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"Took a bit of a shot": Elliotte Friedman recounts comedian Shane Gillis' dig at Toronto Maple Leafs
The Toronto Maple Leafs have a long and rich history as one of the National Hockey League's Original Six clubs. They boast some of the most legendary figures to lace up the skates, having captured the second-highest amount of championships (11) of any other team.
However, they've failed to lift the Stanley Cup since their most recent victory in 1967, which is also their most recent appearance in the Cup Final. The furthest they've advanced since then was Game 7 of the 1993 Clarence Campbell Conference Finals against Wayne Gretzky and the Los Angeles Kings.
In fact, the Leafs have won only a single playoff round since 2004, a fact that fans of rival teams are happy to exploit and use as mockery toward Leafs fans.
During comedian Shane Gillis' recent show at Scotiabank Arena, he appeared to take a dig at the Leafs' lack of recent meaningful postseason success. While speaking on the latest episode of '32 Thoughts', Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman shared his experience and what he believed he heard.
"And you know, the sound system was a little rough, so I'm not 100% sure, but I think he took a bit of a shot at the Maple Leafs," he said. "I was checking with some other people who were there, but he talked about the historic nature of the building, sort of because the Maple Leafs play there."
"And he was looking at the banners, and he made a comment along the lines of, 'I noticed a lot of those banners are black and white'. And there were some non-Leafs fans who were sitting around me who loved it," he continued. "They were howling, so I didn't hear 100% I asked a couple of my friends who were there, is that what he said? And they're like, Yeah, we think so. So it was just funny. It was a good line, and non-Leaf fans around me really thought he said it, and they loved it. It was a great show."
The Leafs have a large and passionate fan base, but there are also large numbers of fans of rival clubs who revel in Toronto's seemingly annual playoff failures. Judging by what Friedman experienced, some were in attendance during the Shane Gillis show.
The Maple Leafs have one lone series victory since 2004
Since defeating the provincial rival Ottawa Senators in the opening round of the 2004 Eastern Conference Quarter Final and advancing to face the Philadelphia Flyers, the Leafs have advanced past the opening round only once.
Now-former captain John Tavares scored the overtime and series-winning goal in Game 6 of the 2023 Quarter-Final against the Tampa Bay Lightning, sending Toronto to Round 2 against the Florida Panthers. Toronto's run would end at the hands of the Panthers, the eventual Eastern Conference champions.
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