Hope. More than anything, that is what's lacking for the Toronto Maple Leafs right now.

Not necessarily on the ice, night to night – although there's an air of hopelessness there, after 10 losses in a row and 18 in 21 games.

Where it's most ingrained is in the fan base because they can't see any way out.

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This is where the 1967 jokes come in, and the inference that this franchise has always been hopeless, going on nearly 50 years.

But that's not quite true.

In the late 1970s, Darryl Sittler, Lanny McDonald and Borje Salming pushed the Leafs to the sixth-best record in an 18-team NHL. They made it to the third round and were swept by one of the Habs dynasty teams.

That team had some hope, albeit not a lot, given the competition.

The 1980s were a wasteland, sure, but Leafs then had two more stretches of relevancy, with the two Pats behind the bench.

Pat Burns coached his teams to within a hair of 100 points and the Stanley Cup final twice. Pat Quinn's Leafs teams averaged 98 points and never missed the postseason in his first six seasons (1999 to 2004).

Back then, the franchise had an advantage. The Leafs' wealth allowed them to outspend the opposition, and in the Quinn era, they were in the top nine in payroll, every year.

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Were they the best team in the NHL? No.

Were they well run, from the top down, including drafting and development? Never.

They were competitive, however, to the point of having a shot at contending, if things fell their way. For all their faults, they responded to their situation and used their unique advantages – albeit not enough and too often only with the short-term in mind.

When those advantages went, so did any real ability to contend.

And it's no wonder the fans' faith has gone with it.

Looking back, no organization was more ill-prepared for the salary cap and the new collective bargaining agreement than MLSE. They came out of the 2004-05 lockout old and angling for the mediocrity of a narrow playoff berth, with little attention to the long term.

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Never mind a rebuild – no one built at all.

A decade later, that has landed them here.

The Leafs' utter implosion over the past six weeks has been unexpected and historic, especially consider this group shouldn't be nearly this bad. The most likely outcome this season, based on the roster, was that they would tread water around the 85-point mark, staying in the playoff conversation into the spring.

That it's fallen apart so convincingly, even as a new coach has implemented a structured defensive system, is remarkable.

It's also one of the best things that could have happened to start new president Brendan Shanahan's regime.

Today, Shanahan is sitting in the same chair, with the same view, that former general manager Brian Burke had back in 2008-09. He has the benefit of hindsight, too, of being able to look at what went wrong, and – critically – of still having his first-round pick while doing so.

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The team on the ice, meanwhile, has given him no reason to believe a quick turnaround is possible, let alone plausible.

If there is hope in this season for the Leafs, it's that the path forward is so clearly laid out it's unmistakable.

Especially with the roadmap of failure's past that's behind them.

Say what you will about Shanahan's lack of experience in an NHL team's front office, his reputation is that of a sharp and decisive thinker who's willing to entertain new ideas. That played out this year when he intentionally created a motley front office in order to encourage debate and made what appear to be smart hires from outside the league in Mark Hunter and Kyle Dubas.

Both men will help on the draft and development side, as should the numerous hires in the player development department. None of it screams of a quick fix.

That's a good thing, because there really isn't one any more. The Leafs can't buy a good team any more than they can buy a pink unicorn. If Shanahan can see that and can execute on a vision that relies on smart personnel making smart decisions, then the Leafs do have a hope.

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It won't be easy, and it'll take years to pull off. But it's better than what there's been for an awfully long time.

Being so bad, yet again, may actually help them get good.