The radio waves and newspapers hereabouts are still dominated by the five Toronto Maple Leafs who would not consent to being traded away. Somehow, 41 years of abject failure and frequent mismanagement have been laid on their doorsteps.
Get over it Leaf fans!
Fact is, the Leafs are the Chicago Cubs of the National Hockey League. They sell out nightly, yet never do what is necessary to win. Winning costs money, which the owners of the club have always made, hand over fist. Not for nothing was the old Maple Leaf Gardens called the Maple Leaf Mint and the Carlton St. Cashbox. And, with the new NHL salary caps, now the club makes tens of millions MORE than they used to. Most valuable franchise in the sport.
And all because moronic fans continue to treat tickets to a Leaf game as a prize. And the businesses around here treat Leaf tickets as top-drawer bribes to clients and workers.
Cannot you all see the emperor has no clothes?
The club didn't WANT to win in the old days, because it would have cost money and eliminated profit. In those uncapped days, you bought your way out of mistakes and lack of foresight. If you signed one star who winked out, you'd replace him with somebody else's star. But the third-rail of that management style was winning it all. Win enough and EVEYRBODY on the team came up to the owners' offices with hands out, looking for raises. Best to finish close and give the fans a bit of a thrill ... and a hope. It's the old saw about keeping them asking for more. Get too close to the Holy Grail, the Stanley Cup, and you had to manufacture some crisis to bring down expectations. Then the cycle would start anew.
The fans didn't catch on. Compare that with the Montreal fans. When the Canadiens dropped to Maple Leaf levels of mediocrity, bordering on badness, the fans started staying away. Enough with this crap, they said with their feet and dollars. There was even talk the old town would LOSE its historic franchise, the sport's best down through the years. It took George Gillette to recognize the situation for what it was--an OPPORTUNITY. He bought the team, brought back intelligence in the form of Bob Gainey and then told Gainey to spend his money as he saw fit. Montreal's back, not yet a champion, but a good team playing before gigantic sold-out audiences. The fans have spoken, and they approve.
Here in the Toronto area, the money-grabbers at Maple Leaf Sports Entertainment decided the best way to replace the eminently-replaceable Pat Quinn was to find some cheap rookie GM. And John Ferguson Junior failed. Hardly a surprise. It's only now that the poohbas recognize they can't go cheap anymore in the front office. Can they also be convinced to take tens of millions in write-offs to kickstart the hoped for Maple Leaf revival? They should be. The Marching Moron Society that is the Maple Leaf fandom will continue to flock to the Air Canada Centre no matter the quality of the team. They proved that during the Harold Ballard era.
But, in the meantime, the only entertaining that will go on is how the fans greet the No-Trade 5 when next they take to the ice in T.O. Mats Sundin will draw a mixed reaction. The intelligent Leaf fan (an oxymoron), will cheer and applaud his dedication to this town, if not this organization. Tomas Kaberle is a good man and a good player. No one really wished him gone.
The same can't be said for Darcy Tucker, a shell of his former self, and no longer a valued hockey player. His past contributions probably get him absolution. Not so Bryan McCabe, who didn't recognize the train leaving town, the Larry Murphy Express, was his best option. He will be booed until he goes elsewhere to contribute. Which brings me to Pavel Kubina. The on-again, off-again saga of his possibly being traded won't result in happiness all round. He'll play to boos and catcalls aplenty for the rest of the season. Over the summer, he'll be traded whatever his feelings for staying are, or he'll play in the American Hockey League with the Toronto Marlies. His NHL career with the Maple Leafs, the one he hung on to so tightly, has 18 games left in it.
By the start of next season, the No-Trade 5 will be three, maybe two and possibly even one. Sounds like a lot of fury and angst for the four for 18 games.
But such is the life of a Maple Leaf fan (not me, my Dad and my brother Wayne).
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