The incredible journey of the former Toronto Maple Leafs from problem to hero

The incredible journey of the former Toronto Maple Leafs from problem to hero

I would have been rather thrilled if you had informed this Toronto Maple Leafs fan that Connor Brown, Cody Ceci,

and Zach Hyman would be participating in the Stanley Cup Finals soon.

It isn’t what I would have expected to happen with the Edmonton Oilers instead of the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Seeing all the former Leafs succeeding so well is both heartening and encouraging as the Oilers attempt a historic

Stanley Cup comeback. Though we still support those guys and are happy to see them succeed, it would obviously be

fantastic if it were with

the Leafs. However, Connor Brown’s season merits more consideration.

Mitch Marner and Auston Matthews were rookies when Connor Brown was selected in the sixth round of the 2012 NHL Entry Draft. (Naturstattrick.com statistics).

Though it was ironic for Cody Ceci, he was part of the price to get out of a disastrous Nikita Zaitsev contract. Instead, it was hoped that he would be part of a young nucleolus that could grow together.

To this day, the Leafs are plagued by the terrible decision made by Lou Lamoriello to become general manager. One of the worst decisions made during the Brendan Shanahan era was to sign Zaitsev to a seven-year contract, which lost the Leafs Connor Brown, who scored 20 goals in his rookie season and once 21 goals in 56 games with the Ottawa Senators.

His scoring in the bottom six and quickness might have been just what the Leafs needed.

After it didn’t work out in Ottawa, he quickly moved to the Capitals before agreeing to accept an apparently quite affordable 750K deal with the Oilers last summer.

The only issue was that the ridiculously low contract included a signing bonus that increased the cap hit to $4 million for a player who had only scored four goals in his previous 75 games.

Brown played 71 games, but the incentive was contingent on him playing 10.

Brown’s on-ice numbers were above 50% in every category even though he did not score. Not so much for $4 million, but fantastic value for a league minimum contract.

He’s a terrible 40% XG player in the playoffs this year. After 17 games, he has two goals and six points.

Who cares, though? He made up for the poor play and the cap hit penalty he’ll pay the Oilers next season by opening the score in game 5 last night, which eventually helped his club survive.For a player whose career we have enjoyed following, it was an incredible occasion. For one night, at least, Brown’s career exceeded all expectations as he went from cap problem to Stanley Cup hero. It’s been a remarkable trip.