TORONTO (Feb. 28) — I’m wondering if someone in the hierarchy of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment would make an unprecedented ruling: that Auston Matthews become the first captain of a team in the National Hockey League to be forbidden from talking to reporters? Having generously helped to mail in four points while returning from triumph at the Winter Olympics, Matthews again proved why stripping the ‘C’ from John Tavares was the stupidist decision in Toronto franchise history. “I’d say our start was the big issue tonight,” deduced Auston after a 5–1 pounding in Sunrise, Fla. that saw the visitors outscored, 3–0, and outshot, 16–6, in a ghastly opening period. He later went on to express heartfelt confidence that the sun is bright; snow is cold and grass is generally green.

If Mr. Obvious isn’t the club’s all–time leader in saying one thing and executing another, tell me who ranks higher.

“You’d like to have more of a 60–minute effort,” the captain continued to drone. “I think we need more desperation; more fire, especially to start games. We know the position we’re in and we need to be a more desperate team. We should have the energy we need to start [a] game.” So, why not go out and do it, Auston? I know… you can’t. More importantly, you won’t. Nothing in professional team sport is more chintzy than blather. Which you have turned into an art. The media should collude and agree that no words from Matthews be printed or aired until he either abdicates… or walks from the Maple Leafs for nothing at the end of the 2027–28 season. One (or both) of which will undoubtedly happen. When Auston lapses into a hollow, cliché–spewing robot, he discredits himself and the team. Much better to seek a player with a smidgen of perspective. Such as Scott Laughton or Morgan Rielly.

Complicating matters, Thursday night, was William Nylander auditioning for Stars on Ice. What on God’s green Earth was No. 88 thinking in that frightful opening frame? First, trying to dipsydoodle past all five Florida defenders at the blue line — predictably and comically yielding the puck — then suffering apparent hypoxia in the neutral zone to allow a shorthanded breakaway by Evan Rodrigues that lifted Florida into its early, three–goal advantage.

EVAN RODRIGUEZ OF THE PANTHERS UNDRESSES LEAFS GOALIE JOSEPH WOLL FOR THE LATE FIRST–PERIOD GOAL THAT PROVIDED THE HOME TEAM A 3–0 LEAD… AND RESULTED FROM A SEVERE BRAIN CRAMP BY WILLIAM NYLANDER.

Matthews and Nylander form two–thirds of the “leadership group” that Craig Berube often summons for crisis dialogue. The Leafs, accordingly, are in a shambles with 24 games left… and displaying not a shred of impulse or hunger. I, for one, did not object to Matthews visiting the White House as captain of the gold medal U.S. men’s hockey team in Milan. It was a once–in–a–lifetime chance for a born–and–bred American… and we don’t think the same way, patriotically, here Canada (for many good reasons). More importantly, from a hockey perspective, Matthews surely understood that his prompt return to Toronto would have zero impact on the the Leafs executing a playoff push. Damien Cox attempted such a correlation in the Toronto Star. I admire Damien and normally agree with him. But, not this time. There is no evidence that Matthews is either willing or capable of lifting the Maple Leafs when it counts. Never has happened and never will. Auston could tour the White House, Parliament Hill, Gracie Mansion, One Downing Street, the Eiffel Tower, the Kremlin… and none of it would matter on the ice.

As I’ve written on several occasions, Keith Pelley needs to show he has a pulse. And, not with an absurd “open letter” — laced with fantasy — to season–ticket holders, suggesting the club had been so anxious, through the Olympic break, to hit the ground running once the NHL schedule resumed. The only thing the Leafs hit in Florida was a cement wall. One they cannot scale. The letter, of course, should be alarming for Leaf followers, as it would never have materialized without approval from ownership (Rogers). Most important to MLSE, from an annual budget prospective, is three home playoff dates. Hardly an issue in most years since Nylander, Mitch Marner and Matthews were procured from the NHL draft. But, not even a long shot right now. The players acknowledged, indisputably, in Tampa and Sunrise, that the season was over. Kaput. Only an insane intervention from Ed the Conqueror and his minions at One Mount Pleasant — and don’t put it past them — would prompt general manager Brad Treliving to retain, or (gulp!) acquire, assets prior to the Mar. 6 trade deadline. There is no circumstance that supercedes financial gain at MLSE. So, expect almost anything from Leafs management before next Friday.

But, remember again, the Leafs were lost and rudderless well before the Milan Olympics.

Neither Matthews nor Nylander could lead an army of ants to syrup.

Barring a miracle, Doug Gilmour–like trade that turns around the franchise, it will require more than half–a–decade to undo and repair the damage from the Brendan Shanahan–Kyle Dubas administration. A good start would be to unload whichever players can be moved before next Friday. Try to regain some draft capital. Then, after the season, take the initiative and tell Matthews and Nylander — unequivocally, to their faces — that the franchise no–longer wants them. It’s been a fruitless decade. Both need to waive their contract privileges and accept a trade.

Only then will the Leafs be in position to arrest their slide.

It matters not who owns, manages or coaches the club.

Recognize and acknowledge, if a frustrated fan, that no other course of action will suffice.

OLDEST MAPLE LEAF GARDENS PROGRAM

No, I did not attend this game, so don’t even start with the age jokes. In fact, my father wasn’t yet alive — growing, at the time, in my grandma’s belly. You are, however, looking at the oldest program (or programme) in my Leafs collection. Remarkably, from 93 years ago this month, as the New York Rangers came to town in the second NHL season at Maple Leaf Gardens (which had opened 15 months earlier). The Leafs prevailed, 2–1, on goals by Harold (Baldy) Cotton and Charlie Conacher (the winner at 2:01 of the third period, scored against Andy Aitkenhead). The tying goal by Cotton came only 38 seconds after Cecil Dillon had opened the scoring for New York. Lorne Chabot tended goal for the Maple Leafs. Here are contents from the program, a 15–cent item in 1933:

 
THE FRONT AND INSIDE–BACK COVERS OF THE GARDENS PROGRAM FROM FEB. 11, 1933.

FOUNDER OF THE MAPLE LEAFS AND BUILDER OF THE GARDENS, CONN SMYTHE (ABOVE), WAS PROMINENTLY FEATURED NEAR THE FRONT OF THE PROGRAM. BROMO SELTZER, VERNOR’S GINGER ALE (MY DAD LOVED IT) AND NOXEMA WERE AMONG THE PROGRAM SPONSORS (BELOW).

 

AMONG THE FEW JEWISH PLAYERS IN THE NHL WAS ALEX LEVINSKY OF THE MAPLE LEAFS. THE NICKNAME (I KID YOU NOT) CAME FROM HIS EUROPEAN–BORN FATHER, ABE, WHO WOULD SHOUT (AT THE GARDENS) “THAT’S MINE BOY!” WHEN LEVINSKY CARRIED THE PUCK OR SCORED.

FRANK BOUCHER AND THE COOK BROTHERS (BUN AND BILL) WERE NEW YORK’S BIG STARS. TORONTO FEATURED THE “KID” LINE OF CONACHER, HARVEY (BUSHER) JACKSON AND JOE PRIMEAU. LESTER PATRICK WAS GM/COACH OF THE RANGERS; DICK IRVIN COACHED THE LEAFS.

THE ROYAL YORK IS STILL RESPLENDENT ACROSS FROM UNION STATION ON FRONT ST. IT OPENED ON JUNE 11, 1929 AND HOSTED VISITING NHL TEAMS ALMOST EXCLUSIVELY THROUGH THE 1970’s.

KING CLANCY, A TINY BUT COMBATIVE DEFENSEMAN IN THE EARLY MAPLE LEAFS’ ERA, WOULD LATER COACH THE TEAM, THEN BECOME ASSISTANT TO PUNCH IMLACH AND HAROLD BALLARD. A BELOVED FIGURE AROUND THE GARDENS, KING DIED IN NOVEMBER 1986.

IMAGE FROM THE FAMED STREET–CORNER OF CHURCH AND CARLTON.

EMAIL: HOWARDLBERGER@GMAIL.COM