The Toronto Maple Leafs aren’t enjoying a great off-season, but because of their past success, they are a virtual certainty to advance to the postseason.

The Toronto Maple Leafs are an odd team because, despite their superstars’ exceptional skill, they consistently make poor choices regarding who should surround them.

They haven’t won anything, so it does matter a little. In addition, I recently read in the Toronto Star that no team has ever been this good for this long throughout the regular season while losing so terribly in the playoffs.

There are no teams of any kind, not just hockey teams.

Although it’s not the kind of record you want, it does raise the possibility that this team isn’t as awful as everyone believes. Could it be that they were simply taken advantage of during the playoffs?

You know I believe it—I mean, I’ve been saying that for eight years. I bike with the Core 4 till the very end, even though I doubt anyone else does.

Which seven teams, aside from the Toronto Maple Leafs, will advance to the Eastern Conference playoffs the following year?

Even though it’s clear that we can’t be certain, we can make some reasonable assumptions.

But the reality is that the NHL is a salary-capped professional league, meaning that determining who will be good and who won’t depends almost as much on luck and injuries as on roster construction.

However, some things can be taken for granted, such as the fact that jersey advertisements are repulsive monuments to avarice and greed or that Columbus missed the playoffs.