The Official LEAFS NATION Hockey thread
- Thread starter Doc Holliday
- Start date
Hope is bulding in Leaf land
by David Shoalts, the Globe and Mail
Not that it will ease the considerable angst of a fan base headed for its seventh consecutive year out of the NHL playoffs, but the latest noble-but-doomed effort by the Toronto Maple Leafs showed a team headed in the right direction.
Yes, we know that direction for now is the golf course but bear with us.
If, of course, if the Leafs managed to beat the Detroit Red Wings last Saturday, their 4-3 win Tuesday night over the eighth-place Buffalo Sabres would be real cause for excitement. They are still mathematically alive in the Eastern Conference playoff hunt but sitting five points behind the Sabres with only five games left in the regular season does not leave a lot of room for hope.
Better the fans should turn their gaze to next season (I know, you’ve heard that enough), where the real hope starts.
Leafs general manager Brian Burke may have as much as $25-million (all currency U.S.) to spend if the salary cap gets to $63-million or so and Tuesday night’s win over the Sabres provided the latest evidence where the spending priorities lie.
There are some pending restricted free agents on the roster that Burke has to look after. But only defenceman Luke Schenn will make a sizable dent in the budget. Winger Clarke MacArthur may also cost a couple million and goaltender James Reimer can expect a healthy raise but Carl Gunnarsson and Tyler Bozak will not break the bank. Especially Bozak, whom we’ll get to later.
Burke’s biggest decisions will be what to do about the Leafs’ goaltending and how to land the minimum of two top-line forwards they need.
The goaltending decision is whether to throw your lot in with the youngster Reimer and sign a free-agent veteran to be a stabilizing influence or go after the prize of the free-agent market. No, I haven’t forgotten about Jonas Gustavsson but he is now in the position of having to prove himself again.
The prize free agent will be Ilya Bryzgalov of the Phoenix Coyotes. He should be Burke’s priority come July 1.
Reimer, 23, is a remarkable story since the Leafs called him up Jan. 23 and he unexpectedly wrestled the No. 1 job away from Jean-Sébastien Giguère. But he showed against the Sabres Tuesday night why it would be dangerous to decide he is ready to be the No. 1 goalie for 82 games. A two-goal lead disappeared in 30 seconds in the second period when Reimer could not make two big saves.
There is no guarantee Bryzgalov is willing to come to Toronto but he does have a good history with Burke from their days with the Anaheim Ducks. And if the Coyotes wind up in Winnipeg, Bryzgalov just might be more inclined to come to Toronto.
The free-agent market looks rather thin when it comes to elite centres, the position the Leafs need to fill the most. Brad Richards’s preference seems to be to stay with the Dallas Stars or head for the New York Rangers, with the Leafs not in the picture.
But Burke needs to find someone, either as a free agent or by trade. This is clear every time Bozak steps on the ice to play between Phil Kessel and Joffrey Lupul.
Tuesday night, for example, Kessel set him up twice in front of the net in the first period. Bozak whiffed both times. Kessel is headed for another 30-goal, 60-point season and Bozak has all of 29 points playing beside him. It also didn’t help that he took a holding penalty in the last two minutes of the third period, wiping out a Leaf power play and forcing his teammates to fight hard for the last 45 seconds against a Sabres power play.
In the second period, Mikhail Grabovski showed what a good centre can do with Kessel, snapping a centring pass behind Sabres goaltender Ryan Miller to restore the Leafs’ lead.
That someone should not be Nazem Kadri at this point, even if he put in another terrific game Tuesday night. Kadri looks much more comfortable this time around playing on the wing, so it’s a good place for him to start his first full NHL season.
In 1998, the Leafs came off a season where they finished about the same in the NHL standing as the present edition and with much less talent. They signed Curtis Joseph and became a conference finalist.
The present Leafs do not have a Mats Sundin at centre but with someone in that ballpark they could vault quite a way up the Eastern Conference ladder.
Hope is building for next year's Leafs
by David Shoalts, the Globe and Mail
Not that it will ease the considerable angst of a fan base headed for its seventh consecutive year out of the NHL playoffs, but the latest noble-but-doomed effort by the Toronto Maple Leafs showed a team headed in the right direction.
Yes, we know that direction for now is the golf course but bear with us.
If, of course, if the Leafs managed to beat the Detroit Red Wings last Saturday, their 4-3 win Tuesday night over the eighth-place Buffalo Sabres would be real cause for excitement. They are still mathematically alive in the Eastern Conference playoff hunt but sitting five points behind the Sabres with only five games left in the regular season does not leave a lot of room for hope.
Better the fans should turn their gaze to next season (I know, you’ve heard that enough), where the real hope starts.
Leafs general manager Brian Burke may have as much as $25-million (all currency U.S.) to spend if the salary cap gets to $63-million or so and Tuesday night’s win over the Sabres provided the latest evidence where the spending priorities lie.
There are some pending restricted free agents on the roster that Burke has to look after. But only defenceman Luke Schenn will make a sizable dent in the budget. Winger Clarke MacArthur may also cost a couple million and goaltender James Reimer can expect a healthy raise but Carl Gunnarsson and Tyler Bozak will not break the bank. Especially Bozak, whom we’ll get to later.
Burke’s biggest decisions will be what to do about the Leafs’ goaltending and how to land the minimum of two top-line forwards they need.
The goaltending decision is whether to throw your lot in with the youngster Reimer and sign a free-agent veteran to be a stabilizing influence or go after the prize of the free-agent market. No, I haven’t forgotten about Jonas Gustavsson but he is now in the position of having to prove himself again.
The prize free agent will be Ilya Bryzgalov of the Phoenix Coyotes. He should be Burke’s priority come July 1.
Reimer, 23, is a remarkable story since the Leafs called him up Jan. 23 and he unexpectedly wrestled the No. 1 job away from Jean-Sébastien Giguère. But he showed against the Sabres Tuesday night why it would be dangerous to decide he is ready to be the No. 1 goalie for 82 games. A two-goal lead disappeared in 30 seconds in the second period when Reimer could not make two big saves.
There is no guarantee Bryzgalov is willing to come to Toronto but he does have a good history with Burke from their days with the Anaheim Ducks. And if the Coyotes wind up in Winnipeg, Bryzgalov just might be more inclined to come to Toronto.
The free-agent market looks rather thin when it comes to elite centres, the position the Leafs need to fill the most. Brad Richards’s preference seems to be to stay with the Dallas Stars or head for the New York Rangers, with the Leafs not in the picture.
But Burke needs to find someone, either as a free agent or by trade. This is clear every time Bozak steps on the ice to play between Phil Kessel and Joffrey Lupul.
Tuesday night, for example, Kessel set him up twice in front of the net in the first period. Bozak whiffed both times. Kessel is headed for another 30-goal, 60-point season and Bozak has all of 29 points playing beside him. It also didn’t help that he took a holding penalty in the last two minutes of the third period, wiping out a Leaf power play and forcing his teammates to fight hard for the last 45 seconds against a Sabres power play.
In the second period, Mikhail Grabovski showed what a good centre can do with Kessel, snapping a centring pass behind Sabres goaltender Ryan Miller to restore the Leafs’ lead.
That someone should not be Nazem Kadri at this point, even if he put in another terrific game Tuesday night. Kadri looks much more comfortable this time around playing on the wing, so it’s a good place for him to start his first full NHL season.
In 1998, the Leafs came off a season where they finished about the same in the NHL standing as the present edition and with much less talent. They signed Curtis Joseph and became a conference finalist.
The present Leafs do not have a Mats Sundin at centre but with someone in that ballpark they could vault quite a way up the Eastern Conference ladder.
Hope is building for next year's Leafs
Lucheek looked almost as silly as he did when Colton Orr tore him a new ahole a yr ago.......
Why Leafs should not go after Brad Richards.....and more
by Damien Cox, The Toronto Star
A big part of the reason, of course, is that Buffalo, Carolina and the Rangers never opened the door quite enough to allow the Leafs to receive the help they would have required to get into the 2011 post-season tournament.
The Leafs at least made those teams make their putts. The Rangers, for example, had to go into a tough Philly rink yesterday and extract two points, which they did with a gritty, impressive performance.
Hard to blame the Leafs for that. They'd at least helped sound the the alarm in Ranger headquarters Saturday night with their sixth win in seven games, a 4-2 triumph in Ottawa.
At this point, it would be an achievement for the Leafs to get ninth place in the Eastern Conference, and that's pretty thin gruel. Ditto for the fact they are now 20th overall, which means that if things stay that way and Boston doesn't win the draft lottery on April 12th, the second first rounder the Bruins received from the Phil Kessel deal won't be a top 10 selection.
It'll still be a good pick of course. But the Leaf National Nightmare would be over, the tally will be final (Tyler Seguin, Jared Knight and somebody with this year's pick) and the screechers who guaranteed a Leaf apocalypse - back-to-back top two picks for Kessel/the sky is falling!! - will have been proven to be incorrect.
In five years, we'll know if the Leafs truly overpaid for Kessel. But not until then.
Meanwhile, the math may still tells us the Leafs are alive, but it's really time to move on to the next important question.
What now?
At this moment, the Leafs have two picks in the bottom third of the June entry draft to work with, plus an estimated $15 million or so in cap space this summer, and that's after signing James Reimer, Clarke MacArthur, Tyler Bozak and Luke Schenn to new contracts as restricted free agents.
That's not a bad position to be in for a club that will finish with between 84 and 90 points and one of the youngest rosters in hockey. If anything, however, it's the next move, or moves, and the process of trying to get the club not only back into post-season play but to the level of a serious playoff squad that will be tougher.
In other words, having gone from smoking crater to cinder block foundation with some landscaping in place, the more difficult job of designing a custom made home for a finicky customer begins now.
The natural inclination will be to argue that spending a zillion dollars on one player - Brad Richards - is the answer. Problem is, the corollary to that is that the Leafs are one player away, and they're not.
Moreover, the absence of gigantic, multi-year committments to individuals is part of what has the Leafs in this relatively favourable position for a non-playoff team. Some of the trades the team hasn't made, like dealing for Marc Savard last summer, have turned out to be decisions that have been beneficial, rather than costly.
In some ways, the situations of the Leafs and Blue Jays are similar, if not exact. Jays president Paul Beeston has made it clear he's ready to go to Rogers and ask for extra payroll monies when he thinks the time is right, and he doesn't think that time is now.
For the Leafs, it could be they're not at the point where spending $8 million a season on a player like Richards is the smartest move. There will be free agent options in the years ahead.
Really, the Leafs want to position themselves to eventually do what helped fuel Washington's late season charge this year, and that's add expensive veterans - Scott Hannan, Jason Arnott, Dennis Wideman - to try and put a young club over the top.
It's extremely unlikely that the Leafs will do anything like trade young players or picks for older talent, and more likely that they'll try to combine the assets they have to add a blue chip player that matches the age of their core group, somewhere between the ages of 22 and 26.
Richards turns 31 next month and is coming off a serious concussion. In 12 games since returning, he has two goals and six assists. If he were looking for a three-year committment as an unrestricted free agent this summer, it might be a better fit for the Leafs, but he'll be looking for something much longer. And will get it.
There's 25-year-old Paul Stastny, who didn't have a great season this year but would be Toronto's No. 1 centre. The cap hit is heavy at $6.6 million, but only for three more years. Depending on where Colorado is heading, he could be available. Or somebody like him.
Or, could Burke package the two firsts he owns and a young player - Nik Kulemin, Carl Gunnarson? - and move up in the draft to take a shot at a more talented prospect. The question for chief scout Dave Morrison to answer would be whether there's something truly compelling outside the top four - Gabriel Landeskog, Adam Larsson, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Sean Courturier - that would make it worth Toronto's efforts, because getting into that top four would be awfully tough.
If you could get Couturier, a big centre, and line him up with Nazem Kadri and Joe Colborne, you're looking at the strength down the middle that good teams are always looking for. But again, getting into that top four would be tough.
That said, a higher first round pick and some medium-priced UFAs could be correct approach for this off-season. Certainly, Colby Armstrong and Clarke MacArthur paid off handsomely last summer. That would leave room to see if other young players in the Leaf system like Jerry D'Amigo, Matt Frattin, Simon Gysbers and Colborne, for example, might be ready to make the big jump, and also leave space to re-sign the likes of Darryl Boyce, Joey Crabb and Tim Brent, all impending UFAs who made significant contributions this season.
That's the path I'd choose, particularly if, as reported, Ilya Bryzgalov has no interest in the Leafs. Others would go the Richards route. It's not a simple choice. That's why Burke gets the big money.
http://thestar.blogs.com/thespin/
by Damien Cox, The Toronto Star
A big part of the reason, of course, is that Buffalo, Carolina and the Rangers never opened the door quite enough to allow the Leafs to receive the help they would have required to get into the 2011 post-season tournament.
The Leafs at least made those teams make their putts. The Rangers, for example, had to go into a tough Philly rink yesterday and extract two points, which they did with a gritty, impressive performance.
Hard to blame the Leafs for that. They'd at least helped sound the the alarm in Ranger headquarters Saturday night with their sixth win in seven games, a 4-2 triumph in Ottawa.
At this point, it would be an achievement for the Leafs to get ninth place in the Eastern Conference, and that's pretty thin gruel. Ditto for the fact they are now 20th overall, which means that if things stay that way and Boston doesn't win the draft lottery on April 12th, the second first rounder the Bruins received from the Phil Kessel deal won't be a top 10 selection.
It'll still be a good pick of course. But the Leaf National Nightmare would be over, the tally will be final (Tyler Seguin, Jared Knight and somebody with this year's pick) and the screechers who guaranteed a Leaf apocalypse - back-to-back top two picks for Kessel/the sky is falling!! - will have been proven to be incorrect.
In five years, we'll know if the Leafs truly overpaid for Kessel. But not until then.
Meanwhile, the math may still tells us the Leafs are alive, but it's really time to move on to the next important question.
What now?
At this moment, the Leafs have two picks in the bottom third of the June entry draft to work with, plus an estimated $15 million or so in cap space this summer, and that's after signing James Reimer, Clarke MacArthur, Tyler Bozak and Luke Schenn to new contracts as restricted free agents.
That's not a bad position to be in for a club that will finish with between 84 and 90 points and one of the youngest rosters in hockey. If anything, however, it's the next move, or moves, and the process of trying to get the club not only back into post-season play but to the level of a serious playoff squad that will be tougher.
In other words, having gone from smoking crater to cinder block foundation with some landscaping in place, the more difficult job of designing a custom made home for a finicky customer begins now.
The natural inclination will be to argue that spending a zillion dollars on one player - Brad Richards - is the answer. Problem is, the corollary to that is that the Leafs are one player away, and they're not.
Moreover, the absence of gigantic, multi-year committments to individuals is part of what has the Leafs in this relatively favourable position for a non-playoff team. Some of the trades the team hasn't made, like dealing for Marc Savard last summer, have turned out to be decisions that have been beneficial, rather than costly.
In some ways, the situations of the Leafs and Blue Jays are similar, if not exact. Jays president Paul Beeston has made it clear he's ready to go to Rogers and ask for extra payroll monies when he thinks the time is right, and he doesn't think that time is now.
For the Leafs, it could be they're not at the point where spending $8 million a season on a player like Richards is the smartest move. There will be free agent options in the years ahead.
Really, the Leafs want to position themselves to eventually do what helped fuel Washington's late season charge this year, and that's add expensive veterans - Scott Hannan, Jason Arnott, Dennis Wideman - to try and put a young club over the top.
It's extremely unlikely that the Leafs will do anything like trade young players or picks for older talent, and more likely that they'll try to combine the assets they have to add a blue chip player that matches the age of their core group, somewhere between the ages of 22 and 26.
Richards turns 31 next month and is coming off a serious concussion. In 12 games since returning, he has two goals and six assists. If he were looking for a three-year committment as an unrestricted free agent this summer, it might be a better fit for the Leafs, but he'll be looking for something much longer. And will get it.
There's 25-year-old Paul Stastny, who didn't have a great season this year but would be Toronto's No. 1 centre. The cap hit is heavy at $6.6 million, but only for three more years. Depending on where Colorado is heading, he could be available. Or somebody like him.
Or, could Burke package the two firsts he owns and a young player - Nik Kulemin, Carl Gunnarson? - and move up in the draft to take a shot at a more talented prospect. The question for chief scout Dave Morrison to answer would be whether there's something truly compelling outside the top four - Gabriel Landeskog, Adam Larsson, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Sean Courturier - that would make it worth Toronto's efforts, because getting into that top four would be awfully tough.
If you could get Couturier, a big centre, and line him up with Nazem Kadri and Joe Colborne, you're looking at the strength down the middle that good teams are always looking for. But again, getting into that top four would be tough.
That said, a higher first round pick and some medium-priced UFAs could be correct approach for this off-season. Certainly, Colby Armstrong and Clarke MacArthur paid off handsomely last summer. That would leave room to see if other young players in the Leaf system like Jerry D'Amigo, Matt Frattin, Simon Gysbers and Colborne, for example, might be ready to make the big jump, and also leave space to re-sign the likes of Darryl Boyce, Joey Crabb and Tim Brent, all impending UFAs who made significant contributions this season.
That's the path I'd choose, particularly if, as reported, Ilya Bryzgalov has no interest in the Leafs. Others would go the Richards route. It's not a simple choice. That's why Burke gets the big money.
http://thestar.blogs.com/thespin/
Nice of you to notice and i 100% agree with you! (wow, miracles can happen) 
Some teams improve, some get worse
Some teams improve, some get worse
Nice of you to notice and i 100% agree with you! (wow, miracles can happen)
I also agree with Jman. 100% !!!!
Next to the Bruins winning it all, I would love to see Toronto kick Montreal's butt in the playoffs, then see the Leafs win it all. I might even enjoy the latter more. Not kidding. I'm really not sure which is better, a Cup for the Bs, or the Leafs pounding the Canadiens. Hmmm.
But since that won't happen this year maybe we could gather a collection of samples from the zambonis so the Leafs fans can get a whif of playoff ice...lol.
BTW...was that "horizon" before 2020?
Cheers,
Merlot
Oupss ! sorry Doc ! I had to respect the nature of this Thread !!!
I moved my post in the proper thread !
Cheers
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My compliments to the originator of this thread. It has provided many, many laughs during its existence. Rereading it in the aftermath of the Leafs dramatic improvement all the way up to 22nd place has been extremely entertaining. Best wishes to Brian Burke for next season - possibly another improvement will occur and if they make it up to 21st Brian will have brought the buds back to where they were when he first took over. After that the sky is the limit - maybe even a playoff berth some time before we all die. Go Leafs go.
I saw the play yesterday while watching the game. Ouch!
It's funny when i hear people saying that the Leafs are on the golf course, blah-blah-blah......
In reality, half of the Leafs team is in Europe representing their respective countries at the World Championships. It's called national pride.
Meanwhile, only a few european Habs players who got invites accepted to join their country's teams. Players like P.K. Subban & Carey Price refused to join Team Canada. Brian Gionta might have joined Team USA, but he didn't even get an invite.
Just an observation.........
Dion Phaneuf extremely impressive at world championships
Phaneuf has been a game-changer, says coaching staff
Phaneuf has been a game-changer, says coaching staff
Good, i dont want Reimer to get hurt, i say sit him the rest of the way! The tournament has already been a extremely valuable learning experience for a young Reimer anyways.... get ready for training camp Reiminister of Defense!
The tournament has already been a extremely valuable learning experience for a young Reimer anyways.... get ready for training camp Reiminister of Defense!
And we say TY for Kessel......... I wish seguin well and hope he does well in the NHL. BTW, we ALSO say TY for Colborne, a first and a 2nd round pic for Kaberle who has not done much in 40 games with the bruins.
PS, I hope seguin keeps this up to get the bruins past the Lightning so we get that 2nd round pic! GO SEGUIN!!!!!!!!!! :thumb:
PS, I hope seguin keeps this up to get the bruins past the Lightning so we get that 2nd round pic! GO SEGUIN!!!!!!!!!! :thumb:
Defensive Musician
Not bad, especially song bite #11 :thumb:
http://www.thestar.com/sports/hocke...tt-lashoff-launches-second-career-as-musician
Not bad, especially song bite #11 :thumb:
http://www.thestar.com/sports/hocke...tt-lashoff-launches-second-career-as-musician
Leafs Phenomenon
Jim McKenny witnessed both sides of what he calls the Toronto Maple Leafs phenomenon – for 12 seasons as a defenceman with the team from 1966-78, and then for many more years as a sportscaster covering the team for CITY-TV.
Like many of the ex-Leafs who teed it up as part of the NHL Alumni in Tuesday’s Canadian Tour Championship Pro-Am at Ambassador Golf Club, it’s a phenomenon for which they see no end in sight, no matter how many years the Leafs extend their current plight of non-playoff seasons, which is six in a row and counting, or their Stanley Cup drought, a 34-year skid.
“They talk about another (NHL) team coming into Toronto, and that wouldn’t hurt the Leafs at all,” said McKenny, 64. “Most of the hockey fans in Toronto are Leafs fans. They have real good American League hockey there, and they don’t draw flies. They have really good junior hockey with the (Mississauga St. Michael’s) Majors and the (Brampton) Battalion, and they don’t draw.
“It’s just a Leafs phenomenon that’s all around the city. People are crazy about the Leafs.”
Dave Hutchison, a Leafs defenceman from 1978-80, and again in 1983-84, compared the inflexible devotion of Leafs fans to those who support another famous lovable loser. “Have you ever heard of the Chicago Cubs?” Hutchison, 59, asked rhetorically. “Same thing. They’re real, true fans, and one day, we’re going to turn it around – I hope.”
Most of the former Leafs believe the aura that encompasses the Leafs faithful is one that’s ingrained into them almost from the time they leave the womb.
“Growing up and watching the games, that was who we watched, the Leafs,” said Leamington’s Pat Ribble, 57, who skated on the Leafs’ defence for 13 games during the 1979-80 season. “When I got traded there, it was such a big thrill for me. I was only there for 31 days, but it was a big part of my career, and I really enjoyed it.”
Hutchison remembers when the Leafs were dominant, and even though images of such greatness is only available today in grainy, black-and-white footage, to those who witnessed it, the pictures flow through their memory banks in vivid technicolor, and like some sage elders of the Leafs community, they pass on the tales of such lore to keep the dream alive for the current crop of long-suffering Leafs fans.
“When we were kids back in the 1960s, the Leafs won the Cup four times,” Hutchison said. “People from around that era, who would be their 50s now, were watching the Leafs then, and have an influence on their children. True Leafs fans are not jumping around and cheering for other teams when the Leafs aren’t doing well. And someday, we’re going to reap the benefits of this. And I hope, not too long from now.”
Even in Essex County, you won’t sway a Leafs fan to change their allegiance, even though one of the NHL’s most consistent franchises resides just across the border. “We’ve got Detroit that’s so close, and there’s still a lot of Leafs fans in the area,” Ribble said. “If you’re a fan, it’s tough to get off that bandwagon. I’m still a fan. I hope that they can come through.”
That overdose of Leafs coverage that is inflicted upon most every Canadian youngster may also be a double-edged sword, and play a role in Toronto’s troubles. “When I was with other teams – Los Angeles, Chicago – coming into Toronto, I always played my best game, because I knew that it was televised coast-to-coast, our family and friends were either in Toronto, or certainly watching it on TV,” Hutchison said. “People get up when they come into the rink. Toronto’s a tough place to win, because most of the other player’s emotions are running sky high when they come to Toronto to play.”
McKenny, also sees hope, but is a realist, and sees as well a significant hole at a key position in Toronto’s lineup. “They have a lot of talent, they have some good, young kids, they have a good back end, but for the last 100 years, the best teams have had good centres,” McKenny said. “The Leafs haven’t had centres since (Mats) Sundin left. They haven’t had a husky at centre, so there’s no one for the kids to learn from, because at the NHL level, you don’t learn from the coach, you learn from other players. It’s somebody who’s there in practice every day and they see what he does. They see what he does during the games.
“When (Darryl) Sittler broke in, they had (Dave) Keon and (Norm) Ullman, and Darryl got better real fast, just by watching those guys, what they did, how they positioned themselves, and the kind of effort they put in. The kids that are coming to the Leafs now have nobody to learn from. Perhaps (newcomers Tim) Connolly and (Matthew) Lombardi will fix that up.”
Regardless, McKenny thinks the Leafs have the ship headed in the proper direction for the first time in some years. “I think (Leafs GM Brian) Burke’s going about it in the right way,” McKenny said. “He did trade away a couple of draft choices for (Phil) Kessel, but I don’t think he’s going to do that anymore. I think they learned a hard lesson there.
“Kessel’s a hell of a hockey player, but the Leafs’ first-round picks are sometimes first overall, and there’s a big difference between a first-round picks and a first overall. There’s those first three picks, then there’s a big drop off after that. Those first three guys can really make a difference in your team. If the Leafs had (former Windsor Spitfire) Taylor Hall (of Edmonton) right now, they’d be in business. But they’re not in business. If (goaltender James) Reimer doesn’t play out of his mind again, they’re in big trouble.”
Not that it’s going to make anyone who bleeds blue-and-white look for a way out. “The Leafs phenomenon is still there, and if they ever had a winning team, it would just be crazy,” McKenny said.
Many of the Canadian Tour players were excited by the thought of teeing it up alongside some of their hockey heroes, a notion that made McKenny chuckle. “They’ll get over that in a real big hurry,” McKenny said. “Most of us will be chopping at it. (Gary) Leeman’s a good player and so’s Billy Derlago. I was good yesterday, but you never know about today.”
It was the hockey players who were hoping to pick up a few pointers on the links. “Hopefully, I can learn something, because I think I’m going to be out of my class,” Ribble said.
“I’m very excited to be able to play with a pro golfer,” Hutchison said. “I’m just going to try to learn everything that he has out there, or try to leave with some of it. Whether we win or not, we’re only here to help the charity (Hospice of Windsor) and have some fun.”
http://blogs.windsorstar.com/2011/08/23/ex-players-still-witness-leafs-phenomenon/
Jim McKenny witnessed both sides of what he calls the Toronto Maple Leafs phenomenon – for 12 seasons as a defenceman with the team from 1966-78, and then for many more years as a sportscaster covering the team for CITY-TV.
Like many of the ex-Leafs who teed it up as part of the NHL Alumni in Tuesday’s Canadian Tour Championship Pro-Am at Ambassador Golf Club, it’s a phenomenon for which they see no end in sight, no matter how many years the Leafs extend their current plight of non-playoff seasons, which is six in a row and counting, or their Stanley Cup drought, a 34-year skid.
“They talk about another (NHL) team coming into Toronto, and that wouldn’t hurt the Leafs at all,” said McKenny, 64. “Most of the hockey fans in Toronto are Leafs fans. They have real good American League hockey there, and they don’t draw flies. They have really good junior hockey with the (Mississauga St. Michael’s) Majors and the (Brampton) Battalion, and they don’t draw.
“It’s just a Leafs phenomenon that’s all around the city. People are crazy about the Leafs.”
Dave Hutchison, a Leafs defenceman from 1978-80, and again in 1983-84, compared the inflexible devotion of Leafs fans to those who support another famous lovable loser. “Have you ever heard of the Chicago Cubs?” Hutchison, 59, asked rhetorically. “Same thing. They’re real, true fans, and one day, we’re going to turn it around – I hope.”
Most of the former Leafs believe the aura that encompasses the Leafs faithful is one that’s ingrained into them almost from the time they leave the womb.
“Growing up and watching the games, that was who we watched, the Leafs,” said Leamington’s Pat Ribble, 57, who skated on the Leafs’ defence for 13 games during the 1979-80 season. “When I got traded there, it was such a big thrill for me. I was only there for 31 days, but it was a big part of my career, and I really enjoyed it.”
Hutchison remembers when the Leafs were dominant, and even though images of such greatness is only available today in grainy, black-and-white footage, to those who witnessed it, the pictures flow through their memory banks in vivid technicolor, and like some sage elders of the Leafs community, they pass on the tales of such lore to keep the dream alive for the current crop of long-suffering Leafs fans.
“When we were kids back in the 1960s, the Leafs won the Cup four times,” Hutchison said. “People from around that era, who would be their 50s now, were watching the Leafs then, and have an influence on their children. True Leafs fans are not jumping around and cheering for other teams when the Leafs aren’t doing well. And someday, we’re going to reap the benefits of this. And I hope, not too long from now.”
Even in Essex County, you won’t sway a Leafs fan to change their allegiance, even though one of the NHL’s most consistent franchises resides just across the border. “We’ve got Detroit that’s so close, and there’s still a lot of Leafs fans in the area,” Ribble said. “If you’re a fan, it’s tough to get off that bandwagon. I’m still a fan. I hope that they can come through.”
That overdose of Leafs coverage that is inflicted upon most every Canadian youngster may also be a double-edged sword, and play a role in Toronto’s troubles. “When I was with other teams – Los Angeles, Chicago – coming into Toronto, I always played my best game, because I knew that it was televised coast-to-coast, our family and friends were either in Toronto, or certainly watching it on TV,” Hutchison said. “People get up when they come into the rink. Toronto’s a tough place to win, because most of the other player’s emotions are running sky high when they come to Toronto to play.”
McKenny, also sees hope, but is a realist, and sees as well a significant hole at a key position in Toronto’s lineup. “They have a lot of talent, they have some good, young kids, they have a good back end, but for the last 100 years, the best teams have had good centres,” McKenny said. “The Leafs haven’t had centres since (Mats) Sundin left. They haven’t had a husky at centre, so there’s no one for the kids to learn from, because at the NHL level, you don’t learn from the coach, you learn from other players. It’s somebody who’s there in practice every day and they see what he does. They see what he does during the games.
“When (Darryl) Sittler broke in, they had (Dave) Keon and (Norm) Ullman, and Darryl got better real fast, just by watching those guys, what they did, how they positioned themselves, and the kind of effort they put in. The kids that are coming to the Leafs now have nobody to learn from. Perhaps (newcomers Tim) Connolly and (Matthew) Lombardi will fix that up.”
Regardless, McKenny thinks the Leafs have the ship headed in the proper direction for the first time in some years. “I think (Leafs GM Brian) Burke’s going about it in the right way,” McKenny said. “He did trade away a couple of draft choices for (Phil) Kessel, but I don’t think he’s going to do that anymore. I think they learned a hard lesson there.
“Kessel’s a hell of a hockey player, but the Leafs’ first-round picks are sometimes first overall, and there’s a big difference between a first-round picks and a first overall. There’s those first three picks, then there’s a big drop off after that. Those first three guys can really make a difference in your team. If the Leafs had (former Windsor Spitfire) Taylor Hall (of Edmonton) right now, they’d be in business. But they’re not in business. If (goaltender James) Reimer doesn’t play out of his mind again, they’re in big trouble.”
Not that it’s going to make anyone who bleeds blue-and-white look for a way out. “The Leafs phenomenon is still there, and if they ever had a winning team, it would just be crazy,” McKenny said.
Many of the Canadian Tour players were excited by the thought of teeing it up alongside some of their hockey heroes, a notion that made McKenny chuckle. “They’ll get over that in a real big hurry,” McKenny said. “Most of us will be chopping at it. (Gary) Leeman’s a good player and so’s Billy Derlago. I was good yesterday, but you never know about today.”
It was the hockey players who were hoping to pick up a few pointers on the links. “Hopefully, I can learn something, because I think I’m going to be out of my class,” Ribble said.
“I’m very excited to be able to play with a pro golfer,” Hutchison said. “I’m just going to try to learn everything that he has out there, or try to leave with some of it. Whether we win or not, we’re only here to help the charity (Hospice of Windsor) and have some fun.”
http://blogs.windsorstar.com/2011/08/23/ex-players-still-witness-leafs-phenomenon/
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