Seeing Matt Frattin with the Marlies ... I drifted back ... I closed my eyes ... I remembered. ... There was 3:35 remaining in Game 7. Frattin was on a breakaway. The Leafs were up 4-2 on Boston in the first round of playoffs. It was going to be a stunning turn of events until some even-more stunning events occurred.

If Frattin scores on that breakaway, everything is different. Everything. I started thinking maybe there's this weird alternate universe where Frattin makes it 5-2. The Leafs would have played the New York Rangers in the second round. Might have beaten them, too. They wouldn't have gone much further than that.

Not in 2013, anyway. But then, they wouldn't have traded for Jonathan Bernier. James Reimer's would have built a reputation as a playoff stud. Phil Kessel, too, who was having a terrific series, would be seen differently in Toronto. They'd probably trade for Dave Bolland, but maybe Bolland doesn't get hurt in Frattin-World.

Frattin nonetheless is traded, but as will be his custom, he comes back saying he can't leave the job unfinished.

Heading into 2013-14, they'd have their heads screwed on straight. David Clarkson would make sure of that. In Frattin-World, Clarkson stays on the bench while his teammates scuffle with the Sabres in an exhibition game. The first 10 games of the season are electrifying, with Clarkson setting team records in scoring and everyone pats themselves on the back for a job well done and isn't Clarkson's deal a bargain?

Frattin is traded again, but he returns as a free agent saying there's work to be done. He mumbles something about having a vision into this "other world" where the Leafs never make the playoffs, Edmonton always gets the first overall pick and Kessel is a Penguin. Rantings of a madman, some think.

Randy Carlyle, who'd be under consideration for coach of the year, continued to play that run-n-gun hockey. Reimer and Ben Scrivens form a formidable tandem. There's no post-Olympic collapse because there's no Bernier to get hurt.

Joe Colborne scores the goal that sends the Maple Leafs to their first Stanley Cup final since 1967.

They don't win, but as Dave Nonis is accepting executive of the year in 2014-15, the Leafs are proving that run-n-gun hockey is the way to beat possession hockey. Other teams are inspired by the Leafs success and choose to copy it. Montreal decides, hey, what if we just get a great goalie and see what happens (Montreal's time-line remains intact.)

The analytics revolution is delayed. New statistics are invented to explain what is happening.

One is Carlyle Effect, which measures the difference between what the coach preaches and what the players actually do. Some call it the Toaster, because you might get burned.



Then there's Kessel For Percentage: It measures goals scored versus chances surrendered the other way by shooting wide on 2-on-1s. The sample size large enough, a 1-to-10 ratio is deemed acceptable.

Finally, Frattin is traded again, but this time he refuses to leave. His destiny is in Toronto, he says.



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Then there it is ... overtime ... for the Stanley Cup .... Wait I'm waking up. ... Is that Frattin? ... A breakaway? Gaining consciousness. ... What was that? A stick flip?

GOT A QUESTION? Email me at askkevinmcgran@gmail.com and I'll answer it in Friday's mailbag.

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