Speculation: Highs and Lows - Your top 3 best and worse moments since the lockout (2006)

[ACC1224]

Good list. I'd say trading Kadri was a top 3 low for me.
Getting rid of Phaneuf was a #4 high

I think I'd probably change some of my list after reading some others.
Limiting it to 3 is a challenge.

 

[AvroArrow]

Highs

Attending game 6 vs Washington with my dad and brother. It was the last game we ever went to together and even though we lost it was an unreal experience. The moments leading to Matthews tying goal still give me shivers, they were playing thunderstruck by acdc in the arena. Literally the entire arena was stomping their feet to the tune, you could feel the vibrations. On the very next shift Matthews comes in on a breakaway and scores over the glove, unreal moment.

Watching Matthews score his 50th goal live, it was actually exactly 1 year ago today. Popped up in my snapchat memories, had a blast at the game with my brother, unreal moment again. The entire arena chanting "we want 50" "mvp"

Drafting the young core of Nylander/Marner/Matthews


Lows

2013 game 7, I'll never forget the ending. Gunarsson unable to clear the puck twice when Boston had the net empty, Chara's big ass in front of Reimer and 2 Boston goals.

Game 6 and 7 last year, genuinely feel we were robbed of a fair chance to compete in those games, should have won. Just brutal calls and missed calls.

The Toskalol era. The cycle of garbage players and coaches, hanta yo baby. We had to watch Toskala let in 200ft shots, Lebda on the blueline, Hagman missing empty nets every night, Stajan the #1C, when we thought Lee Stempniak was untouchable, Kulemin 30 goals and not trading him for Pitts 1st, Jake Gardiner, Komisarek the future captain, and I still would watch all 82 games. Dark f***ing times. When people complain about this team sucking now, I just look back and remember and think "you have no f***ing idea what a shit hockey team looks like"

 

[AvroArrow]

Re: Op's title: Was the lockout in 2006?

That said, I'm going with 7 and 7; Eighteen years is a long time to condense into five memories let alone three.

Highs:

1. Shanahan's hire and the indications of the oncoming overhaul.
2. Seeing Shanahan holding the Maple Leafs card having won the lottery that would yield Matthews.
3. Drafting Matthews.
4. Drafting Tuukka Rask -- I was actually praying we'd draft him from the WJCs until the draft.
5. Hiring Lou Lamoriello
6. Sundin's 500th
7. Salming's Night.

HM: Kadri winning the Cup and his interview; I'm usually not happy about ex-Leafs winning elsewhere, but he loved it here, played like it, made no sense moving him.

Lows:

1. Salming's Night.
2. Trading Tuukka Rask -- I've probably blathered on about that on these boards at least 40 times. Gut-punched that day. Had no idea what the hell was going on. Seemed obvious this kid was Hasek 2.0; Wasn't but still..
3. Losing to Boston the first time: Watching Jaromir Jagr shake his head in the third on the bench when we increased the lead with about 12-13 minutes left and the camera catching him repeating: "It's not over. It's not over." and me standing a foot away from the tv A) Completely believing him and B) watching Bergeron bury us as though reading a mythical account of it outside of my body; Total shock.
4. Trading Sundin; Absolutely disgusting.
5. Salutegate; Even more so. Twilight Zone stuff; Two ticks away from becoming a fully-fledged Red Wings fan.
6. A Randy Carlyle interview after a 10 game (or so) winning streak in which he said all the flaws were still there; I knew it as well despite the success, and a couple of months later he was gone and the tear down was on it's way.
7. The officiating in Game 6 last year (might have been 5 - someone correct me please) where we essentially got jobbed.

HM: Trading Kadri; Definitely tried to look at it glass half-full but at the time of his suspension took umbrage with the obvious double-standard in officiating.

Game 6. Game 5 was horrendous but we still won, but game 6 vs TB was the 2nd worst officiated game I've seen in my lifetime. The worst officiated game was game 2 vs Boston in 2019.

In game 5 last year a dude interfered and hit the shit out of Rielly beside the net, then grabs the puck and sets up McDonagh for a goal. We still won but that was f***ing ridiculous that it wasn't called, those are series changing calls. But game 6 was something else.

 

[Gary Nylund]

Thought this might be entertaining (or not) as there doesn’t seem to be as much dot talk about as we wait for the season to end and the playoffs to start.

I don’t think there are any right or wrong answers, strictly personal opinion and limited to the cap era.


Highs
1. Drafting Marner
2. Winning the Matthews lottery
3. Signing Tavares

Lows
1. 2013 Game 7 vs Bruins
2. Babcock era
3. 2006 - 2012
Honorable mention- handshake line respect, losing to Montreal/Columbus

Not a bad list. I was in Europe from 2001 to 2012 so that probably influences my choices.

Highs - I like your list but I'd flip 1/2 and I'd put the entire year where we played WSH tough in the playoffs at #3, slightly ahead of the JT signings.

Lows, my list is different. And the Babcock era wasn't all bad, in fact the day we signed him would maybe make my top 10 on the highs list.
1 - Losing to MTL, easily the lowest of the lows for me.
2 - 2013 Game 7 vs Bruins.
3 - not sure really

Edit - I forgot about Matthews scoring 4 goals in his Maple Leaf debut, that has to be in the top 3 somewhere, maybe instead of drafting Marner as it wasn't until much later that it was clear how huge drafting Marner was. My revised top 3.
1 - drafting Matthews
2 - Matthews 4 goals in his 1st game
3 - That entire season that ended with us playing tough against WSH in the playoffs

Be interesting to see how many people list record breaking November's and other various regular season stuff.

 

[IPS]

Game 6. Game 5 was horrendous but we still won, but game 6 vs TB was the 2nd worst officiated game I've seen in my lifetime. The worst officiated game was game 2 vs Boston in 2019.

In game 5 last year a dude interfered and hit the shit out of Rielly beside the net, then grabs the puck and sets up McDonagh for a goal. We still won but that was f***ing ridiculous that it wasn't called, those are series changing calls. But game 6 was something else.

What about game 5 boston 2018?

11:55, Leafs score to go up 4-1

Refs reaction:

There's still idiots out there who think NHL officiating still carries any degree of credibility.

 

[Ianturnedbull]

1. Playoff clinching game vs. PIT 2017: McElhinney/Matthews
2. ROR/Acciari trade
3. Drafting Marner

1. Losing to MTL in the 2021 playoffs
2. Muskoka 5/JFJ/Leafs adjusting so poorly to the post-lockout rules
3. Losing to CBJ in the Play-in series

 

[banks]

Highs
2018 Kasperi Kapanen's game7 shorthanded goal to give the Leafs the lead. They blew it in the 3rd, yes. But that moment was as big as it gets when it happened. I figured I'd be telling my kids about that goal. I never believed more than I did at that moment.

That Ayers game. I know a bunch will list this as an all-time low. But that was the most fun I've had watching hockey that wasn't live or a playoff game. A real guy got to live the dream and won an NHL game. Playing goal for most of my youth may have endeared him to me more than some others. I don't care that it was a loss. I loved watching every moment of that game.

Matthews' 4 goal debut in the NHL. What a start to his career! I knew something special was coming for the team when that happened. Odd that this game, too, was a loss. All 3? What's that say about me (us)?

Lows
2013 Game 7 against Boston. My family was going through some serious health issues at the time, and got together for this game. The loss was one of the most demoralizing experiences of my life. I can still barely even think about it.

2021 loss to Montreal. I had so many Habs "fans" jeer me for this loss. It was almost enough for me to straight up stop watching hockey. The Leafs haters never had more ammo than after this loss. And a win would have opened an easy path to the Cup final (as MTL proved). I was just gutted.

Promoting Dave Nonis to GM. This is the only off-ice entry on either of my lists. It was so depressing knowing that the team moved on from Brian Burke, who I couldn't stand, just to "move forward" with the only candidate that would continue down the exact same path. I knew then that we were deep in failure with no end in sight.

Thanks for the cool thread, @ACC1224. I love and hate it.

 

[HockeyVirus]

Aside from playoffs this era has been mostly highs as a long time fan. But the lows oof

Highs:

1. Matthews 4 goal opening game. A franchise like Toronto with no #1 center for years and years, trading away the Seguin pick and having Bozak as our #1 C for years. We finally got our guy and oh boy he was special right away. So many salty fans who spent all that offseason saying he wasn't that good and might put up 30 points. His goal stripping Karlsson.. iconic. With that said.

2. Having 8 rookies on the roster in 2016-2017. The optimism in the air, we finally had some franchise talent and a #1 center after so many years. Battled hard for the playoffs. The McBackup save on Crosby was probably the closest feeling to winning a cup I will experience until we win a round considering we had missed the playoffs for a decade at that point. Being back in the playoffs, just happy to be there and the feeling that big things were coming for us.

3. Last season. Sure we lost in round 1 but last years team had something. We started becoming elite defensively, Matthews finally broke out and we got to see the best performance by a Leaf maybe ever. Hart, Ted Lindsey, 60 goals and 50 in 50.

HM: This year when we finally slay that dragon and beat Tampa in 5 games.


Lows:
1. Blowing the series to the Habs. We were the better team, we had them, that was a choke. I was so pissed after that. CBJ series I was mad at the time but the whole bubble thing was a joke so I don't care about it that much

2. Zamboni game. Yes it is a non playoff game, but I mean.. We're the only franchise ever to lose to a Zamboni driver. Watching that game was honestly everything wrong with the Leafs in our window and even reportedly made Dubas back out of talks he was in as he saw the team wasn't winning anything.

3. 2013 game 7 against the Bruins. Iconic collapse and set the narrative for every playoff failure since. I rank it 3rd because that roster was never winning anything anyways so it hurts a bit less.

 

[Suntouchable13]

Best
1) Being in the stands for new era debut and Matthews scoring 4. Sometimes hockey is magical and that game was one of them.
2) The team being fun to watch again.
3) Sundin's 500th goal.

Worst
1) Losing to the Habs. That game 7 was the most predictable loss of all time and the true proof that the hockey gods don't owe us Leafs fans everything. That single game has radically redefined how I approach fandom and the team. For the better, but it was change from crisis.
2) It was 4-1. This one has actually become a favoured story of mine that seems to get more harrowing every time I tell it. Sucked though.
3) Tavares's return to Long Island. That was the game that showed our rebuild wasn't going to bring us the cups that we had promised ourselves.

I am sure there are many other moments that I have forgotten due to recency bias, but those are the ones that stand out. Shout out to Crosby's golden goal in the 2010 Olympics as the non-Leafs moment that has stood the test of time as magical.

Sundin’s goal is not talked about enough, imo. shows how many young people there are here (not a bad thing). A hat trick goal, in OT, you can not script it much better for a Leafs legend. That was a great moment. Guess we're getting old.

 

[The Iceman]

1: Winning the lottery and choosing Matthews.
2: Getting to watch Marner every night. I wonder what would have happened if Arizona did not pick Strome.....
3: Having Dubas steer the ship....much more confident in our drafts.

1: Boston series loss
2: Marleau 3 year FA signing and having to give up what amounted to Seth Jarvis to unload the contract
3: Hunter's wasteland of draft choices with a big* on the first pick of the 2nd round the Matthews draft. Round 2 happened the next day so a whole night to sleep on it. Best available consensus was DeBrincat, we went with Korshkov. You can't afford to swing and miss like that.

Montreal and Columbus losses seemed more like flukes and bad circumstances. Sure they stung but I felt we were the better team.

 

[ACC1224]

Sundin’s goal is not talked about enough, imo. shows how many young people there are here (not a bad thing). A hat trick goal, in OT, you can not script it much better for a Leafs legend. That was a great moment. Guess we're getting old.

Great moment yes but top 3 in the last 20 years?

 

[Suntouchable13]

Great moment yes but top 3 in the last 20 years?

I guess not. Depends, for me it is. It comes down to personal preferences. Everybody has their own top 3.

 

[LeafGrief]

Great moment yes but top 3 in the last 20 years?

If we're going back 20 years I'm going to put Sundin in there, and that's probably the peak Sundin memory I have if I'm honest. Even though @Suntouchable13 points out that we're getting old, I was a kid for Sundin and it was a moment when a childhood hero had a moment of true glory. We're so playoff obsessed now that I can see why it would be a letdown to have a milestone regular season goal in the top3 moments, but that goal speaks to the absolute monster that Sundin was. I remember how much it meant to him, the team, and all of us fans, and that stands the test of time. There's nothing sweeter than going bar down in OT, here's to Matthews giving us one the game we're dreaming of.

 

[francis246]

Top Moments in the last 20 years

1. Getting Auston Matthews 1st overall, there’s really nothing that can top that IMO. What great and incredible luck and he’s been advertised as such.

2. 2016/2017 Season as a whole, that was an incredible year. From graduating that many players from the Marlies to sneaking into the playoffs to play against Washington, to Kapanen scoring the OT winner. The outlook looked so bright.

3. Mats Sundin clap bomb against the flames in OT. Amazing amazing memory. And what a milestone for him.

HM:

*Acquiring Dion Phanuef for virtually nothing of significance.

*Luke Schenn for JVR

Low moments from the last 20 years

1. Montreal series loss in 2021. There was nothing more demoralizing that that series loss. We had full control of the series and just let it slip with stupid mistake after stupid mistake. It tops the Boston collapse.

2. 2013 Boston collapse, I was on a flight from Edmonton back home to Toronto. Score was 2-0 when we boarded. The captain gave us updates throughout the flight, was heart breaking to hear the final score as we descended down to Pearson.

3. Drafting Frederick Gauthier with better options available. I think the 2013 Draft was unforgivable. I don’t know how we messed that up there. Imagine a four pack of Theodore, Nylander, Marner and Matthews coming into the team in 2016…

HM:
* Cliff Fletcher coming back in 2008 and making a horrible trade for Lee Stempniak

* Trading up to draft Tyler Biggs

*Trading for Phil Kessel

 

[ACC1224]

I guess not. Depends, for me it is. It comes down to personal preferences. Everybody has their own top 3.

If we're going back 20 years I'm going to put Sundin in there, and that's probably the peak Sundin memory I have if I'm honest. Even though @Suntouchable13 points out that we're getting old, I was a kid for Sundin and it was a moment when a childhood hero had a moment of true glory. We're so playoff obsessed now that I can see why it would be a letdown to have a milestone regular season goal in the top3 moments, but that goal speaks to the absolute monster that Sundin was. I remember how much it meant to him, the team, and all of us fans, and that stands the test of time. There's nothing sweeter than going bar down in OT, here's to Matthews giving us one the game we're dreaming of.

Wasn’t criticizing the inclusion. It’s more a testament to the last 20 years of this team that it’s included.

 

[francis246]

Wasn’t criticizing the inclusion. It’s more a testament to the last 20 years of this team that it’s included.

Thanks for a great thread btw. It’s really interesting to see peoples perspectives. I think the one that always stands out is the Ayres game. I don’t understand why that works people up so much.

The guy worked for the leafs at the time, the team was never going to light him up. If it was an EBUG who didn’t have any relation to the organization at all I think that game ends differently.

 

[notbias]

I'm shocked some people don't have the Boston loss as #1.

Such a high to an insane low.

Thanks for a great thread btw. It’s really interesting to see peoples perspectives. I think the one that always stands out is the Ayres game. I don’t understand why that works people up so much.

The guy worked for the leafs at the time, the team was never going to light him up. If it was an EBUG who didn’t have any relation to the organization at all I think that game ends differently.

That game never makes sense to me, because Ayers had something like a .800 sv%, it is all narrative... The Canes just played so much better than us, the goalie was not good.

There have been more embarrassing EBUG situations (Chicago/Jets is one), but we are the Leafs which is why this gets talked about so much.

 

[francis246]

I'm shocked some people don't have the Boston loss as #1.

Such a high to an insane low.

MTL was way worse. Boston series was tight all the way through. Montreal we lost 3 straight games after being up 3-1. Being up 3-1 there wasn’t even a thought in my mind we’d lose the series.

With Boston it crossed my mind that they might or could come back in the 3rd since they were way better than us

 

[notbias]

MTL was way worse. Boston series was tight all the way through. Montreal we lost 3 straight games after being up 3-1. Being up 3-1 there wasn’t even a thought in my mind we’d lose the series.

With Boston it crossed my mind that they might or could come back since they were way better than us

Maybe I was conditioned at that point to think there is a chance we'd lose the series even being up 3-1.

The Boston game started all this doubt... I just remember watching it and being on such a high, and then that was just such a low by the end of the game.

Watching it with 20 people ready to go out after, and everyone just went home...

 

[francis246]

Maybe I was conditioned at that point to think there is a chance we'd lose the series even being up 3-1.

The Boston game started all this doubt... I just remember watching it and being on such a high, and then that was just such a low by the end of the game.

Watching it with 20 people ready to go out after, and everyone just went home...

I guess the best way to put it for me. Is my resentment towards the leafs started after that MTL loss. It broke me as a fan.

I loved the leafs relentlessly after 2013,2017,2018,2019 and even after Columbus in 2020. But that loss against MTL brought forth a level of angst I’ve never experienced as a sports fan. It was the easiest path to the cup we’d have with this core. And knowing we’d lose Hyman for nothing made it worse. Bogosian didn’t want anything to do with us after as well lol. I didn’t watch much of the 2021-22 regular season

 

[ShaneFalco]

Highs - the talent that we signed acquired; the turn-around with the franchise
Lows - the talent we signed taking Dubas to the cleaners - especially Marner and the way his contract was handled. The rookie GM who hired his buddy coach - both in over their head. Habs series broke me after much optimism

 

[ShameOnYouZidlicky]

Highs

Kapanen game 2 OT winner against the capitals in 2017 - Many experts had the caps in 4, so to see our young exciting team prove to everyone that this was going to be a long series was awesome

Winning the Matthews lottery - signified a new generation after the terrible 08-16 years

Boston 2013 Game 5 up until 10 minutes left in game 7 - Horrible horrible outcome, but the ride there was pretty fun

Lows

Boston 2013 Game 7 - Biggest collapse in NHL history

Losing Games 5-7 to Montreal in 2021 - Truly a pathetic display from the team and coaching staff

Finishing 2nd last in ‘09 after trading for Kessel - This showed we were in for a loooong rebuild

 

[JT AM da real deal]

For me da 3 biggest downers were first and foremost losing 3rd period 4-1 lead collapse to Bruins with half a period left (that really pissed me off huge) .. then Soup's play against Habs in game 7 with da house league goal allowed to assw*pe Gallagher .. and lastly da Freddy play (get outgoalied by Korpisalo wdf) against Columbus with a couple house league goals .. kind all of them were largely due to REALLY POOR TENDING by 3 goalies who can't handle pressure

 

[FerrisRox]

Re: Op's title: Was the lockout in 2006?

That said, I'm going with 7 and 7; Eighteen years is a long time to condense into five memories let alone three.

Highs:

1. Shanahan's hire and the indications of the oncoming overhaul.
2. Seeing Shanahan holding the Maple Leafs card having won the lottery that would yield Matthews.
3. Drafting Matthews.
4. Drafting Tuukka Rask -- I was actually praying we'd draft him from the WJCs until the draft.
5. Hiring Lou Lamoriello
6. Sundin's 500th
7. Salming's Night.

HM: Kadri winning the Cup and his interview; I'm usually not happy about ex-Leafs winning elsewhere, but he loved it here, played like it, made no sense moving him.

Lows:

1. Salming's Night.
2. Trading Tuukka Rask -- I've probably blathered on about that on these boards at least 40 times. Gut-punched that day. Had no idea what the hell was going on. Seemed obvious this kid was Hasek 2.0; Wasn't but still..
3. Losing to Boston the first time: Watching Jaromir Jagr shake his head in the third on the bench when we increased the lead with about 12-13 minutes left and the camera catching him repeating: "It's not over. It's not over." and me standing a foot away from the tv A) Completely believing him and B) watching Bergeron bury us as though reading a mythical account of it outside of my body; Total shock.
4. Trading Sundin; Absolutely disgusting.
5. Salutegate; Even more so. Twilight Zone stuff; Two ticks away from becoming a fully-fledged Red Wings fan.
6. A Randy Carlyle interview after a 10 game (or so) winning streak in which he said all the flaws were still there; I knew it as well despite the success, and a couple of months later he was gone and the tear down was on it's way.
7. The officiating in Game 6 last year (might have been 5 - someone correct me please) where we essentially got jobbed.

HM: Trading Kadri; Definitely tried to look at it glass half-full but at the time of his suspension took umbrage with the obvious double-standard in officiating.

Rask was drafted in 2005, the year before the OP presented as the start date and Mats Sundin was never traded by the Maple Leafs.

 

[keonsbitterness]

The good, in chronological order:
-Sundin's 500th
-2017 playoff-clinching game vs the Pens
-honouring Borje "the King" Salming, and all the Leafs alumni who went to Sweden to do the same

The bad? Yeah, not going there.