Maple Leafs apologize to fans for disappointing season, missing playoffs again

TORONTO - The Toronto Maple Leafs are apologizing for yet another disappointing season.

A letter to fans posted on the Leafs' website Monday asks forgiveness after the team missed the playoffs for the seventh straight year.

"The Toronto Maple Leafs are a public trust with the greatest fans in the world," reads the letter signed by Larry Tanenbaum, chairman of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment.

"We have fallen short of everyone's expectations, and for that we are sorry. We take full responsibility for how this team performs on the ice, and we make no excuses.

"The way this year ended was unacceptable. Results are the only measure of success in sports and the results speak for themselves."

The Leafs were in sixth place in the Eastern Conference in February, but went on to win just two of their next 17 games in a collapse they couldn't recover from.

Toronto general manager Brian Burke replaced head coach Ron Wilson with Randy Carlyle in March, but the damage was done and the Leafs finished 13th in the East.

Tanenbaum's letter makes no mention of Burke's future, only saying that "ownership believes in the plan for the Maple Leafs."