Suburban Kids with Biblical Names

My father's health isn't the greatest. He would kill me for sharing this news.

Ten years after retiring and moving to Kingston, my parents can no longer cope with the many stairs and massive yards of suburbia. They've sold their split-level and are moving into a condo.

My mother is looking forward to the move. It's not the home we grew up in and even though it's where my daughter really walked for the first time, it's not a place that's suffused with memories.

I spent this weekend with them in Kingston, the idea was to give them a little extra help around their house before the big move. My total contribution: changing the batteries in the smoke detectors and swapping out a central vac dust bag.

Despite being confined to a walker, my dad still won't let anyone do much of anything to lend a hand. He's of that generation, won't complain and won't ask for help.

It was -19 Celsius in Kingston on Saturday and my kids were going a little stir crazy. Tired of their toys, unable to really play outside, my mother finally suggested that I head into the crawl space and pull out some of my childhood toys for my kids to play with. Faster than the opposition opens the scoring on the Leafs, I was in their crawlspace under the stairs.

What I initially encountered strangely put a big smile on my face:





















I say strangely as those are photos of a young Chris Chelios and Guy Carboneau wearing the blue, blanc et rouge along with a double page spread of Patrick Roy. They were cut out of a French language glossy and stapled to the drywall. Not the sort of thing that would usually bring a Leaf fan joy.

I couldn't find a date on them, but Chelios was traded by the Canadiens in 1989-90, so I'd guess they're about 20 years old.

Had I been a younger man, I might have taken them down or made up some excuse about the need for an exorcism; but for some reason, the discovery of these photos made me happy. Really happy.

It was like stumbling across an encoded message that could have come from any of our childhoods.

Near the door of the crawlspace was the following scrawl:

Yup, it says: "Pat Faloon cool" (one more "L" and the young author would have had the name right). I'm not sure if it should be "Pat Falloon is cool" or perhaps "Pat Falloon" was in itself a measure of coolness circa 1991.

Maybe it was the nostalgia of digging out decades old viewmasters, brio trains, and fisher price fire trucks; maybe it was knowing my parents left those old pictures untouched for the 10+ years they've lived in their house; or maybe it was knowing that's likely the last time I'll be in that space, but for some reason I felt the need to go and get my camera to take a few photos.

I hope whoever bought my parents' house preserves that little retreat under the stairs. That they leave up the photos and resist the urge to paint over the childhood "Pat Faloon" scrawl.

As I brought my old toys upstairs, toys that I haven't seen or played with in nearly 30 years, it was nice to think about that childhood love of hockey and to be reminded of the simpler times.

And in that spirit of long lost hockey memories, nostalgia and parents, here's a photo of my father and I from 1977:



That's one happy kid in a Leaf jersey right there. The type of kid that might find a hidden space tucked away in his house where he could put up a photo or two of his favourite Leafs and maybe even scrawl on the wall about the coolness of Trevor Johansson.

Robinson, Tiger, Gregory and Me

In response to the recent post looking at Leaf GMs, habsfan10 posted an interesting comment about the Leafs-Habs series in 1979. The Leafs were swept by the Habs in that series, but I think game 3 went to double OT and game four was won in OT on a "controversial" call against Dave "Tiger" Williams.

I started typing up a a reply and in doing so came across a video of the goal that eliminated the Leafs that year, it's a fantastic clip and I really wanted to share it.

As you watch the video there are a few things to note: when was the last time the ACC sounded as loud as this crowd down at MLG? I can't recall the last time I heard Leaf fans chant like that. What was Paul Harrison doing in nets for the Leafs? I wonder why Palmateer didn't get the start (until I saw this vid, I had always presumed #29 was between the pipes that night). And even though he's announcing a Habs win, do I ever miss the voice of Paul Morris...

As you'll see in the video, after Robinson eliminates the Leafs, Tiger Williams comes out of the box to go after the ref and it's absolute mayhem on the ice. I can't imagine the headlines or the suspensions that would result from such activities today.

At about the 4:40 mark Robinson comes over and talks some sense into Williams. It's an unbelievable moment. I don't know that I've ever seen anything quite like it.



I know the Leafs weren't in the same class as those late 70s Habs (who was?) but Jim Gregory sure had that team on the right track. And then it was all gutted by Imlach and Ballard and it would be 12 years before the team hit .500 again.

From Spineless to Incompent: A History of Leafs' GMs

Following a spirited debate at PPP that attempted to quantify the incompetence of former Leafs' GM John Ferguson Junior, the question came up as to who is the worst Leafs GM in the past 35 years.

In an homage to Down Goes Brown, I thought I’d take a quick look at all of the GMs that have managed my beloved Toronto Maple Leafs over the last 40 years to see just where JFJ's tenure ranks.

The candidates:
1969 – 1979 Jim Gregory
1979 – 1981 Punch Imlach
1981 – 1988 Gerry McNamara
1988 – 1989 Gord Stellick
1989 – 1991 Floyd Smith
1991 – 1997 Cliff Fletcher
1997 – 1999 Ken Dryden
1999 – 2003 Pat Quinn
2003 – 2008 JFJ

Part I: 1969 to 1989

1969 – 1979 Jim Gregory

Winning %: .506

Playoff Appearances: 8 for 10

Drafted: Darryl Sittler, Lanny MacDonald, Mike Palmateer, Ian Turnbull, Dave Tiger Williams, Doug Jarvis, Randy Carlyle, John Anderson, Joel Quenville

Best Trade: Acquired Bernie Parent and Rick Kehoe for Bruce Gamble, Mike Walton and a 1st round pick

Worst Trade: Doug Jarvis for Greg Hubick

The Back Story
Replaced Leaf GM Punch Imlach for the 1969-70 season (I wasn’t born yet). The 1976 season is the first Leaf club I can remember cheering for.

The Good
Gregory was one of the first GMs to recognize European talent, landing the Leafs Borje Salming and Inge Hammarstrom.

Drafted iconic Leafs MacDonald, Sittler, Palmateer and brought Roger Neilson into the NHL with his first head coaching gig.

The team knocked off the Islanders in 1977 and in 1978 made it to the Stanley Cup Finals (yeah, they were swept by the Habs but the team was on the right track).

The Bad
In a word: Ballard.

In 1971, Harold Ballard became majority owner of the Leafs, Maple Leaf Gardens and appointed himself President and Chairman of the Leafs’ Board.

Under Ballard’s direction the Leafs lost Bernie Parent to the WHA and let Dave Keon’s contract expire in 1975 (Ballard then blocked Keon’s attempted return to the NHL from the WHA in 1980 as the Leafs still owned his NHL rights).

Allegedly, it was Ballard who made the deal with Sam Pollock that sent future hall of famer Doug Jarvis to the Habs for 72 games of Greg Hubick.

The Crazy
In 1972, Ballard was sentenced to nine years in prison for 47 counts of fraud. Ultimately, he finished serving his sentence in 1973. Allegedly, it was during one of his stays in a correctional facility that the Leafs were able to sign Salming and Hammarstrom as Ballard was notorious for his opposition to European players.

Ballard forced Gregory to fire coach Roger Neilson and, when the players lobbied for Neilson’s re-instatement Ballard relented, but he asked Neilson to return wearing a bag over his head to start the game. Neilson, smartly, declined to wear the bag.

On the patented DGB How bad was it? 100 point scale: 80 – the Leafs fielded pretty competitive teams throughout the decade and amassed a fair amount of talent. By the end of the 1970s they were actively competing against the dynasties in Montreal and on Long Island. Unfortunately, that wasn't good enough and Ballard brought back Punch Imlach.

1979 - 1981 Punch Imlach

Winning %: .456

Playoff Appearances: 2 for 2

Notable draft picks: Craig Muni, Bob McGill, Jim Benning

Best Trade: Acquired Rick Vaive and Bill Derlago for Tiger Williams and Jerry Butler

Worst Trade: Dealt Lanny MacDonald for Wilf Paiment and Pat Hickey

The Back Story
As per an earlier post on the 1979-1980 Leafs, Punch Imlach was brought in by Harold Ballard to help get the Leafs over a, ahem, small hump known as the Montreal Canadiens.

The ‘79 Leafs were a promising club led by all-stars Darryl Sittler, Lanny MacDonald and Borje Salming, with a pretty solid supporting cast of Mike Palmateer, John Anderson, Dan Maloney, Ron Ellis and Joel Quenville.

The Good
The Leafs acquired future captain and 50 goal man Rick Vaive...and that’s pretty much it.

The Bad
Imlach promptly put his ugly stamp on the club by trading Lanny MacDonald - fan favourite, 48 goal man and best pal of captain Darryl Sittler - along with Joel Quenville to Colorado for future Leon’s furniture pitch-man Wilf Paiement and Pat Hickey (who in my child hood memories could only score on the backhand. 38 goals in 120 games isn' tbad, but he struck me as terrible).

The Crazy
Imlach’s tenure was a rocky one, marked by serious conflict with the players and what seemed to be a weekly heart attack.

He sued the NHLPA in an effort to keep Sittler, Palmateer and others out of my favourite boy-hood program: Showdown (Palmateer makes Jeff O'Neill look like a paragon of fitness in that clip).

Late in the 1979-80 season, Leafs coach Floyd Smith was injured in a car accident, and after Dick Duff stepped behind the bench for two bad losses, Imlach appointed himself Head Coach. Imlach went 5-5-0 before being swept by the Minnesota North Stars in the first round of the playoffs.

Imlach was never actually fired. After yet another heart attack (his third or fourth), he returned to work in November of 1981 only to find Gerry MacNamara had his job. In the end, Ballard just let Imlach’s contract expire.

On the patented DGB How bad was it? 100 point scale: 92. This was the beginning of a long downward slide, made all the more painful because of the actual promise the Leafs had showed. Just two years removed from their first appearance in the semi-finals in a decade and one year off a solid series against the Montreal Canadiens, the Leafs broke up a solid core of players and the team would not hit .500 again for a decade.


Harold Ballard, interim GM, August to December 1980
Little known leaf fact: In August of 1980, after Imlach suffered one of his 624 heart attacks, Ballard appointed himself interim GM of the Leafs. During this time, he took Darryl Sittler off the trade market, agreed that Sittler would return as the Leafs captain for the 1980-81 season and signed Borje Salming to a contract extension. Likely the two best things that rat bastard ever did for the Leafs.


1981 – 1988 Gerry McNamara

Winning %: .367 (that’s not a typo)

Playoff Appearances: 4 for 7 (that’s not a typo either)

Notable draft picks: Wendel Clark, Gary Leeman, Russ Courtnall, Al Iafrate, Todd the ever dangerous Gill, Vince Damphousse, Luke Richardson

Best Trade: um, Greg Terrion for a 4th round pick? Tom Fergus for Bill Derlago? Not much to choose from here...

Worst Trade: Sittler for Rich Costello, 2nd round pick and Ken Strong or 1st round pick (Scott Niedermayer) for Tom Kurvers.

The Back Story
Not much to tell. A former hockey player and career Leaf employee, McNamara had some success as a scout and had been an assistant GM to Imlach. As GM, he somehow lasted through seven disastrous seasons.

The Good
With the Leafs unable to compete on the ice, the team amassed a number of solid draft picks, including Wendel Clark.

They somehow managed to sweep the Hawks in ’86 and also made the second round of the playoffs in 1987.

Um, did I mention Wendel Clark?

The Bad
This could be a never ending post.

This is the era of the pedophilia ring at Maple Leaf Gardens.

The Leafs didn’t have a single winning season under McNamara.

Not once did they have a season where they scored more goals than they allowed.

In 1985, the Leafs won just twenty games and finished 32 games under .500

In a panic move, after keeping the Leafs’ first round draft picks for his entire tenure, McNamara deals the team’s first pick to New Jersey for Tom Kurvers. New Jersey went on to select Scott Neidermayer.

Before being fired, McNamara’s Leafs went on a 1-15-6 run, posting a single victory over 22 games.

The Crazy
The Sittler trade talks were so protracted, Sittler walked out on the Leafs under the advice of his physician and the deal still took two more weeks to go down.

McNamara kept his job for nearly a decade despite the team never breaking the 70 point barrier.

On the patented DGB How bad was it? 100 point scale: 95. McNamara re-defined incompetence. Despite having a number of high draft picks, the Leafs seemed permanently mired in mediocrity. In these times of three point games, its’ hard to imagine a club putting up a .367 winning percentage for a single season, never mind the better part of a decade. The only upside was there were zero expectations for the club. This wasn’t a team that flirted with success and broke your heart, this was a team that backed into the playoffs when the Red Wings had a 40 point season.

1988 – 1989 Gord Stellick

Winning %: .390 (28-46-8)

Playoff Appearances: 0 for 1

Notable draft picks: The all Belleville Bulls draft: Rob Pearson, Scott Thornton and Steve Bancroft (three first round picks, three duds).

Best Trade: Ken Wregget dealt for 2 first round picks

Worst Trade: Russ Courtnall for John Kordic

The Back Story

Gord Stellick was a member of the Leafs communications staff who was tapped in April 1988 to become the Leafs GM. He was the youngest GM in the history of the Leafs and the NHL. He lasted 18 months. Then it was on to a lifetime of broadcasting, pimpin' for weight loss programs and writing books about 1967, because that's what Leaf fans really want to be reminded of.

The Good

It was a short stay.

The Bad

Ballard continued his meddlesome ways, dictating coaching choices and player personnel moves.

Despite amassing draft picks, the Leafs drafted poorly.

The Crazy

The usual Ballard stuff.

Stellick resigned as GM when Ballard refused to let him hire his own coach for the 1989 season.

On the patented DGB How bad was it? 100 point scale: 90. More of the same terrible on-ice product, meddlesome ownership, poor drafting and lack of vision. At this point, being a Leaf fan was like being on some sort of long march to nowhere.


Coming Soon: Part II - Floyd Smith to JFJ (bookends of incompetence).

That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore

Top 10 Items I'd like to See Banned from Leafs Coverage

10. Ubiquitous references to 1967/40-x years (and counting).

I don’t see 1975 in the Flyers headlines, 1955 in every article about the Black Hawks or "never" in write-ups of the Blues, Canucks, Sharks, Sens, etc. Seems most people who remotely follow hockey know the Leafs haven’t won the Cup in over 40 years.

This descriptor is about as fresh as the box of baking soda that went into the freezer with Walt Disney and about as insightful as Charles Duell’s most famous quote.

9. Tank v. Try

Pretty much the epitome of false dichotomy. Or is it Morton’s Fork?

8. Reducing the Leafs cup count to 11.

We get it. Yes the Arenas/St. Pats won 2 cups prior to officially becoming the Leafs, but removing those cups belittles the media more than it does the team or the fans. The owner and team name may have changed, but the bulk of the rosters remained with the team the following season.

Does anyone think the Twins can't count their World Series win as the Washington Senators; the Colts can't count Super Bowls won in Baltimore; the 76ers can't count titles won as the Nationals; and poor Sacramento should lose their NBA title from 1951?

Must trophy counts be re-set every time a team is bought, sold, moved or has a name change?

7. Any discussion of Sundin's future.

If and when he signs, there will be entire forests wiped out to generate newsprint for the resulting coverage. Until then, I don't think we need another special filmed at his dock or bad translations from Swedish newspapers...

6. Fan-centric "reporting"

The Ottawa media doesn't work the locals' apathy/insecurity into every story. The bandwagon isn't the lead item in Vancouver. Arson, white flight and a deep-seated love of Beef on Weck don't make the Sabres' game recaps.

So why do the day-to-day concerns, worries and wallets of Leafs Nation get such prominent play in every article from game summaries to in-depth features?

If I wanted to know what Tony from Woodbridge thought about the state of the Leafs specialty teams, I’d listen to a phone-in sports radio show and hear it directly from the source.

It's lazy, doesn't add value and it's not telling me anything new. Lose it.

5. Turning 1 or 2 game results into major trend pieces

It’s like identifying NFL trends based on a single quarter or half of a football game. How about a little perspective and some big picture analysis?

4. Complaining about the Leafs being on HNIC.

There are so many things wrong with these type of stories.

First: the Leafs play in Canada’s largest media market and the number five or six market in North America. There are more people in the golden-horseshoe than can be found in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta combined.

Second: Ratings don’t lie.

Third: Let’s look at who this really affects: if you’re in the Ottawa valley, you get Sens games. If you're in Quebec, you get Habs games (RDS also carries all 82 Montreal Canadiens matches). If you’re in Alberta or BC, the HNIC early game is on at 4 or 5PM and one of the Flames, Oilers and Canucks will be on during Prime Time.

That means the only people “stuck” with the Leafs live between Winnipeg and Belleville. If they don’t like that ratings, market size and demand are enough to make the Leafs the default HNIC game, they can subscribe to RDS, Center Ice, or explore on-line options (if I can get an NHL game over the web in New Delhi, and the World Juniors in Hyderabad, I'm sure there are ways to avoid the Leafs every Saturday night).

3. Pretty much anything Don "Bochenski for Calder" Cherry has to say.

Someone much smarter than I am called him the Ann Coulter of hockey. Is it a schtick or is he really old-man crazy? Either way, there must be better things to report on that what an old show-man had to say on Saturday night.

2. The "When will Ron Wilson go nuclear on the media?" stories

This media angle is the equivalent of repeatedly poking something with a stick and then filing a sensational report on what happened. It's also a good reminder to never underestimate the media's love of writing about themselves, interviewing fellow journalists or covering existing coverage. This meme is a perfect case in point and a little more than a media-created mess.

Given the inanity of the questions, the size of the media contingent and the lack of quality of much of the end product there is only one right answer here: not soon enough. But let's look at the crux of the story angle here: what does it matter if Wilson snaps? What does it mean if he doesn’t? What value does this potential story bring to our understanding of hockey?


1. Plan the Parade Jokes

My daughter’s favourite joke goes like this:

Knock Knock.
Who’s there?
Banana

Knock Knock.
Who’s there?
Banana

Knock Knock.
Who’s there?
Banana

Knock Knock.
Who’s there?
Banana

Knock Knock.
Who’s there?
Banana

Knock Knock.
Who’s there?
Banana

Knock Knock.
Who’s there?
Banana

Knock Knock.
Who’s there?
Orange
Orange who?
Orange you glad I didn’t say banana?

I hear this joke about three times a day, seven days a week. It was funny and sort of cute the first time, but now it’s just white noise.

This is what the “plan the parade joke” has become.

But, in the case of the parade joke, it's not coming from an exceptionally adorable five year old who has no idea how tired and played out a joke can become. No, the joke is coming from a cadre of supposedly professionally trained journalists who have been hired and are compensated to provide insight and analysis on Canada’s favourite sport.

It's time for this one to be retired until the Leafs win at least three in a row.

29 Years Later

When I was a boy, the Toronto Maple Leafs and McClelland and Stewart (don’t look for them, they’re not there anymore) published a cloth cover book on the upcoming 1979-80 Leafs' season.

I read that book so many times the spine is broken, the pages are frayed and the dust jacket is a nothing but a long-lost memory.

It was published at a time of real optimism for the Leafs. The team was just two years removed from their playoff upset over the New York Islanders and, even though they had gone down four straight to the dreaded Montreal Canadiens in the Quarter Finals, game 3 had gone to double OT and game 4 was lost in OT on a questionable call against Dave “Tiger” Williams.

This was a time when Sittler still wore the C, MacDonald patrolled his wing, an optimistic Ron Wilson started the season on IR and a porn ‘stached Palmateer protected the pipes.

As thoughts turn to this year’s training camp with its new coaches and new rosters, I couldn’t help but be reminded of this book and its in-depth player profiles including expectations for the 79-80 season and a day-by-day précis of the Leafs training camp.

Now, I’m not suggesting this year’s Leaf season will have any resemblance to that horrible one 30 years ago.

First of all, the year ahead for the 2008-09 Leafs certainly isn’t starting off with the same patina of optimism. Secondly, I seriously doubt the Leafs could hit the same low points as that fateful year that saw the MacDonald trade, Sittler ripping off his C and the start of a twelve year run of the team posting a losing record (yeah, you read that right – the Leafs were under .500 for twelve straight seasons: 1979-80 to 1992-93. Keep that in mind when the media wring their hands over the past three years.).

That summer also saw Ballard and Imlach pursue legal action all the way to the Ontario Supreme court in an effort to keep Sittler and Palmateer from participating in Showdown - a televised skills competition between NHL players. (There's a great collection of Showdown videos from the CBC archives here. Man I LOVED this show as a kid.)

With that caveat out of the way and in anticipation of the Leafs training camp to come, I thought I’d go back through one of my favourite childhood books, violate all sorts of copyright laws, scan a few photos, and have a look at some interesting quotes, thoughts and anecdotes from the Leafs 29 years ago this September…

The World From on High: An Interview with Harold Ballard

The book begins with a long, very wide-ranging interview between Time Magazine reporter John Gault and Harold Ballard, including a lengthy discussion between Gault and Ballard on the Neilson firing, re-hiring (the infamous paper bag incident). I promise I’ll post that whole exchange soon.

There are some interesting echoes in this interview - meddling owners, bad trades and the need for better scouting, as captured in the exchange below:

John Gault: Who’s been traded away, in the past five years, say, that you wish you had back?
Harold Ballard: Well, Rick Kehoe for instance, who went to Pittsburgh. Carlyle should have been kept here. And I think that probably Jack Valiquette should have stayed.

Gault: The return on players you’ve sent to other teams hasn’t been that great in the past while, has it?
Ballard: No. We’ve traded away some pretty good hockey players.

Gault: Yes, and it could be argued that you didn’t exactly get your return on your dollars
Ballard: You don’t have to argue about it, it’s a fact.

Gault: Why?
Ballard: I don’t think our scouting system was that good or they wouldn’t have agreed to make those trades. Now you’ve said that I try to run everything. I don’t. When they were going to make a deal, I’d say to [former GM Jim] Gregory ‘Are you sure you’re going to do it?’ You see, they would have gotten rid of Turnbull if I hadn’t asserted myself last year and stopped it. Roger and Gregory wanted to get rid of Turnbull and I wouldn’t allow it. He couldn’t get along with the coach, so the coach wanted to get rid of him. As a matter of fact, Roger was quite adamant about it and I said: ‘Look, if he’s going to go, you’re going to go to.’ It was that bad.

Gault: I doubt that Neilson would have argued that Turnbull wasn’t a good hockey player
Ballard: Well he did. He had these ‘points’ He was a great guy with those replays, those little pictures you know. And he used to pick out all the bad things Turnbull did, but he didn’t pick out many good things...

I love that Ballard seems totally put off by Neilson’s use of video replay, or as he calls it: “those little pictures.”

A Guide to the Opposition

The late Frank Orr, formerly of the Toronto Star, provides an overview of all 20 NHL teams the Leafs would face in 1979-80, including the four new WHA teams that joined the NHL: Edmonton, Quebec, Hartford and Winnipeg.

Here are a few of the highlights:

The Sabres are trying something new with a “coaching staff” approach - Scotty Bowman hired Roger Neilson and Jim Roberts as Assistant Coaches. Don Cherry said of the approach: “Scotty wants assistants so he’ll have someone to blame if something goes wrong.” Bowman’s take: “I agree with the Europeans. They can’t understand why NHL teams have figured one coach could do the job. It’s just too complex for that now.”

1979-80 was the first season for the Oilers and they sold 14,600 season tickets within 11 days of tickets going on sale. Coach Glen Sather says he has his highest hopes for young Swedish forward Bengt Gustavsson [who never played a game for the Oilers, the Capitals claimed him at the expansion draft in June, 1979.]

The Whalers roster included a 51 year old Gordie Howe and coach Don Blackburn says he wants to experiment with moving left-wing Mark Howe (42-23-65 in 1978) back to defence.

The New York Islanders (that season’s Stanley Cup champs) only had one skater over 28 on their roster and their entire core (Trottier, Bossy, Gillies, Potvin, etc.) were under 25.

The Penguins were having attendance problems and were facing red ink.

In the 1970s, free agents were anything but. The Red Wings signed “Free Agent” goaltender Rogie Vachon from the LA Kings and had to compensate the Kings for the signing. The teams couldn’t agree on fair compensation and the Kings asked for, and were awarded, Dale McCourt – the Wings’ leading rookie scorer. McCourt refused to report to LA and the dispute ended up in the US courts. The lower court upheld the original compensation. McCourt and the Wings appealed the decision, but before a second court date was set, the Wings and Kings agreed to an alternate compensation and McCourt was “dealt” back to the Wings.

The Flyers got a first round pick for what has to be the oddest named twosome ever dealt: Orest Kindrachuk and Ross Lonsberry.

Training Camp September, 1979

Leaf veterans arrived in camp with a new coach (Floyd Smith) and a new GM (Punch Imlach) as GM Jim Gregory and Coach Roger Neilson were both fired over the summer.

When Nielson returned to the Gardens as the assistant coach of the Sabres for a pre-season game, the Leafs refused to let him sit in the press box. Imlach said, "If Neilson wants to coach, let him coach from behind the bench. He won't be able to do it from our press box." (You stay classy Imlach!)

Looking to add some grit to the line-up, Imlach offered Jim Dorey a try-out with the Leafs. Ten years earlier, Dorey set an NHL record with nine penalties - four minors, two majors, two 10 minute misconducts and a game misconduct - in just two periods of play. [After being cut by the Leafs, Dorey would go on to play 32 games that year for the Nordiques and then call it a career.]

The Leafs played 12 exhibition games including matches in Moncton, NB; Ottawa, ON, Kitchener, ON; and against the Canadian Olympic team in Calgary (the Leafs lost to the Olympians 6-5, Lanny had a hat-trick. Apparently the Leafs had trouble with the Olympians speed. And no, I didn't just make that up...)

The Leafs played the Habs in game 11 of their pre-season and actually won. It was the first time the Leafs had beaten Montreal in 25 straight meetings. The Leafs hadn't beaten Montreal in an exhibition, regular season or playoff game since November 1, 1976.

Future Washington Capitals coach Bruce Budreau was amongst the Leafs last cuts at camp, getting sent to Moncton on day 17.

Interesting to note that this club would produce at least four NHL coaches in Quennville, Anderson, Boudreau and Ron Wilson (and one cottage-country bar owner in Walt McKechnie).

Money quotes:

"I guess having a new coach always creates a little feeling of unrest because you wonder about the style of hockey he'll want the team to use and how you'll fit into it." - Ron Wilson.

"There are some holes in our team, aren't there?" - Floyd Smith

The Players



Each of the 24 Leafs who made the team out of training camp are profiled at the end of the book. It's the standard 20 questions format - why hockey, what would you be doing if you weren't in the NHL, superstitions, activities away from the rink, personal goals...Here's a look at the highlights:

"I like the hours. It's not a nine to five job. You have the summers off to do what you want and, of course, the money isn't bad." - John Anderson on the Pros and Cons of Sports Celebrity.

"I would have liked to get into a veterinary line of work or work with wildlife" - Dan Maloney on alternate career prospects.

"I never set personal goals for myself; the only goal is the Stanley Cup. When you start setting personal goals you're putting pressure on yourself and that kind of pressure you don't need. When I get my first goal I'll go for number two and so on. You take whatever comes. Winning the Stanley Cup and playing international hockey: that's the ultimate, to play for your country. I've already done one and, hopefully, befoer the end of my career, I'll accomplish the other." - Lanny MacDonald

"Amityville Horror and Penthouse are favourites." - Joel Quennville on what he likes to read.

"Mr. Ballard. Yeah, I'm serious." - Dave "Tiger" Williams on his favourite opponent

"I'll just play until I stop enjoying it. If I don't play a lot this year or next year I may hang up the game because it's no fun sitting on the bench." - Ron Wilson

We Hate it When Our Friends Become Successful

Look, I’m not the most attentive employee around here in Leafs Nation, I’ll admit it.

I’m almost always running a few minutes late, I don’t always put a loonie in the jar when I take a coffee, and I've been known to run-up long distance phone bills on the company dime.

I leave the sports section in the executive washroom, which drives the poor guys at Cox Bloc batty. I’m the one that keeps raiding the supply cabinet leaving PPP with the really crappy pens, Sean without post-its and Jared and Navin fighting over a the remaining scrap of bubble wrap. I was also the one that had that totally boss paper airplane competition with Greener and Moose and we used up all the good paper, leaving poor Loser Domi to print her final term papers on the back of the bulk fax adverts.

But I like to think I have my ear to the ground around here. That’s why I occasionally bring in treats on Fridays – it’s not so you guys can enjoy the bag of day-olds and the cheap Coffee Time muffins that smell oddly of old cigarette smoke and broken dreams - it's so I can try to keep track of what's going on.

Clearly, given what went down this past week, I missed a memo or slept through a meeting. As a result, I have a question that I’m almost scared to ask.

When did Brian Burke become the anointed one?

No, I’m not kidding.

Seriously?

What’s with all of Leafs Nation pining for Burke?

As GM of the Canucks, Burke’s teams missed the playoffs two of six years, went out in the first round three times and were eliminated in 7 games by the Wild in their lone second round appearance in 2003.

True, that's a record that JFJ would really like to stand by, but it's not the stuff dreams are made of.

Yeah, Burke may have won the Cup last year, but not too long ago Jay Feaster was sipping from Lord Stanley’s chalice too and I wouldn’t even let that guy make my grocery list, let alone run my hockey team (So let me get this straight Mr. Feaster: you spent our entire monthly food budget on three Delmonico rib-eyes and for the rest of our meals we’re going to have to make do with some old lentils, a couple of cans of dented tuna and a bunch of bruised fruit that you found in the neighbour’s yard?)

As I see it, there are two traits that are essential to winning in today’s NHL: drafting/development and cap management.

If you think Cliff Fletcher got his fair of bad “draft schmaft” jokes after his return to the Leafs earlier this year, the Toronto media must be salivating (no, I mean more than they normally do – to the point where they'll need their favourite Habs bib) over Burke’s draft history.

Burke's Draft History

1999 Draft
Brian Burke pulled off a great draft day deal that landed the Canucks the Sedin twins. It was quite the coup and enough to give Mr. Burke a break on what went down the rest of that day, namely a game I like to call “name that future ECHL player” With his remaining picks, Burke selected:
Rene Vydareny
Ryan Thorpe
Josh Reed
Kevin Swanson
Markus Kankaanpera
Darrell Hay

2000 Draft
Burke followed-up his 1999 draft day prowess by stocking the Canucks cupboard with, well, pretty much a whole pile of meh. This group sounds like the taxi squad of a north eastern liberal college lacrosse team:
Nathan Smith
Thatcher Bell
Tim Branham
Pavel Duma
Brandon Reid
Nathan Barrett
Tim Smith


2001 Draft
Burke made up for the dreadful 2000 draft in 2001, using his first round draft pick to land R. J. Umberger – a guy who’s having a whole lot of success this post-season with the Philadelphia Flyers.

Yeah, the Flyers.

You see, Burke traded Umberger for Martin Rucinsky - a move that just reeks of JFJ/ MLSE level incompetence: a first round prospect exchanged for an oft-injured mid-pack vet who played all of 13 games for the Canucks.

If the Leafs made that trade, Damien Cox would be on his office floor dictating his column while having a grand mal seizure/wet dream.

That said, the Canucks did hold on to Kevin Bieksa who was looking all sorts of good before getting injured this year.

The rest of the Canucks’ 2001 selections? Like the Thamesmen, they’re currently residing in the “where-are-they-now file?”
Fedor Federov (18 NHL games over four years)
Evgeny Gladskikh (0 NHL games)
Jason King (0 NHL games)
Konstantin Mikhailov (0 NHL games)

2002 Draft
An all around great draft year - a class that produced the likes of Nash, Semin, Stoll, Greene, Bouchard, Lupul, Pitkanen and Lombardi. Heck, even my beloved Maple Leafs (The Team that StinksTM) cleaned up at the draft table in 2002, landing Steen, Stajan, White and Kronwall.

Burke and the Canucks on the other hand didn’t get to take a player until the second round.

Further demonstrating that he really is a natural fit for MLSE, Burke traded away the Canucks’ first round pick to bring Trevor Linden back to Vancouver. And what became of that first round pick? The Caps used it to select a guy by the name of Alexander Semin. That’s the sort of trade you’d almost expect to read about in a Maclean’s magazine side-bar.

Hockey’s Future does a really nice job summing up the rest of the day for Vancouver, so I’ll turn it over to them:

Unfortunately for the Canucks, the draft was an unmitigated disaster despite the abundance of selections. With one NHL appearance between the 11 former prospects, the Canucks take home the 2002 Futile Draft Award with an appalling average of just 0.09 games per prospect. And if you want to look at it closer, the only selection to appear in any NHL uniform was goaltender Rob McVicar whose NHL experienced totals less than three minutes from a brief appearance during the 2005-06 season against Edmonton. This equals approximately 15 seconds of NHL ice time per pick.

2003 Draft
The last one for Burke in Vancouver as he was relieved of his duties in May of 2004. The Canuckleheads grabbed Ryan Kesler at the 23rd spot with their first pick. A nice little pick-up (Mike Richards went 24th and Corey Perry went 28th). The rest of the Canucks picks have played a combined 23 NHL games:

Marc-Andre Bernier
Brandon Nolan (6 games in the NHL)
Ty Morris
Nicklas Danielsson
Chad Brownlee
Francois-Pierre Guenette
Sergei Topol
Nathan McIver (17 games in the NHL)
Matthew Hansen

With those five years of drafts under his belt, it's no wonder the Canucks have continued to struggle and don't have much in the way of prospects.

As for his drafting history with the Ducks, it’s way too early to tell what sort of talent Burke has been able to compile.

In 2005, the Ducks were one pick away from winning the post-lockout Sidney Crosby lottery and with the second overall pick Burke took Bobby Ryan (you might recall him from the great NHL trade deadline day feature film starring Troy MacLure: “Trading Mats Sundin: The fantabulous made-up deals that never were or never will-be”).

Salary Cap Management

The other half of building a solid contender is proper salary cap management.

As we’ve seen across the NHL, it’s not spending to the cap that matters - it’s the price to quality ratio that counts. Successful teams have a core of young developing players that can contribute to the team’s success without killing the budget. UFA signings are reserved to fill-in the gaps or to put a team over the top. $4MM for 15 goal scorers never seems to be a good thing.

Speaking of which...

In Anaheim, Burke stumbled this year when he had to deal with the quasi-retirements of Neidermayer and Selanne and when he failed to properly address Dustin Penner’s contract situation.

This was seriously compounded when he elected to sign UFA, chronically injured and rather litigious Todd Bertuzzi to a head-scratching 2 year deal at $4 Million per. Five years removed from his last 30+ goal season, Bert has only managed to play 15 games in the previous regular season and went on to score 3 goals in 16 playoff games for the Red Wings.

The Bertuzzi contract caused a number of salary cap issues for the 2007-08 Ducks.

First of all it limited Burke's options when it came to matching the qualifying offer tendered by Edmonton to RFA Dustin Penner (never mind that Burke could have, and likely should have, signed Penner mid-season or qualified him for arbitration - either step would have removed the threat of an RFA offer sheet. Burke did neither and Edmonton stepped up the plate with a $4M+ deal for Penner that the Ducks declined).

Then, to the surprise of absolutely no one, Selanne and Niedermayer returned, putting the Ducks into cap trouble for the following 2008-09 season. With Corey Perry as an impending RFA, Kunitz and Getzlaf signing extensions, and the ridiculous Bertuzzi signing hanging over his head, Burke had to clear salary space.

Burke responded by waiving Ilya Bryzgalov (think about this: Wade Belak was worth more) and dealing Andy McDonald (who provided much needed second line scoring, disciplined play and 14 points in 21 playoff games during the Ducks’ run to the Cup) to St. Louis for Doug Weight.

McDonald put up 52 points and played in all 82 games this season, while Weight went on to score 25 points and was a healthy scratch in the playoffs.

Bertuzzi and Weight would combine for three assists against the Stars in the opening round, with Bertuzzi’s 14 penalty minutes leading to several key goals by the Stars.

Who knows if things would have been different with McDonald in the line-up, but he certainly represents a far greater offensive threat than Bertuzzi.

###

This is the handiwork of the guy Leafs Nation has turned to?

Brian Burke may be voted as the best GM by far greater hockey minds than yours truly.

He has won a cup and built several 100+ point clubs.

But he has a horrifically bad track record at the draft table and has made more than his share of questionable trades and signings.

He may be a master with the media, great with a quote and wonderful at communicating his analysis of the game, but so is Paul Maurice. And how did that hire work out for Leafs Nation?

Praying for the Playoffs or Planning the re-build

Unlike PPP, I'm not back on the Leafs playoff band wagon (yet). While I'd love for the team to keep winning and I've really enjoyed the last few games (is there a better team to beat than Philly? I just hate the flyers) I'm still trying to focus on the big picture. The more compelling story lines for me remain: who is going to clean this mess up, what prospects might be headed for the blue and white, and can this organization make a long-term commitment to building a winning culture.

Whether you're praying for the playoffs or planning for the re-build here are some links that might be of interest:

For you playoff dreamers, check out this Yahoo site - each day they update the first round playoff match-ups as if the playoffs were starting today. Bruins v. Habs? Meh, not so much. Stars v Ducks? Now that would be an interesting opening round match-up. Hat tip to Deadspin's hockey closer Greg Wyshnyski for that link.

For those of you who dream of a re-build, here's an amazingly candid look at what's going on with the L.A. Kings. It's long but well worth the read - fascinating stuff about Mark-Andre Fleury, arbitration, building teams with free agents, etc. Hat tip to Mirtle on this one...

Manufacturing Content

CBC Radio in Montreal gave me a call late this afternoon.

Sports Illustrated polled 350+ NHL players asking them which team had the best fans - players couldn't vote for their own teams (I did a quick search on-line but couldn't find this poll).

As it was a Montreal station calling, it should come as no surprise that the Habs came out on top. The Leafs came in at #6 (Wild were 2, Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver - in no particular order - rounded out the top 5; Sens were in 12th).

The radio guy wanted to know what I thought of the Habs being ranked on top. I told them I was happy Hab fans were back on the bandwagon and that it wasn't a surprise that with the Habs challenging for top spot in the east, their fans would be ranked #1.

This reaction really wasn't what he wanted.

He asked me how I felt about my beloved Leafs ranking so low, I said (paraphrasing):

Given that the ACC is full of suits - it's a series of corporations cheering on a corporation - I'm surprised the Leafs placed as high as they did. That, on balance, a sixth place ranking was probably very accurate as the Fans down at the ACC are quiet as a morgue while the Leaf fans that can get tickets in Buffalo, Ottawa and other Canadian cities are far more passionate and likely push the rankings closer to the top five.

(Of course my actual quote was likely chock-full of ums, ahs, uhs and dead air.)

He shut off the tape.

This clearly wasn't what he wanted.

We talked hockey for a bit (he was a pretty cool guy, seemed like an Oilers fan) and then he told me that he had to go get back on the phone to find a Leaf fan that was actually upset about the rankings.

Nothing like fair and balanced representative journalism from the Mother Corp.

Brave Captain

Mats Sundin has come out and formally refused to waive his no trade clause.

As much as I’d love to see the Leafs loaded up with prospects, I strongly believe Sundin has earned the right to decide his fate.

Had Sundin been traded, I fully expected the media and other mouth breathers to take lots of pot shots at the Leafs over the treatment their captains have historically received - from losing Rob Ramage in an expansion draft to the weirdness that is Dave Keon (could the JFJ orchestrated “reunion” have been more awkward? I fully expected someone to produce a doll and ask Keon wher the Leafs organization touched him).

But is the fate of so many Leaf captains really an anomaly?

Not if you look at how the other 29 clubs have treated the men who wear the C.

Consider:

All thirty clubs have either traded one of their past three captains or lost them to free agency.

Prior to Koivu, the storied Habs had traded their six previous captains.

Detroit dealt Danny Gare before Stevie Y could wear the C.

Of the last six men to captain the Oilers, four were traded, one was stripped of the captaincy and one was lost in an expansion draft. Their cross-province rivals in Calgary actually demoted a captain to the minors, traded three others and lost one to free agency.

Modano, Lecavalier, Conroy, Desjardins and Elias all lost or resigned their captaincy.

In fact of the nearly 120 players who have been team captains in the past 15 or so ears, only eight retired with their clubs and two of them (Laus and Primeau) retired prematurely due to injuries (although, I guess the same could kinda-sorta be said of Lemieux as well...)

Scott Stevens, New Jersey
Al MacInnis, St. Louis
Steve Smith, Calgary
Steve Yzerman, Detroit
Paul Laus, Florida
Keith Primeau, Philadelphia
Mark Messier, New York Rangers
Mario Lemieux, Pittsburgh
Scott Mellanby, Atlanta

###

So four of the NTC5 have said no, leaving just McCabe as possible trade bait.

Considering there's just a $750K difference between Kubina and McCabe's cap hit and the extras McCabe brings to the ice, I'd prefer the Leafs hold on to McCabe and ship out Kubina this summer.

Shoot-out blues

...add another item to the list of bad stats that leaves me cold when I think of Raycroft holding the Leafs' single season win record: Raycroft's terrible record in the shoot-out. I'm not talking win/loss, I'm talking save percentage.

Raycroft has been beaten 13 times on 32 shots for a .594 sv%

That puts him 30th among goalies who've faced at least 10 shots and well below the league average of .678%

===

Gotta wonder what Maurice is thinking when he picks his shooters.

Poni went 0 for 7 before Maurice looked elsewhere, Tucker was 1 for 5 before he was blanked against the Habs tonight (he's now a lumbering 1 for 6). Given how O'Neill and Steen buried the biscuit against NJ, you'd think Coach Maurice would go back to them...

Tag - I'm it...

Got tagged by Pension Plan Puppets with this popular blog feature...thought I'd play along. I hope the other Leaf bloggers jump in the fray too...

Team: The Leafs (I once had a very vivid dream that the Leafs drafted me and then traded me to the Habs. I was amazed to be in the NHL, stunned at having to play against the Buds. I awoke very conflicted.)

Uniform Number: I wore 16 for years, but due to high demand for that particular number, I’ve been wearing 37 - Cool Hand Luke’s chain-gang number - for the past few years.

Position: Wing

Nickname: Bob Cole likes to call me “the Leaf winger” or “Leaf player.” Everyone else calls me some variant of my name ending in a long “e”

Dream Linemates: Lanny and Mats.

Rounding out the PP: Salming and Bingo Kampman (he of the all time greatest Leaf name)

Job: Do whatever the team asks and do it well: garbage goals, cheap second assists, heart and soul PK-guy, sitting in the box for bench minors, rooming with some late round pick from Kyrgyzstan who’s got golden hands trying to teach him enough English so that he can let Leafs Nation know that he’s "hoping to help the big club" and he’s "taking it one shift at a time" and that he'll make sure he "gives 110%"

Signature Move: Wheezing so hard that my mouth guard goes flying across the ice, coming to rest at an official’s skate as a national Hockey Night in Canada audience looks on in disgust. That or chip it out and chase it…

Strengths: Brains over hands – in my dreams I play like a vintage Carboneau or a Gainey – in reality I just try to get to the blue paint. Most of my goals don’t hit the back of the net.

Weaknesses: Ref-baiting, been known to get the odd 10 minute misconduct for lippin’ off (though my mouth guard makes my trash talk sound as coherent as Essa Tikanen full of goldschlager).

Injury Problems: “Upper body”

Equipment: Old-school Sherwood PMP 5030 with the Coffey curve

Nemesis: Anybody that showboats. When you score a goal, you should act like you’ve done it before.

Scandal Involvement: A big black mark for gleefully backing-up Chelios’ death-threats against the Commish.

Who I’d face in the Stanley Cup Finals: I lived in Edmonton for a while and, believe it or not I have fond memories, so I’ll go with the Oil (if it’s my dream, it’s got to be an all-Canada final and Edmonton is far better than even imagining Calgary or Vancouver being there).

What I’d do with the Stanley Cup after our victory: I think there's a by-law on the books that, given the current cup drought, when the Leafs finally win it they will have to parade the Cup down every paved road in Ontario and 50% of the unpaved ones. I’m hoping my assigned route is more of the paved/urban variety.

Would the media love me or hate me?: They’d all come to me for insight and analysis but forget to cite me as a source…I’d be a tad too sycophantic with the media higher-ups looking for a big money gig with CBCTSNSportsnetTheScore once my playing days were done (only to find out the best offer I could hope for is a part-time gig on OTR as Michael Landsbergh's PA)

Another Journo's Shameless Attempt at Leaf Bashing

I’ve noticed that the Globe’s hockey blog is pretty much arid when it comes to comments. Despite a few explicit attempts to get some feedback going, the feedback pages are as empty as the Leafs win column this month.

I’ve also noticed that I’m reading less and less mainstream media coverage of the NHL – I can get far better insight, funnier jokes and more robust two-way communication from the sea of hockey blogs out there.

What ties these two thoughts together?

Well, look no further than Ken Campbell’s embarrassingly bad entry at Globe hockey this week.

I haven’t missed Cambell's coverage in the Star, I haven’t read him at the Hockey News (is there a less relevant sports paper these days?) and if his entry at the Globe is anything to go by, he’s either in desperate need of an editor or desperately trying to get the comments flowing. (Campbell did manage to drum up 3 whole responses, which might tie the record for most feedback on that page.)

Mr. Campbell’s poorly written piece closes with this wonderfully original, much-needed, timely, groundbreaking insight - he writes of Leafs fans:

“And then they wonder why people in Edmonton and Montreal laugh at them all the time.”

Oh do we wonder. Of the five or six Leaf Blogs out there, I can't think of any other topic we have covered more.

Consider PPP's five part series on the laughter coming from Alberta. Or Ninja's disturbingly prescient piece at Raking Leafs on what formal recognition of the Quebecois could mean for Habs fans who laugh at Leaf fans "tout le temps/ ce n'est pas une perte de temps" - amazing stuff coming from an American. And then there's the biggest one of all - Wardo's off-shoot blog the.fans.who.laugh.at.Leafsfans.club - far more popular than all of our sites combined.

For Leafs fan is there a more powerful or damning symbol for all of this than that famous La Vache Qui Rit label with the cow photoshopped into a Habs jersey? As Leafs Nation, we can't stop asking - the herd is clearly laughing at us, but why? WHY!?!?

Right.

Well, I certainly can’t speak for Leafs Nation, or my fellow Leaf bloggers, but I’ve never wondered why people in Edmonton and Montreal “laugh at us all the time" (if they even do). But I can give you a pile of reasons in about as much time as it took Campbell to assemble that mess of a post (i.e. about 45 seconds).

1. There’s a tremendous amount of provincialism in this fine country of ours. When I lived in Alberta (’98?), I was categorized as an “easterner” and was routinely assigned the blame for the National Energy Program (enacted when I was nine; I must have been the most powerful grade 4 student in North America – hell, if I had that kind of power I wouldn’t have messed around with Trudeau and federal price controls, I would have been far too busy that year making sure the Leafs drafted Jari Kurri, Steve Larmer, Bernie Nichols, Kelly Hrudey and Craig Ludwig); I was also nearly tossed from a cab for my alleged role in fixing federal elections; lectured on my ability to keep the masses from reaping the benefits of an elected senate and took heat for the majority of the CBC’s bad programming decisions. And people who had never been east of Lloydminister would often tell me how much they hated my home town (just imagine what they must think of Hamilton or what they might have shared if we knew each other better).
   
   
2. Folks resent having the Leafs on their TV every Saturday night and the blathering media machine that follows. (Bob Cole reminds me of my poor grandfather who, in his old age, often mistook replays for live action and would be amazed that teams could score identical goals back to back to back).
   
   
3. There’s an inverse relationship between MLSE's on-ice success and the strength of the franchise that many find disturbing. The Leafs haven’t won anything and likely won’t for some time, yet there we are, the dazed members of Leafs Nation, week-in week-out following the team like some sort of zombie convinced that this is the year the Leafs will win the cup. Really, this is our year.
   
   
4. When the Leafs are on the road, Leafs Nation can be a troubling house guest.
   
   
5. In all sports, there’s a team or teams that everyone loves to hate (Cowboys, Yankees, Bosox, LiverpoolMan U) and in hockey for most of the world it’s the Leafs.

Now, introspection isn't a reporter's best friend, but if the media ever wonder why the IBP are laughing at them all the time, they need look no further than Mr. Campbell.

This is not a rivalry - it's a crime scene

I've written before about why the Leafs-Sens rivalry should just be left for dead. The fading flames of this alleged conflict are nothing more than media heat and noise.

Yes, Sens fans may love to beat the Leafs, but they'll need to get in line if they think there's anything unique about despising the Leafs, Leaf fans or even the city of Toronto. (I've lived in Ottawa and if you're going to pick a place to hate-on, the frozen city that fun forgot is a darn fine place to start.)

At the rate this "rivalry" is going I'm thinking the Leafs should adopt Washington Generals jerseys as a special look for games against the Sens (although judging by the number of people in pink leafs cowboy hats and assorted paraphernalia at the ACC during the Rangers game, those 4th jerseys would likely sell pretty well).



The Leafs are already down in this year's season series 3-1, haven't been close in their three losses and have been outscored 17 to 9 (that total is as of 2:55 of the third period, it could be 20-9 by the time I get this posted).

Last year, the Leafs went 1-7 against the Sens and were outscored 41-19.

There's a reason the papers and airwaves of full of blather about Kilger's spear, McGratton's antics and the Tucker-Eaves match-up (The Hesitant Yob vs. Sideshow Bob) - it's because the game on the ice is so unbalanced it's the least engaging and least interesting thing between these two clubs.

I'll save my energy for Saturday night and the Habs. At least there's a team the Leafs might be able to compete against in a city that actually matters.

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This isn't a knock against Spezza or Corvo (especially not Corvo, I've got him in my pool and am damn happy with his four helpers tonight) but on that sixth Ottawa goal how on earth can anyone be awarded an assist? Spezza blasts a shot into McCabe's shins, the puck bounces at least six feet away and hits Heatley in the chest. Heatley swats at the puck with his arm, it hits the ice and then he buries the shot. Two players get assists for that? Absurd.

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Is there a goalie equivalent to the Mendoza line? With tonight's loss Raycroft's stats are looking more Boston-bust than Rookie of the year. I'm no mathematician but giving up 23 goals in the last five games puts his GAA up to about 3.2 and his save percentage down to about .892

Positively Belfour-esque.
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Wonder if the Leafs three game losing skid will put an end to the ridiculous notion that JFJ should get an extension to his existing deal. With Kubina on the IR, Raycroft coughing up a five-spot with each start, and the Leafs specialty teams struggling there's not a whole lot of good news for Jr. Nor is there a lot to show for the mountains of cash and long-term commitments he gave out this off-season. Speaking of off-season moves, anyone else think McCabe has misinterpreted his non-movement clause thinking it refers to his on-ice activities.

Rivalries

I'm glad the Leafs won G2 in Ottawa and not for the simple reason that I'm a leaf fan - the reason I'm glad the Leafs won goes a little deeper than that.

You see, I don't think the Leafs and Sens have much of a rivalry - despite what the media files to sell industrial fasteners.

With all this talk of the Leafs Sens "rivalry" and with the Habs coming to town on Saturday night, my brain served up an age old quote from Ken Dryden's seminal book The Game.

Over 28 pages in the middle of the book, Dryden beautifully describes a road trip to Toronto to play the Leafs near the end of the 1979 season.

He concludes:

There is no Leafs-Canadiens rivalry. It's dead: the Leafs killed it.

I remember being shocked as a 12 year old hockey nut when I read it and I’ve never forgotten those two simple sentences.

Not to put words in his mouth (he certainly has enough of his own) Dryden’s take on rivalry is that you need to have legitimate competition between rivals or else it dies.

The rise and fall of the Leafs in the late 70s is well known: management's failure to find adequate support for the promising core of Palmateer, Salming, MacDonald and Sittler; their inability to draft and develop talent coupled with a bad string of short-sighted trades, led to the decline of what could have been a very good team.

This decline in the Leafs came at a time when the Habs were losing about 12 games a season and racking up Cup after Cup. To Dryden’s point: not much competition in that – not much of a rivalry.

It’s not much different from the Leafs and Sens (not to say the Sens are anywhere near the level of that Habs dynasty, despite what Muckler might want us to believe). The Leafs may own the Sens in the post-season, but they’ve had their asses handed to them by the Sens in the regular season for years. Having your club go 1-7 in the regular season makes it hard to get up for a mid-February match against the skaters from the 613.

But never mind the media or my yapping, what about the perspective of Leafs Nation?

Offer a Leaf fan a choice of any games to attend at the ACC and hands down the Habs would be number one. Leafs tickets are hard enough to come by at the best of times, but just try to get a ticket to a Saturday night Habs match-up in this town.

I'd wager the Wings come in at #2 – partly because of the history between these two clubs and partly because they play so few games against each other these days. The third ticket goes to the Flyers. The fourth ticket? I think the average fan is going to chose to see Crosby or Ovechkin. That puts the Sens no higher than 5th on the hit list and they might just be neck and neck with the Sabres.

Think about that for a minute. Our great rival is a fifth or sixth choice ticket? This is what great rivalries are made of? Would a Red Sox fan pick four teams ahead of a chance to see the Yankees? Oilers and Flames fans pass each other by? I don’t think so…

Then there’s the history or rather, the lack of it.

The Habs and Leafs have been going at it for more than 75 years, never mind the whole French Canada/ English Canada divide.

The Leafs and Wings have been throwing elbows and lighting the lamp longer than Kanata's had paved roads.

The Leafs and Flyers had the crazy battles of the 70s and the Flyers have pulled the plug on the Leafs last few post-season plans.

The Sens have been around for what, 14 years? For the first five of those the Leafs were facing off against guys like Sylvain Turgeon, Peter Sidorkiweicz and Randy Cunneyworth. Throw in a year of labour stoppage, a year of role reversal with Jason Alison cast as your choice of Laurie Boschman, Gary Dineen or Dave Archibald and you've got maybe seven years of competitive hockey between these two clubs. Maybe.

Sorry, it's just not enough.

What about geography? Please. Ottawa as a town isn't even on the average Torontonian's radar. The Town-That-Fun-Forgot is further away than both Buffalo and Detroit and is only about 80 clicks closer than Montreal. To give it a bit more perspective Pittsburgh is just a shade further away than Ottawa. Steel-Town is likely a lot more fun too.

So we share the same Premier, big deal.

Reciprocity? Might be nice if both sides got as worked up about this. Ottawa fans may froth at the mouth over Toronto, but it's a one-way gig and it will likely be lessened now that the cap has eliminated the Leafs economic advantage.

Sure, the Leafs may have knocked the Sens out of the post-season 4 times, but Buffalo has now delivered the death blow three times, so it's not like the Leafs are unique in this regard.

One team has dominated the regular season series and the other the post-season match-ups. There’s not much fun in that.

A chance that these two-teams might actually give each other a run for the money? Now, that’s got some potential…