More of the same.

No trading anybody from the core group.

No firing anybody from the coaching staff or the front office.

Toronto Maple Leafs just keep chugging along by signing a couple of playoff veterans in free agency and adding another highly-sought-after playoff veteran for their bottom six at the trade deadline.




After setting the world on fire during the regular season, the hockey crazed sports media in Toronto will then be expecting a convincing first round victory in 4 or 5 games against Boston, Ottawa, or even Montreal again.

Craig Button and Jeff O'Neill will be prime examples in yet another episode of groupthink at the end of the regular season and the start of the playoffs next year.





Leafs win 3 games out of the first 4, but the injury bug takes out one of the players in the core group.

The other team claws back, wins Game 5, Game 6 and then finishes the series off with a convincing Game 7 win.

In game 7, all the star players on the Leafs predictably receive a ton of minutes but don't generate anywhere near enough scoring chances to come close to avoiding the inevitable outcome.




After yet another "tragic" first round exit in the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs that feels routine for everybody, the players and the head coach conduct an instant autopsy post-game in a very somber but familiar atmosphere with the hockey crazed Toronto sports media.

The players, using the same recycled talking points they have been taught to say since they were teenagers, say things like:

"We didn't get it done."

"We had good chances but we just didn't put it in the back of the net."

"Give the other team credit."

Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah.





Everybody in Leafs nation, the hockey crazed sports media and hockey fans across Canada start dissecting what went wrong for the Leafs without offering any constructive or concrete solutions whatsoever.

Within a span of 48 hours after the Game 7 loss, Capfriendly gets spammed non-stop with ACGM posts that involve rooting out Toronto's core group.





Dubas and Shanahan wait about 7-10 days after the Game 7 loss in 2022 when things have died down and emotions aren't as raw.

At which point they have an end-of-season press conference where they make the same recycled talking points from previous years with yet another round of lip service such as:

"There is hope for the future ... the plan is working and we need to stay the course ... we're just as mad as you are and we are dying for something to be done ... we're going to move players based on making our team better going forward ... help is on the way ... blah, blah, blah, blah, blah"





Meanwhile, Larry Tannenbaum and corporate executives from Rogers and Bell get together in a boardroom somewhere and are pleased to report that revenue is up substantially and profit has been delivered to the shareholders.

They cite more and more fans being allowed into the building as well as a robust economic performance in the City of Toronto and throughout North America with the Covid-19 Pandemic now in the rear view mirror.




No appetite for "rocking the boat" from any key actor in the Leafs organization.

Rinse and repeat :(

Exact same trade as the Nick Foligno trade at the deadline, only with Max Domi, son of Tie Domi.

:D

Toronto gets an AHL level player and compensates San Jose with a low pick for all their troubles.

Toronto pays 25% of Domi's salary.

San Jose pays 25%.

Columbus pays 50%.