I was hoping I wouldn’t have to write this post. Instead of writing a (hopefully not) Annual Torontonian Guide to the Playoffs I would rather write a quick tweet: Cheer for Toronto. But the Leafs would actually have to make the playoffs for that to work. So, once again, Leafs Nation will have to temporarily lend their support to another team. Or you can disregard the playoffs entirely and throw your full support into baseball – but that’s not ideal.

If you’re a little confused about who to cheer for, read ahead. You’ll at least know who you shouldn’t cheer for.

The NHL regular season concludes on Monday and the playoff races in both the East and West won’t be determined until the final weekend of play. Only the final two playoff spots are open in the East, whereas the West has spots 5 to 8 available (although at this point only one new team in each conference can actually make it in). Madness. Last year’s Stanley Cup Champions are holding on desperately to the final playoff spot. Their reward: playing the President’s Trophy winners and their yearly opponent – the Canucks. Interesting indeed.

There is also a heated race for the major trophies, specifically the Hart Trophy awarded to the league’s most valuable player. Corey Perry is making a late charge by essentially scoring on a nightly basis. Earlier this week he scored a hat-trick to become the first (and likely only) player to hit 50 goals this season. He’s now only five points behind Daniel Sedin for the league lead in points, while scoring nine more goals, more short-handed goals and more overtime goals. Perry plays more minutes each night and carried the team during Ryan Getzlaf’s absence. Of course, Sedin is the best player on the best team in the league. It's being debated.

There’s enough talk about the real NHL Awards that you can find detailed arguments anywhere on the net. But what I really want to do is introduce the First Annual Alternative NHL Awards. I know the season isn't over yet, but these races are.

Unfortunately, the Leafs were mathematically eliminated from the playoffs Tuesday night thanks to a Buffalo Sabres victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning. It was miraculous that the Leafs were even in the playoff hunt this late in the season considering how poorly they played before the All-Star break.

The Leafs are one of the youngest teams in the league and playing down the stretch in a legitimate playoff race – one where they were essentially required to win every night – is a great experience moving forward. Of course actually playing in the playoffs would be a better experience, but we’re taking baby steps here, so I’m pleased with the late season run.

This season the Leafs answered a lot of questions.

At the beginning of the season everyone asked if anyone besides Phil Kessel would score. Everyone assumed Phil Kessel would hit 30, but not many predicted the same for Nikolai Kulemin and (possibly) Mikhail Grabovski. If Grabbo adds to the 29 goals he already has it will be the first time since Gilmour, Sundin, and Gartner all scored 30+ in 1995-1996 that a Leafs trio has accomplished this feat. They would also be the only team in the league with three 30-goal scorers (Anaheim, Chicago, and, amazingly, the New York Islanders are close as well). Not too shabby.

Everyone also questioned whether the Leafs would actually receive stable goaltending after years of historically bad netminding. It seemed like the Monster and J.S. Giguere answered that ‘yes’ the horribleness would continue, but that answer changed once James Reimer rode in on a white horse and saved the Leafs’ season, Ron Wilson’s job, and our collective sanity.

The most pressing issue (at least for fans) was whether the Leafs would transfer the Bruins another lottery pick. I would cry if that happened, but, thankfully, the Leafs’ play over the last few months ensured that the pick would be around 10. I can live with that.

However, this season created many more questions heading into next season.

The post-lockout Leafs have developed a bad habit of burying themselves during the first part of the season, necessitating a late season surge to compensate for their early futility. In the first two seasons after the lockout this meant that the Leafs missed the playoffs by three points and one point respectively.

This season the Leafs continually staved off elimination. Every time they lost a game that seemingly ended their chances they rallied off multiple wins to keep hope alive. That’s all that remains that this point: hope. I can live with that. The Leafs have to win every game from here on out. They face Ottawa, Washington, New Jersey, and Montreal. Of course the Leafs went through multiple death spirals this season, so they not only have to win their remaining games, but they need two of New York, Buffalo, and Carolina to go into a death spiral of their own.

Regardless of whether or not the Leafs make the playoffs I am hopeful for next season. Unfortunately, I have felt this way every single year except for 2007-2008 (surprisingly the season they finished on the best run besides this season) because they were clearly blowing up the team at that point. And every single year the Leafs made no real improvements and in some cases actually finished worse the next season.

However, this year is different. I can feel it. Here is why you should believe.