Personally, while it is hilariously Leafy to get the defending Cup champs as a first round matchup as a “reward” for the one year we win the division, I still honestly couldn’t care less who our first round opponent is.
They’ve lost as both the favourite and the underdog and with home ice or without. So who cares at this point. Just win.
And honestly, there’s something to be said about a rematch vs Florida. They’re the one opponent that well and truly humiliated and outclassed this group. So with Boston gone, they’re the closest thing to a “dragon” for this team to slay. With the added bonus of Marchand being on the team now as well.
Finally Slaying the Boston dragon doesn’t have any meaning anymore. Of course the Bruins will always be a divisional rival of the Maple Leafs, but the vast majority of the Bruins players that tormented the Leafs in the playoffs for a decade are all gone now. These particular Bruins teams don’t exist anymore. Only Pastrnak and McAvoy are a holdover from that era and are still on the Bruins. Chara retired three years ago, both Bergeron and Krejci retired two years ago, Lucic left the Bruins nine years ago, Rask retired from the NHL three years ago, Jake deBrusk left the Bruins and then signed with the Canucks last summer, Marchand has been traded to Florida and now plays for the Panthers. Linus Ullmark is now on the Senators. Swayman only played four games of last year’s series against the Leafs, because he shared goaltending duties with Ullmark. Recent Supporting cast players Morgan Geekie and Pavel Zacha only played one playoff series against us and that was last year.
The bruins team of this season especially post trade deadline is full of brand new players who have no playoff history against the Leafs. Beating Boston in 2018 or in 2019 would have been even more satisfying because most of the 2013 bruins core (rask, marchand, Bergeron, krejci) were still playing on the team.
But with Boston missing the playoffs and entering in a rebuilding phase, Florida is now our new playoff nemesis. Because they soundly humiliated us in 5 games two years ago, and because with all their cast of deplorables on the ice, they are so easy to hate. Also we might vicariously get some measure of revenge against these Boston teams that beat us for years by eliminating Marchand.
I know he left Boston at the trade deadline and he’s not on the Bruins anymore, but he’s still enemy number one here in Leafs Nation, especially that he’s ended up on the rival Panthers, whom we despise as much as the Bruins now. He’s our perennial nemesis/villain from the era of all these painful playoff losses against Boston and he fittingly ended up on the newest cast of deplorables in the NHL. Florida is a perfect fit for this annoying cockroach that can’t be killed.
