On the day after the Superbowl last season, the Toronto Maple Leafs looked at the standings and found themselves third in their division, 15 points ahead of the next closest team in the Atlantic (Florida, Montreal, and Detroit all had 50 points to the Leafs’ 65). They weren’t officially playoff-bound, but for all intents and purposes, they were in.
For the rest of the season, the team continued to play veterans in heavy minutes (Frederik Andersen, Ron Hainsey and Patrick Marleau in particular), the lines stayed the same, and they traded a second-round draft pick for a fourth-line center.