Montreal Canadiens: Five Teams That Prove NHL Teams Can Go From Last to Playoffs

2016-17 Toronto Maple Leafs

The 2015-16 Toronto Maple Leafs are known as a recent “tank job.” However, they weren’t really a team that lined up to tank as much as they were a really poorly constructed team that finally decided to trade away Phil Kessel.

With Kessel gone, the team was not good. They won 29 games and finished the season with 69 points. They had their eyes set on Auston Matthews all season and would be rewarded with the first overall pick and got their man.

With Matthews on the roster, the Maple Leafs quickly set out to fill the biggest gap on the roster. They traded a first round pick and a second round pick to the Anaheim Ducks for goaltender Frederik Andersen.

Suddenly, with Matthews, as well as fellow rookies Mitch Marner who was drafted fourth overall a year earlier and William Nylander who was taken 8th overall the year before that, the Leafs had a dangerous offence.

Patience through a few drafts, and adding the right goaltender at the right time, can turn around the fortunes of a franchise very quickly. The Maple Leafs lost in the first round (I mean, obviously) but that’s a long way from last place.