Well that’s it for the Toronto Maple Leafs. They lost their qualifying series, they lost the draft lottery, they lost their first round draft pick.

Back to Excited Episode 115: Leafs vs Blue Jackets Postmortem
New York Rangers win the Alexis Lafreniere NHL Draft Lottery
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The Leafs are have no more scheduled events until the October where the 2020 NHL Draft is scheduled to take place on October 9th and 10th.

They could do plenty of things in the meantime however. They could trade a player, they could fire a coach, they could fire a GM. They have a hole in their coaching staff to fill with Paul McFarland now officially leaving the Leafs for the Kingston Frontenacs.

Paul McFarland leaving the Leafs to become head coach of the Kingston Frontenacs

Should they do anything drastic? Yesterday Omar thought aloud about the future of the Leafs:

I don’t feel like anyone is going to be fired. Keefe just got here, Dubas is two seasons in and Paul McFarland has already chosen his next destination as head coach of the Kingston Frontenacs.

The Leafs don’t need to follow the Florida Panthers path considering the long track record Dale Tallon has behind him. But I can understand the rationale of thinking they need something to give.

I just don’t know what that is exactly.

There’s always next year

So what do we do now, after that exciting one week of hockey?

It’s still August, so there’s some beautiful weather out there to enjoy (even if it’s a bit hot). There are lots of hobbies out there to pick up, though I wouldn’t recommend hockey blogging right now.

Speaking of hockey, if you’re still interested there are some games today as the first round of the playoffs begin:

NHL Schedule Tuesday August 11th, 2020:

Tampa Bay Lightning vs Columbus Blue Jackets - 3:00PM
Series tied 0-0 - Sportsnet, TVA Sports, NBC Sports, Subn, FS=O

Calgary Flames vs Dallas Stars - 5:30PM
Series tied 0-0 - CBC, Sportsnet, NBC Sports, TVA Sports, FS-SW+

Carolina Hurricanes vs Boston Bruins - 8:00PM
Series tied 0-0 - CBC, Sportsnet, TVA Sports, NBC Sports, NESN, FS-CR

Chicago vs Vegas Golden Knights - 10:30PM
Series tied 0-0 - Sportsnet, TVA Sports, NBC Sports, ATTSN-RM

Elsewhere in Leafs land:

Nine thoughts on Maple Leafs’ Game 5 loss and what it all means
Maple Leafs must add proven defenders, move on from all-offence identity
It’s time to move on from Frederik Andersen

Alright, so, how much of the playoffs will you watch?

How much of the playoffs will you watch?

Every second.36
The prime time game only.40
I’ll check out some highlights, watch an elimination game or two.224
I’m out. See you at the draft.193
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