These Are Facts

You know how people say you never kick someone while they are down? Well I hate that saying. If someone is down why not give em a nice swift boot to the midsection Stone Cold Steve Austin style? So that's what I am going to do.

Right now the Toronto Maple Leafs are down so here comes the boot. This whole post will be designed to rip into the Maple Leafs franchise. Not only will it point out their horrible trades but also their lack of success both in drafting and also in terms of playoff success.

Yes I realize I wrote an article 3 weeks ago talking about how great the Leafs offseason was but I reserve the right to flip flop at will and bash teams I hate. These are facts:

- Number of Stanley Cups won by the Leafs post-expansion: 0

- Number of times a Leaf won the Norris trophy since the award was first created in 1954: 0

- Number of Leafs who have won a major NHL trophy since 1993, when Doug Gilmour won the Selke trophy as the top defensive forward and Pat Burns won the Jack Adams trophy as coach of the year: 0

- Number of Leafs who have won a major NHL trophy between Dave Keon's capturing of the Conn Smythe as playoff MVP in 1967 and 1993: 0

- Number of seasons which a Leaf has scored 100-plus points since the franchise's founding: 3

- Number of times a Leaf has notched 50 or more goals in a season: 5 (Rick Vaive did it 3 of those 5 times)

- Career NHL points of Jeff Ware, Toronto's first-round pick (15th overall) in the 1995 entry draft: 1

- Number of combined NHL points scored by the nine players selected by the Leafs in the 1999 entry draft, none of which were scored by 24th overall pick Luca Cereda: 1

- Career NHL points scored by Brad Boyes, the most by a Leafs draft pick from 1999 to 2009: 245

- Points scored by Brad Boyes for the Leafs: 0

- Number of consecutive seasons the Leafs have missed the playoffs: 4

- Number of times during the 2008-2009 season the Leafs presented Stephen Harper with a No. 1 Toronto jersey in which he declined to be photographed: 1

- Between 1992 and 2006 the Leafs 13 first-round draft picks have averaged 82 career points

- In the 1969 entry draft the Leafs used the 9th over pick on Ernie Moser who would never play a single game in the NHL.

- 12 players selected after Moser would go on to play at least 400 NHL games

- Zamboni slush from the final game at Maple Leaf Gardens was put into plastic pucks and sold for $50 netting MLSE $125,000 in profit

- The mesh from the net in which Mats Sundin scored his 500th goal was cut into 2000 pieces, framed, and then sold as memorabilia. It was purchased for $40,000, all profit for MLSE.

- 2003 the Leafs trade Alan McCauley, Brad Boyes, and a first-round pick (Mark Stuart) to San Jose for Owen Nolan: Nolan gets hurt and the move flops, and Boyes becomes the first Leaf to score 40 goals since Wendel Clark. Sadly, he does it for the St. Louis Blues

- 2001 Leafs trade Adam Mair and a second-round pick (Mike Cammalleri) to the LA Kings for Aki Berg

- Since 1967 the Leafs have failed to make the playoffs 15 times and have never advanced past the Conference Finals

- 1999 Leafs trade Jason Smith to Edmonton for two draft picks that become Jonathon Zion and Kris Vernasky. Zion never plays in the NHL and Vernasky plays in only 17 NHL games. Smith has played in more than 1,000 NHL games captaining Edmonton and Philadelphia

- 1989 Leafs trade a 1991 first-round pick to New Jersey for Tom Kurvers. The Devils use the pick to select Scott Neidermayer who would go on to win Stanley Cups with both New Jersey and Abaheim

- 1999 In need of a roster spot to make room for Dmitri Khristich the Leafs put Steve Sullivan on waivers. Sullivan is picked up by the Chicago Blackhawks and goes on to register at least 60 points in 7 consecutive seasons

- 1986 Leafs use the sixth-overall pick in the entry draft to select Vincent Damphousse, who'll go on to a fine eighteen year career in which he plays in three All-Star games. None of the Leafs' next nineteen first-round selections will repeat his success

- 1979 Leafs send Lanny McDonald and Joel Quenneville to the Colorado Rockies for Pat Hickey and Wilf Paiement. McDonald, who had averaged 45 goals in the three seasons before he was dealt, goes on to score 66 goals in a season and win a Stanley Cup with the Calgary Flames

- The Leafs will need to finish 40-25-11 to have a realistic chance of making the playoffs

These stats and stories are not made up. These are facts.

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