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Over at ESPN.com, behind a paywall, toils the fertile mind of hockey insider Craig Custance, a superior sportswriter whose only failing is a strange aversion to In-N-Out burgers.

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He should be used to losing by now. After all, most of his career has been spent with one losing team after another.

Olli Jokinen has missed the playoffs with the Los Angeles Kings, New York Islanders, Florida Panthers, Phoenix Coyotes, Calgary Flames, New York Rangers and Winnipeg Jets. In fact, of the 1,225 games he has played during his 17 seasons in the NHL, only six occurred in the post-season.

By all accounts, the scene in Toronto should be a familiar one. But the 36-year-old, who was acquired by the Maple Leafs on Sunday in a multi-player trade with the first-place Nashville Predators, said even he was taken aback by the defeatist attitude inside his new dressing room.