TLN IS NOW THE TANK NATION

In honour of the Toronto Maple Leafs finding their way to the bottom of the NHL standings, we are very proud to announce a rebranding of The Leafs Nation and officially endorsing the tank. You can now visit us at thetanknation.com. No, seriously. It works.

(I mean, it’ll just bring you back to our regular site, but still.)

With a road loss to Florida, along with Buffalo and Columbus wins elsewhere, Toronto has dropped into a three-way tie for last place in the league. It’s fitting that the Leafs share the spot with the perennially awful Edmonton Oilers. One assumes that our sister site Oilers Nation will not be rebranding, as they’ve been following that sad-sack franchise for years and I’m not aware of them ever changing anything in the past. They won’t even change allegiances. Idiots. As for the other basement-dwelling franchise, the Columbus Blue Jackets, well… let’s just hope that John Tortorella can turn them around.

So, as mentioned, we as a writing staff are now fully committed to the tanking effort of the Leafs. I have to admit, I was a little worried there when Babcock had this team playing like a bubble team several weeks ago, but we’re now back to losing against hockey franchises based in Florida, so things couldn’t really get much worse. Now, we’ll humbly accept victories as they come, but we’ll also graciously accept defeat as we inch closer to the 2016 Draft Lottery and top pick Auston Matthews. 

Hell, even if it’s not Matthews, the Leafs will still be in a position to draft another excellent, blue chip prospect to play alongside William Nylander and Mitch Marner and all the other wonderful youngsters already in the system. Can I interest you in a Jesse Puljujarvi or a Patrick Laine? Matt Tkachuk? Jakob Chychrun? Olli Juolevi? I’ll accept any of them with open arms.

Ok, but really, fingers cross for this beauty…

Lastly, for those of you brave and bold enough to pledge your allegiance to Tank Nation but unsure who to cheer for in place of Toronto, let’s not forget that the Leafs hold onto the Pittsburgh Penguins’ first-round pick this year. And believe me, they’ll need all of the help they can get – the Pens currently hold down the final Wild Card spot in the East.