So, Carolina shuts out Vegas to close things out. Must be nice to end your season on a win; I wouldn't know what that feels like in June. While the rest of the league watches the pageantry of champions, we Leafs fans are deep in our natural habitat: the off-season. It’s that time of year where we convince ourselves that the next roster tweak, the next coaching adjustment, or the next cap-space miracle is the one that finally breaks the curse that started when color television was a luxury. We are currently bracing ourselves for the draft and the inevitable circus of free agency, where we pray management doesn't trade away our future for a player who will disappear the moment the pressure mounts. It has been fifty-nine years of 'maybe next year,' yet here I am, analyzing lineups as if the universe isn't laughing at us. We are the experts of cautious hope, seasoned by decades of heartbreak, waiting for a miracle that refuses to show up. The sun is shining, the golf courses are open, and somehow, I am already thinking about October. God help us all. At least the suffering is consistent.