Two years ago, the Toronto Maple Leafs were closing out another failing season. Coming off the highs (and ultimate lows) of a playoff series, they made some changes over the off-season and... well... things didn't exactly go well. They got William Nylander out of that draft, though! That was good.
Two years ago, this is what the Leafs roster looked like:
Last game 2 years ago shows how quickly a roster can change as Leafs get ready to meet Sens tonight. #tmltalk pic.twitter.com/faQ1aVtQjU
— Paul Hendrick (@HennyTweets) March 12, 2016
Who on that list is even still here? Jonathan Bernier, but he's not starting. The only defencemen on that roster that are still Leafs are Jake Gardiner and Morgan Rielly... and at 25 and 22 years old, they're veterans of this current defensive group. (And also it's a good thing they stuck around, because, well, youth. Rebuilding teams like youth.)
Forwards? Joffrey Lupul and James van Riemsdyk are still Leafs, even if they aren't playing the rest of this season because of injuries. Tyler Bozak and Nazem Kadri are still around, too, even if Bozak is also injured.
And... that's it. Seven players. Only three of whom are actually playing tonight.
Two years ago, the Leafs finished their season, and then they hired Brendan Shanahan - and there's been a mass exodus since, en route to (hopefully) getting this rebuild right.
It's definitely an extremely different team, though. Which is good - we know the last ones weren't working out.
Look at where we are, look at where we started.
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