This Is It. This Is Finally The Year That Toronto Wins The Stanley Cup Again
Chris Tanouye. Getty Images.Today marks the start of the 2026-27 NHL season. And I would just like to be the first to congratulate the Toronto Maple Leafs on being your 2027 Stanley Cup Champions. It's been 60 years but finally the curse has been lifted.
I mean everything is going Toronto's way right now. It starts out with the team missing the playoffs for the first time in a decade, and miraculously coming away with the 1st overall pick in the draft lottery. This isn't a team that was in rebuild mode for years before finally getting a chance to pick 1st overall. They had one down year and now they get to add a potential superstar to the mix with Gavin McKenna.
Speaking of adding to the roster, the Leafs went out yesterday and delivered a blockbuster right before the start of the season by trading for Kirill Marchenko.
The main pieces of the trade here are Marchenko (plus a contract extension) for Matthew Knies. It's a pretty even trade if you're just looking player-for-player. But Matthew Knies definitely wanted out of Toronto after it was confirmed the Leafs actually tried to trade him last year at the deadline, but were just too late on the call to process it. It's tough to come back to a team after something like that. And obviously Kirill Marchenko wanted out of Columbus. So you get a guy who can give you 30+40, he's on a new contract, and he gets rejuvenated by playing in a new city. Add in some backup goalie depth with Elvis Merzlikins and that's a great trade for John Chayka and the Maple Leafs.
Oh and just as the cherry on top of everything else, they are coming into this season with the best version of Auston Matthews the Leafs have ever seen.
I don't know what any of that "internal data" actually means, or how accurate it is. But if that's what they are telling themselves, then get ready for a big time season out of Papi.
What more could you possibly need to see coming out of Toronto right now? I know they still have 84 games to play this season. I know they'd still need 16 more wins after those 84 games. But I'm thinking it takes Toronto 100 games on the dot to win the Cup this year with everything they have going their way right now. Adding McKenna, adding Marchenko, getting the best Auston Matthews to ever exist. There is simply nothing that could go wrong here with the Leafs this season. The parade is going to be epic.