NEWARK, N.J.—The future is bright, a playoff appearance is close and they will get better fast.

On the surface, those optimistic sentiments emerging from the Maple Leafs’ locker room were at odds with a team that had lost 5-1 to New Jersey on Saturday night, locking up last place overall for just the fourth time in the team’s 99-year history.

But digging down, there actually may be something to it.

“The future of our organization is very bright,” said Leafs coach Mike Babcock. “There’s still a lot of pain coming, but we’re going to get a lot better very fast.”

Babcock went further later in his post-game comments, raising expectations of a playoff berth.

“We’ll be prepared for free agency and make sure we have a team that isn’t missing the playoffs,” said Babcock

Part of the optimism stems from the last-place finish itself. It means the Leafs have the best chance at 20 per cent among non-playoff teams at drafting first overall in June, with U.S. centre Auston Matthews deemed to be a franchise-type cornerstone prospect.

Even missing the playoffs for the 10th time in 11 seasons doesn’t dampen the enthusiasm for the Maple Leafs heading into their 100th season.

“I like the attitude of our guys,” said Babcock. “I like the changes we’ve made. I like how we’re set up to move ahead. It’s like anything — short-term pain for long-term gain. “I’m really ecstatic about how we’re set up to move ahead. I really like that.”

To wit, the Maple Leafs:

Have a front office in place led by GM Lou Lamoriello, who seems to have a firm hand on the plan to build a winner.

Have a coach in Babcock who has instilled a work ethic and a style of play in key players like Morgan Rielly, Jake Gardiner and Nazem Kadri that is the base from which the team will launch next season.

Appear to have a solid core of young albeit green prospects who’ll have the responsibility to get this team out of the basement and back to respectability.

And they have another high-end draft pick on the way — just what position will be determined at the lottery April 30 — but he’ll be right there on the depth chart joining last year’s No. 4 overall Mitch Marner. The top three picks are up for grabs in a new twist to the draft lottery, meaning the Leafs could pick as low as fourth. The Leafs have picked first overall just once in the universal draft era, taking future captain Wendel Clark in 1985. Clark wore the ‘C’ when the Leafs hit their post-1967 high of getting within a game of appearing in the Stanley Cup final in 1993.

The optimism these days — that better times are ahead after another year of taking it on the chin — is palpable with the pieces of the puzzle coming together.

“The attitude around the team is a bit more positive,” said Rielly, the only Leaf to play in all 82 games. “We have some things going on here. We’ve made some strides forward, we’ve accomplished some things to be proud of, as the new guys have come up and done a very good job. We can take that and move forward.”

But Rielly added a sobering reminder: “At the end of the day, the results are the same. We have a lot of work to do.”

P.A. Parenteau scored in the first period of the last game, getting to 20 goals to lead the team in that category. It meant the Leafs avoided the embarrassment of not having a 20-goal scorer, something they haven’t done since 1938-39 in a 48-game season.

“It’s nice to get a milestone like that, and I feel good personally about my year,” said Parenteau. “We finished last in the league, so you can’t be happy about that. At the same time, there are a lot of positives for this hockey team coming up. The draft, the prospects coming up that showed they were ready for the NHL.”

Kadri, who finished the season under suspension, was the team’s leading points producer, the first time he’s accomplished that. Kadri had 45 points; Parenteau was next at 41. That’s the lowest points total for a Leaf leading scorer since George Armstrong produced 44 points in 1956-57, a 70-game season.

Still, there was a sense the season ended too soon.

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“Every year, time flies,” said Gardiner. “I’ve played five years now and it feels like my rookie year. That’s what everyone has always told me coming into the league, they say enjoy it, it’s going to fly by. Every year flies by, no matter what happens.

“A couple of these years it’s been tough to stay motivated. Any time out of the playoffs is tough. This year, it’s a different atmosphere, a different culture.”

NOTES: Goalie David Bowen, the son of Leafs broadcaster Joe Bowen, was chosen in the 13th round of the OHL draft by Sudbury. ... Forward Danil Antropov, son of former Leaf Nik Antropov, was chosen in the first round by Oshawa. ... Seven players with the Leafs will rejoin the Marlies: Garret Sparks, William Nylander, T.J. Brennan, Tobias Lindberg, Andrew Campbell, Sam Carrick, Frederik Gauthier. ... Campbell left the game in the first period with an upper body injury.