Opinion | ‘All or nothing’ reveals the Leafs are a team still trying to come of age

Sheldon knew it.

When you go behind the curtain with Amazon’s “All or Nothing” series covering the 2021 Maple Leafs season, it’s fascinating to see how many of the problems that came up in the playoff collapse against Montreal that Sheldon Keefe had diagnosed during one campaign which seemed to be going exactly to plan from beyond the dressing room walls.

The head coach emerges as the most compelling character over five episodes that take fans further than any previous NHL series of its kind, and it’s because of his straightforward nature.

Keefe doesn’t beat around the bush. Amazon cameras caught him describing the Leafs as “fragile” multiple times during a season in which they went from cable to cable to win the North Division. At one point, he was concerned that their position at the top of the NHL rankings would generate complacency, and at another, he mentioned that they had yet to earn the full respect of opponents.

He also started early, during the break on that schedule after a hot 7-2-1 start.

There is a scene in the boardroom where Keefe and general manager Kyle Dubas discuss the lack of secondary scoring, before he takes captain John Tavares aside on the ice after practice to lament how many of the team’s victories they occurred in tight one-goal matches.

“I love our success, but I’m thinking about how we can build something here where we can have a great level of confidence that when we have an advantage, the games are ending.” Keefe told Tavares. “We could get 100 points in (56) games, but if we don’t do well in the playoffs, nobody gives a shit, right?”

A sense of impending doom hangs over a series that launches Friday on Amazon Prime. It was inevitable considering how abruptly a promising Leafs season came to a thunderous end.

While Amazon’s cameras provide access to organization that you’d never otherwise get, including Dubas skating with his little boy Leo; Auston Matthews chasing his dog Felix down the practice track; Jake Muzzin and Justin Holl chow down on golf balls in a backyard while arguing about aliens; and a fun cartoon dedicated to the team’s coffee snobs, among others: it’s the fighting moments that resonate the most.

The Leafs look like a team still trying to come of age. Despite all the progress they made by winning the division and significantly improving their defensive results, there is no getting around the fact that they froze after building a 3-1 series lead over Montreal in the first round of the playoffs.

It is somewhat telling that both the NHL and Amazon waited for a second season of “All or Nothing” and found no willing partner in the Leafs. The cameras and equipment did not return.

Facilitating this level of access was labor intensive and invasive. There is a great demand for authentic content, but it comes at a price. It actually felt a bit awkward being broadcast to a meeting between Dubas and Mitch Marner the day before Game 7, with the DJ trying to help ease the pressure on a player who ended up receiving the sharpest criticism after the loss.

“I just want more from me. I hope for more, ”Marner said, sinking into his chair.

The coaches meeting that same day made it clear that they believed the team was struggling to overcome a mental hurdle. Paul MacLean, then one of Keefe’s assistants, got right to the root of the problem.

“They have to help themselves in some way,” he said. “They have demons in their heads, they have them in their car, they have them under their damn beds. Everywhere they look there is a fucking demon …

“The biggest obstacle this team has are themselves.”

The series is worth watching just for gems like that.

It covers almost four hours and gives you an idea of ​​how genuine a guy like goalie Jack Campbell is, and how uncertain Frederik Andersen’s injury situation was for the front office before the trade deadline. The cameras were with Dubas when he made the decision to pay a high price to acquire Nick Foligno from Columbus, and they were in the hallway outside the visitor’s lounge in Montreal when Foligno collapsed in pain due to a back injury.

The most poignant scene takes place during the intermission between the third period and overtime during Game 6 against the Canadiens. Keefe calls out his top line of Matthews, Marner and Zach Hyman for being “dominated” and offers a passionate plea to the group about seizing the moment.

“This is it, this is the moment,” Keefe told the players. “These are the fucking times they remember you for. All the other shit doesn’t matter. That is all. We want to be a great team, you want to be great fucking players, you have to keep going. “

The Leafs ended up generating the first 10 shots of the overtime period that followed, but did not produce the series goal.

We all know what happened next.

And as another season approaches, we’re waiting to see how they dealt with the disappointment.

Chris Johnston is a Toronto-based journalist with a new gaming company. His work will be seen on the new gaming company’s website and app, as well as the Toronto Star. Follow him on Twitter: @reporterchris