Okay I get what you are saying. They have been close. They have been to the final four four times since 1967, and in each of those they came up short. The closest was probably the year against the Kings and the defining moment in that series was the missed call on Gretzky.
Again, I know that there have been different regimes, but the stars never seem to align for this team. There is always something that we as fans can point to and say "Oh if only that had gone differently". Why have there been so many "Oh if only that had gone differently" for this team? The Red Sox, Cubs, Lions, Bills, English soccer have all or are going through something similar. The thing the Leafs have to figure out is why can't they get the stars to align. Easier said than done I realize, but still. At some point in 60 years, something should have clicked. Maybe they try drafting a dman other than Morgan Rielly sometime.