Matthews makes excuses for Leafs' season and fans actually eat it up

The Toronto Maple Leafs have a couple off days following Saturday's loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning and given the juncture of the season both the team and their fanbase have been doing some deep thinking on what looks like a failed season.

The Leafs are remarkably 11 points out of a playoff spot, with little chance of qualifying for the post-season until next April. The team has looked awful pretty much all season and with an long offseason now staring them in the face, it's become obvious that they've fallen short.

The question isn't so much, 'what went wrong?' as there is plenty of blame to go around there...

The more pertinent question is, 'How can we fix this?'

That's what captain Auston Matthews is focused on. How can his team bounce back next season?

"I remember Lightning missed the playoffs one year (16-17)," Matthews told the Toronto media today. "Then the next year they're back at the top of the division, competing. Boston this year, had a down year and same thing, like, they're in the mix. You know, sometimes it happens."

Now... some fanbases may not be comfortable with their captain talking so flippantly about an absolute failure of a season, but evidently Leafs fans don't mind this kind of talk.

In fact, Leafs fans on social media are mostly in agreement with Matthews' sentiment and have praised him for looking to the future.

Are you kidding me?

This team just went from 1st in their division to dead last in their division and fans are happy that their captain is calling it no big deal?

You think the Florida Panthers are satisfied being in the same spot?

You think the Lightning and the Bruins just magically turned themselves around after their poor seasons?

The Leafs have so much work to do to get back into the post-season, let alone to compete for a Stanley Cup.