happen overnight. Not counting Atlanta Thrashers draft picks Toby Enstrom and Bryan Little, the Jets (11) and Leafs (10) feature a ton of homegrown talent.
In 2015, Toronto selected William Nylander (eighth overall) one spot ahead of Winnipeg ’s Nikolaj Ehlers (ninth). The following year, the Leafs drafted Mitch Marner (fourth) and the Jets got Kyle Connor (17th). Then came the big one: Auston Matthews went first overall, followed by Laine at No. 2.
This was a process. At times, it was painful.
Mark Scheifele, who was Winnipeg ’s first-ever draft pick in 2011, spent the following two years in junior and two more years of being called a bust before enjoying his first breakout season.
Nazem Kadri, who was drafted in 2009, did not have his first of back-to-back 30-goal seasons until last year.
The Leafs went through Brian Burke, Dave Nonis and three different coaches to get to this point. There were times when Cheveldayoff was criticized for sitting on his hands, for not making the splashy trade or for sticking by head coach Paul Maurice for too long. But it was a course that he believed in, and one that the players also trusted.
“I think for me the biggest thing is looking at the players we’ve signed extensions with and talked to over the years, be it Blake Wheeler or Bryan Little or Dustin Byfuglien who committed to staying with us, those are the guys that drive me every single day,” said Cheveldayoff, who traded a first-round pick for Paul Stastny at this year’s deadline.
“It takes time and it takes commitment and ultimately it takes belief. It’s not a fluke that young players have been able to contribute and contribute well and feel confident.”
While the Capitals and Sharks are possibly looking at this year as being perhaps their last kick at the can, Cheveldayoff said the Jets are “just scratching the surface.”
Lamoriello echoed those comments, agreeing that this year’s team is better and more experienced than the team that qualified for the second wild-card spot on the final day of the season.
Next year, when Toronto’s Matthews and Marner and Winnipeg ’s Laine and Connor will still be on their entry-level contracts, could be even better. But don’t expect the players to wait around.
“Right now, I don’t look at age or youth, I look at the abilities that the players have,” said Lamoriello, who won in New Jersey in 1995 with a team that included a 21-year-old Scott Niedermayer, a 22-year-old Martin Brodeur and 23-year-olds Bill Guerin and Bobby Holik. “We’re in a different era, as far as talent and style, and right now we feel good about who we are and what we have. What we have to do is just go out and execute and do it collectively.”
In other words, it’s time to start planning the parades. That’s plural.