Let me, in the spirit of lighthearted optimism, repeat what you already know: this was a Toronto Maple Leafs season like no other.
Here are eight reasons to look forward to this, the final meaningful weekend of the Leafs season as the team enters Friday’s first day of the draft and soon the July 1 free agency sweepstakes.
1. Stuff has already been done.
Winston Churchill knew nothing of hockey but a few things about rebuilding.
“This is not the end,” he said midway through the Second World War. “It is not the beginning of the end, but perhaps it is the end of the beginning.