The Toronto Maple Leafs aren’t gritty, heavy, hard to play against, tough, rough, or scary in the traditional hockey sense.
So what?
The idea that the Leafs are in need of becoming a less skilled, bigger, tougher team is preposterous.
But you can’t escape it.
The Leafs Are Tough Enough
The one thing that got completely overblown to the point of overkill was the idea that the Leafs were going to lose some of their young players to offer sheets.
Given that offer sheets barely exist, this was always a dumb narrative. Apparently no one stopped to think for five minutes that you might be able to sign all your expensive players and do so by not paying your medium level players.