Can the Maple Leafs be the next Pittsburgh Penguins?
In recent years, the Toronto Maple Leafs have been one of the worst, if not the worst, teams in the league. The storied franchise hasn't won a Stanley Cup since 1967. Similarly, in early 2000s, the Pittsburgh Penguins were struggling and were looking to rebuild their horrible roster. Building a strong core is the best way to build a team that could challenge for a Stanley Cup. One of the ways to build a strong core was drafting elite talent. As a result, the Penguins introduced the tanking model. This model was to purposely lose games, hoping to land a top pick in the draft to get the next great talents. Several teams have followed the Penguins model. Some teams have found success like the Chicago Blackhawks who won three Stanley Cups in the seven years. As well, some teams have failed like the Colorado Avalanche. In consecutive drafts, the Penguins built their core by drafting Marc-Andre Fleury (2003), Evgeni Malkin (2004), Sidney Crosby (2005, Kristopher Letang (2005), and Jordan Staal (2006). Building the core is important but surrounding that core is even more important. In later rounds, the Penguins were able to snag Rob Scuderi (1998), Ryan Malone (1999), Brooks Orpik (2000), Ryan Whitney (2002), Max Talbot (2002), Alex Goligosky (2004), and Tyler Kennedy (2004). To this day, the Penguins are still one of the best teams in the league and have won the Stanley Cup in 2009 and 2016. The young and upcoming Maple Leafs built their core in consecutive drafts as well. In recent the Leafs built their core by drafting Morgan Rielly (2012), William Nylander (2014), Mitch Marner (2015), and Auston Matthews (2016). The Leafs have surrounded their core by drafting Nazem Kadri (2009), Connor Brown (2012), Travis Dermott (2015), Jeremy Bracco (2015), Andrew Nielsen (2015), Martin Dzeirkals (2015), Dmytro Timashov (2015), Nikita Korostelev (2015), Yegor Korshkov (2016), Adam Brooks (2016), and Carl Grundstrom (2016). Through trades, the Leafs were able to land prospects like James van Riemsydk (2007) and Kasperi Kapenen (2014). Just like the Penguins, the Maple Leafs are oozing with talent. However, there are some differences. The Maple Leafs have surrounded their core much better than the Penguins did. But the team will go as far as the core takes them. The Maple Leafs have one franchise talent and that is Auston Matthews. The Penguins had three in Crosby, Malkin, and Fleury. Matthews isn't in the same breath as Sidney Crosby, who has been regarded as one of the kind generational talent, but Matthews and Malkin are very similar and cancel each other out in terms of value. Also, the Maple Leafs lack a franchise goaltender like the Penguins had in Marc-Andre Fleury. Fleury's value is greater than Nylander or Marner. However, Nylander and Marner are a notch above the Penguins' Staal. Comparing the defenseman, the Penguins' Letang is head and shoulder better than the Leafs' Rielly. In other words, the Penguins have a stronger core and were able to fill each position. As of today, the Maple Leafs are in a playoff position and will most likely make it. The Maple Leafs will make the playoffs earlier than the Penguins did in their rebuild. As a fan of the game, the Maple Leafs have been very fun to watch and will continue to be entertaining in future years.
