{"id":718,"date":"2021-04-20T01:57:53","date_gmt":"2021-04-20T01:57:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jrn-305-2021\/?p=718"},"modified":"2021-04-22T02:24:54","modified_gmt":"2021-04-22T02:24:54","slug":"a-year-in-review-the-time-for-the-maple-leaf-to-rise-is-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jrn-305-2021\/2021\/04\/20\/a-year-in-review-the-time-for-the-maple-leaf-to-rise-is-now\/","title":{"rendered":"A year in review: the time for the Maple Leaf to rise is now"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>\u201cAll in.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That was Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Kyle Dubas\u2019 mantra entering the 2021 NHL trade deadline.&nbsp; His team that has flirted with playoff success, only to ultimately be let down in utter disappointment, has put together one of their better rosters in recent memory and is all-in on making a deep playoff run.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It has been a record 54 (long) years since Lord Stanley\u2019s most prized possession was awarded to Toronto\u2019s NHL club.&nbsp; In that time, the organization and it\u2019s fans have seen some high peaks and some tremendously low depths.&nbsp; Will this year be any different?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In a pandemic-wrought season that has brought forth new divisional alignment and a chalengingly-flat salary cap, the Toronto Maple Leafs are fully expected to contend for the Stanley Cup.&nbsp; They have ridden some adrenaline-fuelled heights, including goalie wunderkind Jack Campbell\u2019s historic 11-game win streak and Auston Matthews\u2019 tremendous goal-scoring campaign.&nbsp; There have been some (painfully bad) lows however, including the squandering of a 4-goal lead to Ottawa, an extraordinarily bad power-play in the last month and now the potential loss of spark plug, Zach Hyman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.knightlab.com\/libs\/timeline3\/latest\/embed\/index.html?source=1TOpG4YCObWSzLARAiie5iFiaS-ScxstQM-o17BV1B9A&amp;font=Default&amp;lang=en&amp;initial_zoom=2&amp;height=650\" width=\"100%\" height=\"650\" webkitallowfullscreen=\"\" mozallowfullscreen=\"\" allowfullscreen=\"\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe>\n\n\n\n<p>Enter Nick Foligno and Dave Rittich&#8230; and Ben Hutton.&nbsp; The newest additions to a Maple Leafs squad that has stumbled up-and-down as of late. &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Foligno, the now-former captain of the Columbus Blue Jackets joins the Buds as a veteran-presence that can chip in some offence, play up and down the lineup, and bring some sandpaper to the team.&nbsp; That Dubas surrendered a first-round pick and two fourth-rounders for him is a testament to the character, leadership and grit that he brings to the room.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cBig Save Dave\u201d Rittich joins the club to shore up their backup goaltending, a position that has been subject to many questions over the past year and a bit.&nbsp; Hey, if he can regain even partial-form from his peak in Calgary before this year (and prevent Michael Hutchinson from ever playing again), everyone\u2019s worries are solved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And I guess big boy Ben Hutton bolsters the team\u2019s defensive depth, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/uploads.knightlab.com\/storymapjs\/1ce073ac7de323d675b802a64efecf06\/leafs-playoffs\/index.html\" frameborder=\"0\" width=\"100%\" height=\"800\"><\/iframe>\n\n\n\n<p>This is it.&nbsp; The time is now for the Maple Leafs to capitalize after pushing all their chips in.&nbsp; With a tight North division race, the Leafs can see themselves playing anyone from Edmonton, Winnipeg, Calgary or (*cries internally*) Montreal in the first two rounds (if they can finally make it out of the first one).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It is time for this team to finally show the league what they\u2019re made of.&nbsp; A young core of ravaging goal-scoring firepower, the best D-corps the team has rolled out in YEARS and solid goaltending, even in the absence of starter Freddie Andersen, has this team poised to end in either tremendous glory, or complete and utter sadness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"involveme_embed\" data-project=\"new-project-779f\">\n<script src=\"https:\/\/ryerson.involve.me\/embed\"><\/script>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Go Leafs Go. &nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cAll in.\u201d That was Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Kyle Dubas\u2019 mantra entering the 2021 NHL trade deadline.&nbsp; His team that has flirted with playoff success, only to ultimately be let down in utter disappointment, has put together one of their better rosters in recent memory and is all-in on making a deep playoff run. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":380,"featured_media":727,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[103],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-718","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jrn-305-2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/718","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jrn-305-2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jrn-305-2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jrn-305-2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/380"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jrn-305-2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=718"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jrn-305-2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/718\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jrn-305-2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/727"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jrn-305-2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=718"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jrn-305-2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=718"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jrn-305-2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=718"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}