Hall of Fame defenseman touches on the Leafs and the irrelevance of regular season success
Hall-of-fame defenseman Chris Pronger has seen just about everything during his time in the NHL. Now long-retired, Pronger took to Sportsnet 590 The Fan on Tuesday to discuss the happenings around the NHL, including the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Toronto's lack of playoff success is well known and well documented all across the NHL community as they haven't been able to get over that first round hump. They always look great in the regular season, have all the players running up the leaderboards, but whenever the bright lights of the playoffs start shining on the Leafs, they always find a way to lose - sometimes in spectacular fashion.
Chris Pronger is well aware of that and the Hart Trophy, Stanley Cup winning, Triple Gold Club rearguard had some interesting things to say about the Leafs and yet another successful regular season:
"Nothing is gonna matter, nothing, until they get into the playoffs. It doesn't matter how they play this year, until they get into the playoffs and get started and get rolling and see what they are. The regular season is completely different from the playoffs. Period."
-Pronger on the irrelevance of the Leafs' regular season successes
-Pronger on the irrelevance of the Leafs' regular season successes
With a team that has had Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, William Nylander, John Tavares, and Morgan Rielly for several seasons now, they have come close to advancing to the second round but fall in glorious ways to whoever their opponents may be, whether that's Columbus, Montreal, or Tampa Bay.
"Especially with the stars these guys have, they haven't gotten out of the first round. They can roll through the regular season and play really well defensively, goalies could be awesome, and until they get into the playoffs and they feel that pressure and everything starts ramping up within the city, the media, and the NHL community, you're not gonna know anything. So it really doesn't matter, they know what defeat looks like, they know what disappointment looks like but they don't know what success looks like."
-Pronger on the Leafs' postseason disappointments
-Pronger on the Leafs' postseason disappointments
This isn't news to Leafs Nation as they are well aware of their documented failures in the playoffs. However every year brings new opportunities and one has to hope that they have learned from their previous mistakes and find a way to get into the second round with the nucleus they have stacked up in Toronto.
| POLL | ||
JANVIER 4 | 76 ANSWERS Hall of Fame defenseman touches on the Leafs and the irrelevance of regular season success Do you agree with what Pronger says here about the Leafs? | ||
| Yes | 60 | 78.9 % |
| No | 16 | 21.1 % |
| List of polls | ||
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