This is predictable and you could see this one coming, the media in Toronto and Montreal are hard on their athletes. some might call them brutal and their fans have an entitlement mentality as well.
Just ask Toronto Maple Leafs forward Phil Kessel, who is having a career year (37g-41a—78pts) and scoring almost a point per game and has a chance to score 40 goals yet this season but will be the focus of the fans ire. The last time the Toronto Maples Leafs made the Stanley Cup Playoffs was during the 2003-04 season.
If Phil Kessel were to reach the 40-goal mark in a year in which the Toronto Maple Leafs missed the playoffs, what would be the reaction?
Would you cheer? Would you boo? Would you even care?
It might be a tree-falls-in-the-forest type of question. Kessel, who set a career high by scoring his 37th goal in a 4-3 win against the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday, has been one of the NHL’s top offensive players this season. And yet it is difficult to celebrate his breakout year when you try and digest all that has gone wrong with the 14th-place team in the last two months.
Had Toronto made the playoffs — had they played their way to home-ice advantage, something that was not unthinkable not that long ago — Kessel might have received Hart Trophy consideration.
