TORONTO (May 15) — If you get the early impression, from Facebook, Twitter and here, that I kind of like what the Toronto Maple Leafs are doing, you’re not alone. Neither are you mistaken. I haven’t a clue, obviously, whether the latest managerial regime can unlock the door to prosperity in the Stanley Cup hunt. But, at least Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment — FINALLY! — is trying something different. Rather than recycling the quickest, easiest managerial candidate. Or, retaining a coach to whom the players stopped listening because he had contract term. And, ideally, disdaining the formula that has never, and could never, work: leaning on the monotonous Core–4. Not its Core–4, anyway. Montreal’s playoff nucleus is another matter, and seems capable of accomplishing, in one spring, what the Auston Matthews–“led” Leafs haven’t come close to in nearly a decade.

The biggest move of all lays ahead: finding No. 34 a new hockey home.

In the interim, the Leafs — for the first time in ages — are intriguing. John Chayka weathered the barrage of verbal darts at his introductory media conference and is attempting to clear the boulder–strewn path of the 2020’s.

Can he do so with Matthews, William Nylander and Morgan Rielly still on board? It’s a silly question. The playoff impotence has to be flushed from the dressing room… and not gradually. As Bob Cole would say, it’s time for a “new kid on the block.” Be it Gavin McKenna or whichever player the Leafs choose first in the upcoming National Hockey League draft. No wonder candidates are lining up to replace Craig Berube. Expect Chayka’s coaching hire to be similarly unorthodox, by Leaf standards. Ol’ fogie that I am, I’d choose a veteran influence; a Pat Quinn type with patience and the ability to teach. Peter Laviolette would be my choice, even at age 61. Quinn joined the Leafs in 1998 at 55 and coming off hip–replacement surgery. He served the franchise rather well for eight years.

That said, I suspect Chayka and Sundin will hire a young coach. Perhaps untried in the NHL.

With the capacity to relate, as much as teach.

David Carle at the University of Denver is one such candidate.

But, back to the headline of this blog: I owe Keith Pelley and MLSE an overdue acknowledgement.

While I’m clearly unaware of what transpires behind the scenes at 60 Bay St. (that’s where Friedge comes in), I criticized Pelley and Co. for “stringing along” Berube after dismissing the man that hired him, Brad Treliving. While suggesting that the CEO of the corporation was calling the hockey shots. I was wrong. Pelley waited until he had a new hockey executive in place. Chayka and Mats Sundin made the (correct) call on Berube and will hire a replacement. As it should be in a functional organization. So, Keith: Here’s one for you. I remember how expertly you ran the Toronto Argos for David Cynamon and Howard Sokolowski when the club won the 2004 Grey Cup.

Do the same here. Allow your hockey people to reshape the Leafs on the ice.

If you truly wish to move forward — and unless ordered otherwise by Ed the Conqueror — don’t obstruct any attempt to trade Matthews. Or, his co–conspirators of the past playoff decade. The company was provided a gift last week it did not earn. Listen to the hockey fates. Start fresh with McKenna and craft a new dressing room dynamic.

The Leafs need a captain that oozes commitment and, ideally, a personality with which fans can identify. Matthews has neither. He wants something for which he’s not willing to work: recognition and success in big games, regular season and playoffs. Auston seems prepared to make such an effort only when he’s removed trom the Maple Leafs and wearing his country’s colors. Which isn’t the least–bit justifiable for a $13.25 million asset.

Find another team to eat most of the remaining $26.5 million over the next two seasons. It’s been proven that players excel in rival NHL cities after leaving or being pushed aside by the Leafs. Mitch Marner is the latest and most–glaring example, but there are others: Phil Kessel, Tyler Bozak, Nazem Kadri, Zach Hyman. Marner and Matthews are players that could not, and cannot, make a difference in Toronto… when it matters. Words that do not resonate with those still believing in the Matthews’ charade after nearly 10 seasons. If a player has neither the nuts nor the desire to withstand the Toronto hockey environment, don’t hold him back. Let him succeed elsewhere and remove his influence from the team. Bozak, Kadri and Hyman do not belong solely in this category. Unlike Kessel, Marner and Matthews. During a peculiar era in which the Leafs have doled out unprecedented cash and control to players that wither in the spotlight each spring. They cannot (or will not) lead. So, they must follow.

How galling it must be for the Leafs and their fans to watch Marner lighting up in Las Vegas… and the forever–rival Canadiens, with a legitimate Core–4, looking all the bit a Stanley Cup threat. The same Montreal club that finished a whopping 60 points in back of Toronto in 2021–22. And, 28 points ahead of the Leafs this past season.

How is an 88–point swing in less than half–a–decade comprehensible?

The Canadiens possess what the Leafs have long dreamt about: such budding superstars as Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield, Lane Hutson, Juraj Slavkofsky and Ivan Demidov — all proving they can extend superb regular–season performance into the playoffs. Gut–wrenching, I’m sure, for media and fans that bought into the false Core–4 narrative; that Matthews would ultimately don his playoff cape and guide the Leafs past all Stanley Cup challengers.

It’s impossible to think that Chayka doesn’t digest this. Whether he has the luster and authority to overcome the perennial playoff obstacle could be another matter. Or, maybe not. Perhaps the chief poobahs at MLSE are finally sold on something different. After being smacked over the head by a mallet for the past half–decade. It’s something in which I incredibly have faith. We’ll find out, for certain, in the next five months. If Auston Matthews is still wearing the ‘C’ for the Maple Leafs on Opening Night next season, no fundamental change can possibly occur.

No matter which player the club drafts No. 1… or whom it chooses to stand behind the bench.

MINNESOTA NORTH STARS UNIFORM TRILOGY

As part of the six–team NHL expansion for 1967–68, the Minnesota North Stars sported a number of jersey designs with their smart logo and green, gold and white colors. Here is the photographic sequence from the franchise inception to its relocation in Dallas for the 1993–94 season:

 
THE ORIGINAL NORTH STARS HOME JERSEY IN 1967–68; NO. 19 WORN BY THE LATE BILL MASTERTON, THE ONLY PLAYER IN NHL HISTORY TO DIE AS THE RESULT OF AN ON–ICE INJURY.

 
FOR YEAR TWO (1968–69), THE CLUB MODIFIED NUMBERS AND ADDED A SHOULER–YOKE TO ITS HOME (ABOVE) AND AWAY (BELOW) JERSEYS. THESE WOULD REMAIN THROUGH 1974–75.

 
FROM 1975–76 TO 1977–78, THE TEAM WORE THE ABOVE JERSEYS (GREEN AWAY; WHITE AT HOME). WITH THE SHOULDER–YOKES GONE, THEY CLOSELY RESEMBLED THE ORIGINAL 1967 UNIFORM.

 
AFTER MERGING ROSTERS WITH THE CLEVELAND BARONS FOR THE 1978–79 SEASON, THE NORTH STARS SWITCHED TO ARGUABLY THEIR MOST–HANDSOME JERSEYS: BRAD MAXWELL’S HOME VERSION, ABOVE; THE ROAD JERSEY OF GOALTENDER GILLES MELOCHE, BELOW. IT WAS IN THESE UNIFORMS THAT MINNESOTA LOST THE  1981 STANLEY CUP FINAL TO THE NEW YORK ISLANDERS.

THE LATTER YEARS IN BLOOMINGTON FEATURED A FOURTH COLOR — BLACK — ADDED TO THE JERSEYS. THIS GROUP OF NORTH STARS QUALIFIED FOR THE 1991 STANLEY CUP FINAL (PATCH, BELOW), ONLY TO BE STEAMROLLED BY MARIO LEMIEUX, JAROMIR JAGR AND THE PENGUINS.

 
 
THE LAST JERSEY IN MINNESOTA — WORN BY STAR CENTER MIKE MODANO FROM 1990–91 TO 1992–93. THE PREDOMINANTLY BLACK UNIFORM WOULD FOLLOW THE CLUB TO DALLAS.

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