from Rosie DiManno of the Toronto Star,

Beloved, iconic, hallowed; up there with the New York Yankees and Manchester United as a way of life, a heart’s desire, a troth, even in days of wretchedness.

Which these surely ain’t.

Thirteen Stanley Cup championships under their belts and not for half a century, arguably, as rosy blue a fingers-crossed destiny as now, starting with an up-and-over overtime goal by Auston Matthews Wednesday night, edging Montreal 3-2 despite not being the best team on the ice....

“Over the last few years a lot of different people have had a lot of opportunities to ponder the Maple Leafs for their history, what they’ve done in the past,” said team president Brendan Shanahan. “We always say that we’ve very focused on the future, but we really embrace and cherish the past.”

Easy for Shanny to say. He never pulled on a shin pad for the Leafs all through those dark decades. He was off collecting rings in Detroit during the course of a hall-of-fame career. Until this Mimico boy finally came home to oversee a franchise transformation.

Maple Leaf Gardens may be a supermarket and the current rink now branded by a bank, but the Leafs are an enduring ethos, all glittery this season with Tavares, Matthews, Mitch Marner et al. A team to dream on under the stewardship of Mike Babcock, the general managing of Kyle Dubas, the uber-command of Shanahan, whose five-year Shanaplan is hurtling toward ultimate fruition.

“No, no, that was somebody else,” il presidente objected. “I never gave a number of years.”

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