Biggest Chokers Showdown: Toronto Maple Leafs VS San Jose Sharks

[Danarqhy]

The Joe Thornton/Patrick Marleau San Jose Sharks are widely known as one of, if not, the biggest choking cores in NHL history, but are they any worse than the current Mitch Marner/Auston Matthews Maple Leafs core? The current Leafs have won 1 playoff series in 8 years whereas the Sharks actually managed to get past the first round a few times and even made it to the SC Finals.

The results speak for themselves, this current Leaf core has performed even worse than the Sharks in the post-season which is flabbergasting considering all the talent they have on the team.

Click to read more...

 

[T REX]

Non leaf fan here...their story isn't finished yet.

Premature. Jmho

 

[Three On Zero]

Hmmm, thus will end well

 

[TheNumber4]

Sharks could actually win a round. Toronto wins this by a large margin.

 

[GeoRox89]

Wasn’t Jumbo around 36 when the Sharks finally made the final? Lot of runway left for these Leafs (or at least Matthews) before you can declare this race run

 

[DitchMarner]

How often have the Leafs been the clearly superior team in series they have lost with this core? Not really too often.

2017: No
2018: No
2019: At best they were equal to BOS
2020: They should have been better that season but had a disappointing regular season and were tied in pts percentage with CLB.
2021: They choked hard
2022: They were better in the standings than TB, but Tampa had won two Cups in a row
2023: They were the favorite in round one and won. They arguably should have beat FLA
2024: Pretty even

Seems more like a good regular season team that hasn't had playoff success than a massive juggernaut that keeps choking.

 

[JimmyApples]

Ehhh, depends. Two different styles of choke artists.

The Sharks had tons of VERY good regular seasons, finishing 1st or 2nd in their conference. They would win some playoff rounds, but could never get over the hump and win a Cup. They also had a lot of embarrassing losses to low seeds, or blown series leads.

The Leafs had good regular seasons, but have never been the favourites in their division (except the Canadian Covid year). Unlike the Sharks, they don’t win rounds, but choke by losing every single Game 7 imaginable.

If you look at any individual playoff run, Sharks are the bigger choker. But if you look at their playoff careers as wholes during their ‘choking era’, I think it’s the Leafs.

 

[Dr Pepper]

Who cares?

Neither team's in the playoffs today.

 

[WetcoastOrca]

How often have the Leafs been the clearly superior team in series they have lost with this core? Not really too often.

2017: No
2018: No
2019: At best they were equal to BOS
2020: They should have been better that season but had a disappointing regular season and were tied in pts percentage with CLB.
2021: They choked hard
2022: They were better in the standings than TB, but Tampa had won two Cups in a row
2023: They were the favorite in round one and won. They arguably should have beat FLA
2024: Pretty even

Seems more like a good regular season team that hasn't had playoff success than a massive juggernaut that keeps choking.

True. They finished 10th this year. I just think the media overhypes them.
That loss to Montreal though was one of the biggest chokes I’ve seen.
I think it’s more that the Core 4 don’t elevate their games in the playoffs tbh.

 

[NYRfan85]

Well, the Sharks actually made it to the Final in 2016. The Leafs have only made it to the 2nd round once since 2004. Therefore, the Leafs are the bigger chokers between the two. /thread

 

[Jee]

Thornton and Marleau played for both teams.

Food for thoughts.

 

[JaegerDice]

The Sharks, because they had legitimate cup contending teams that bowed out early.

Toronto should be able to get past the first round, but I wouldnt have considered a single one of their playoff teams a legit cup contender, let alone favorite.

 

[Prairie Habs]

How often have the Leafs been the clearly superior team in series they have lost with this core? Not really too often.

2017: No
2018: No
2019: At best they were equal to BOS
2020: They should have been better that season but had a disappointing regular season and were tied in pts percentage with CLB.
2021: They choked hard
2022: They were better in the standings than TB, but Tampa had won two Cups in a row
2023: They were the favorite in round one and won. They arguably should have beat FLA
2024: Pretty even

Seems more like a good regular season team that hasn't had playoff success than a massive juggernaut that keeps choking.

You shouldn't be surprised when you play good teams in the playoffs. You're still allowed to win a series even if you are near or below the other team in the standings.

 

[Oilslick941611]

Its almost has if the the organization share the same DNA. Although the Sharks have been more successful in recent memory and have had much more playoff success than Toronto.

 

[McGarnagle]

There were at least a few years during the Thornton era where the Sharks went into the playoffs as a presumptive favorite for the cup.

Of this whole Toronto cycle of failure, the only two times they had legit path were 2019 (if they get through Boston they go to the finals in their place and should beat St. Louis), and probably 2021 with the Canadian division setting them up for an easy path to the semifinals. Otherwise they always had Tampa, Washington, or Boston in their way.

 

[Aashir Mallik]

Leafs

Sharks won more than 1 round

 

[KnightofBoston]

Non leaf fan here...their story isn't finished yet.

Premature. Jmho

It's not a story at this point friend, it's an Odyssey

 

[Gorskyontario]

I'm pretty far from a Thornton and Marleau fan. That being said they could win rounds.

The leafs in the last 20(10 years of being terrible, 10 years of being chokers) years is arguably the most pathetic franchise in the history of the entire NHL.

 

[bouncesonly]

It's not a story at this point friend, it's an Odyssey

The Leafs are like driving range heroes. Great swing, compression after compression, can't miss, total command of all the shot shapes. Then you get on the course, and all hell breaks loose. Every bad habit of the swing that never showed up on the range decides the first tee is when they come back....massive duck hooks, chunked approaches, thinned chip shots, 3 putt from 2 feet. You have one good hole, and you think you're back.....OB lost ball on the next. Now I know why there's a putter named Odyssey.

 

[Bourne Endeavor]

I don't think it's entirely fair to say San Jose was the clear favourite in every season they were in despite where they finished. Chicago (2010), Vancouver (2011) and LA (2013) were hardly pushovers.

At the same time, when San Jose did fail, they did so spectacularly. Getting ousted 4-1 to the Blues in 2012 who were then completely demolished by the Kings in a sweep wasn't exactly a good look. The aforementioned 2010 series against Chicago can be argued both ways. Chicago finished only 1 point behind them in the standing but to not even get a game out of them?

Then we can never forget the reverse sweep.

I suppose the best way I'd asset is the Sharks choked when it mattered more or just died quickly. The Leafs always managed to hang around but could never go anywhere important.

 

[Sergei Shirokov]

San Jose made the WCF 2 years in a row. Won rounds almost every year. Made a final later on.

Hard not to pick Toronto here.

 

[Mick Riddleton]

Leafs for sure; the playoff resume says it all. They lost 6 game 7s in 11 years, and another one-game take all series with Columbus 3 games to 2 during Covid. The Leafs are tied for the worst record in the NHL for Game 7 losses at 15. This year, the Caps had better special teams stats.

The Sabres have not made the playoffs in 13 years and still have more series wins in the last 20 than the Leafs.

 

[LeafsandSharksfan]

Why did you do this to me?

 

[Ivo]

The Thornton/Marleau Sharks won like 14 playoff series. Not really comparable to a team that has won 1.

 

[SEALBound]

As great as it was for Sid and the Penguins, I do feel for the SJS, especially in 2016. You finally get there and you run into the steamrolling Penguins. That would have been a heck of a site to see JT/Marly/Pavs/Couts/Burns all raise it.

Just goes to show how special actually winning it is.