Toronto Maple Leafs: The Dormant Dynasty

Toronto Maple Leafs: The Dormant Dynasty

Toronto Maple Leafs: The Dormant Dynasty

Of the nine dynasty teams officially recognized by the Hockey Hall of Fame, two belong to the Toronto Maple Leafs: The team from 1946-51, that won 4 Stanley Cups in 5 seasons; and the team from 1962-67, winning 4 Cups in 6 seasons. Both of these remarkable feats were accomplished in the original six era, and while it was arguably easier to win a championship when there were only 5 other teams to beat out, this level of dominance is not easy to achieve in any sport, regardless of the competition—a fact demonstrated by the Leafs themselves, who at the conclusion of the 2014-15 season moved into a tie for the second-longest Stanley Cup drought in NHL history. This record (for lack of a better word) was initially set by the Chicago Blackhawks, who broke their long losing streak with a championship in 2010, and was shared by the St. Louis Blues, winless since their 1967 inception (the longest drought was 53 seasons by the New York Rangers, between 1939 and 1994).

All of this information begs two obvious questions: What did the Leafs of the original six era do so well to be so dominant, and what changed to precipitate the subsequent 4 decades plus of failure? The first question is easier to answer. The Maple Leafs of the original six era were chock full of both talent and drive. The Leafs of the 1940s had Conn Smythe as a general manager and a roster featuring such names as Ted Kennedy and Max Bentley. Their franchise goalie, Turk Broda, won the Vezina Trophy twice (1941 and 1948) and is considered one of the best goaltenders to ever play the game. Their second dynasty was equally star-studded. Sixteen players from the Maple Leafs of 1962 to 1967 were later inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame; the team’s Cup Finals record of that span: 16-8. The Leafs cultivated a culture of winning and an impressive amount of grit, perhaps best demonstrated by the anecdote of defenseman Bob Baun in the 1964 Cup Finals. Baun took a shot to the ankle from Gordie Howe in Game 6 of that series, then returned to score the winning goal in overtime. Not until after the Maple Leafs won Game 7 did Baun go for X-rays that would show he played a game and a half with a fractured bone in his foot. This and other similar stories are now the stuff of legend, the quintessential sacrifice of the self for the team that made the Leafs of this era so successful.

Which still leaves one to wonder what made the Maple Leafs lose the magic. It seems too easy to blame the slide on the increased size of the league—after all, the Montreal Canadiens managed dynasty-level domination both before and after the 1967 expansion, and other original six teams (like the Detroit Red Wings and Chicago Blackhawks) have gone through similar cycles of success. The cynic’s answer is that the Maple Leafs no longer need to win championships to hold fans. They can sell out games whether or not they win, so why try? This answer seems to assume the Maple Leafs lacked talent for the entirety of the ‘70s, ‘80s, and ‘90s. In that 30 year span, the Leafs missed the playoffs only 9 times; they also played in 34 playoff series, winning 14 of them. Those don’t sound like the stats of a team that stopped trying.

The truth is, the Maple Leafs’ plight isn’t so uncommon. Of the 24 NHL teams that have been added since 1967, 12 were still waiting for their first Cup at the end of the 2014-15 season, when the Maple Leafs’ drought tied Chicago’s for second-longest. Six of those were still waiting to reach their first Cup Final. At the end of each season, 29 times lose, and not often for lack of trying. It’s worth noting that four of the original six have had Stanley Cup droughts of 40 seasons or longer (the Detroit Red Wings, as well as the Maple Leafs, Blackhawks, and Rangers). None of these teams are inherently worse than the rest of the league—they’ve just had longer to set records, both the good and the bad.