TORONTO (Aug. 8) — Welcome back, briefly, to our regularly scheduled programming. The question, laying dormant in the stifling heat and humidity of summer, arose once more on Tuesday, when a friend at a funeral service asked “why haven’t the Leafs traded Mitch Marner?” To which I naturally replied “I don’t know; ask Marner.”

This remains, of course, at the crux of any effort by the Leafs to finally disassemble the Core–4 — vaunted during the regular season; closer to vomit during the playoffs. For eight long years, the Toronto hierarchy has been twisting its own arms, stubbornly waiting for William Nylander, Marner, Auston Matthews and John Tavares to sustain performance when money is on the line. It did not happen. It will not happen, so long as the fearless foursome remains intact. Trouble being that neither president Brendan Shanahan nor general manager Brad Treliving actually manage the Maple Leafs. That chore has long–been delivered to the exasperating figures at the apex of an unbalanced roster. As such, Marner remains in full control of whatever future evolves here. The Leafs cannot trade him without express permission, owing to a full no–movement clause in his contract. The same was bequeathed the other three: Matthews and Nylander have since agreed to long–term extensions. Tavares, the captain, will enter his final season in Toronto before moving on… as, almost certainly, will Marner, who could become the first 100–point forward in franchise history to walk for nothing as an unrestricted free agent. Not the greatest of planning.

DO NOT EXPECT MITCH MARNER TO UNPACK HIS BAGS UNTIL THE END OF THE 2024–25 SEASON.

We therefor ask: What incentive is there for Marner to uproot before he can pick a team of his own next summer? The obvious answer: virtually none. Unless Shanahan and Treliving can work out a deal with Florida, Edmonton, Colorado, Dallas, Vegas or Boston — teams in a better position than the Leafs to win the Stanley Cup — Marner won’t likely contemplate a transfer. Money isn’t an issue; nor will it be for whichever club lands the slick forward. Neither does it appear the Leafs are particularly interested in a contract renewal with their first–round choice from the 2015 National Hockey League draft. So, why would Mitch “do the Leafs a favor” by agreeing to be moved elsewhere? This is a stalemate that will persevere throughout the 2024–25 NHL schedule. And, again, don’t blame the player; it was management (Kyle Dubas and Shanahan) that signed off, in 2019, on a six–year, $65.4 million extension with Marner that included the restraining contract clause (accompanied by a $10.8 million cap hit per season). And, it will end, for the Maple Leafs, as it did with Zach Hyman, who left the club in 2021 to join the Oilers and has put up stellar goal totals of 27, 36 and 54 alongside the best player in hockey, Connor McDavid.

Toronto simply outmanaged itself while refusing to acknowledge the repeated Stanley Cup frailty of its top stars.

The “run–it–back” crowd, which envelopes the media and fanbase with each hour of the off–season, will get its wish one more time. Unless management again caves during contract negotiation and unites Marner with his Core buddies for the extended future. Which can never be discounted with Shanahan in the president’s chair at least one more year. Falling apart in the clutch is the prime criterion to land a monstrous deal from the Blue and White. Nylander and Matthews have done so, spectacularly. Who’s to say, for sure, that Marner won’t be next?

Almost certainly, however, Mitch will rebuff any trade overture from management. As he is completely entitled.

The nearly $22 million in cap space recouped once Tavares and Marner walk will enable Treliving, theoretically, to build properly: from the goal outward. And, to (heaven forbid) live a rung beneath the payroll ceiling, allowing for some wiggle room at the trade deadline and in the summer. Which the Leafs have eschewed since the advent of the cap for the 2005–06 season. That Toronto has but a lone playoff–round triumph in the salary cap era is all you need to know about those running the franchise. Gazillions in profit notwithstanding.

MORE SH** FROM SHAPIRO: So, Blue Jays fans, did you enjoy that latest hoof in the crotch from team president Mark Shapiro? Who, characteristically, took no responsibility for the disaster of the 2024 club… and offered not a smidgen of insight as to how the franchise will emerge from its quagmire in the American League East. But, keep filling the Dome, people. Rogers may be widely despised, yet no person ever questioned the business acumen of our country’s communications behemoth. In tabling Shapiro to spearhead renovation of Rogers Centre, the company understood the sheer volume of sports suckers in this city. Any of whom will pay $100 for a ticket in order to eat $1 hotdogs on a given Tuesday. With sheep for patrons, why would Rogers, or Shapiro, worry that Ross Atkins hasn’t a clue about building a competitive team? It’s way down the list of priorities at One Mount Pleasant Drive.

TORONTO vs. OAKLAND ENDS THIS WEEKEND

It began at Maple Leaf Gardens on Oct. 28, 1967 and will end for the foreseeable future this Sunday at Rogers Centre. A span of 56 years, nine months and 14 days in which professional teams from Toronto and Oakland have been competing against one another. Once the Blue Jays and Athletics complete their three–game series at the Dome, it’s over. The A’s move north, to Sacramento, next season and will remain in the state capitol until a new ballpark is constructed near the Las Vegas Strip. Which is kind of sad, given the unforgettable moments crafted in high–stakes warfare between the Toronto and Oakland. Not so much, of course, involving the Maple Leafs and the ancient California Seals: a club that joined the NHL in the Great Expansion of 1967 and played home games at the Oakland Coliseum–Arena until 1976. The Seals were perennially awful, making the playoffs only twice (1969 and 1970) before relocating to the village of Richfield, Ohio as the short–lived Cleveland Barons.

In baseball and basketball, however, Toronto and Oakland have provided unforgettable moments. Such as Rickey Henderson of the A’s humiliating the 1989 Blue Jays by running the bases at will during the American League Championship Series. The same clash in which Jose Canseco launched a home run, for the first time, into the fifth deck at the new SkyDome. Oakland easily prevailed in five. The A’s were building toward another ALCS triumph three years later when Roberto Alomar changed the course of Blue Jays history. The all–star second baseman smacked a two–run homer in the ninth inning off ace closer Dennis Eckersley that tied Game 4 of the 1992 American League final and silenced the raucous Oakland Coliseum. Ultimately, it prevented Toronto from falling into a 3–2 Series hole with Game 5 also in northern California. The Blue Jays eliminated the Athletics back at home in Game 6, then defeated Atlanta to become the first World Series victor from outside the United States.

No–such triumph would have occurred without Alomar’s clutch hit.

The coup de grâce for Toronto unfolded much later (in June 2019) when Kawhi Leonard and the Raptors became Canada’s first National Basketball Association champion, defeating the injury riddled Golden State Warriors in the final pro sports event at the Oakland Coliseum–Arena (then called Oracle Arena). It resulted, four days later, in the largest human assembly since Pope John Paul twice visited Toronto (in 1984 and 2002); more than one million celebrants poring into downtown for a victory parade from the Princes’ Gates at the CNE to Nathan Philips Square at City Hall. For the 2019–20 NBA season, the Warriors moved into the new Chase Center in San Francisco. That same year saw the National Football League Raiders leave the Oakland Coliseum for Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. Once the A’s finish the current Major League Baseball schedule, Oakland will have lost all four of its major professional teams. In my collection are these notable items from games involving Toronto and Oakland:

 
Program (above) from the first match–up (Oct. 28, 1967) between the Maple Leafs and expansion California Seals (Toronto prevailed, 5–2). Frank Mahovlich graced the cover and Lou Cauz of the Globe and Mail wrote about the former Leafs on the California roster. The clubs met for the initial time in Oakland 11 nights later (Nov. 8, 1967) as George Gross of the old Toronto Telegram (below) covered the match; another easy win for the Leafs. In the corresponding photo, forward Ron Ellis (8) of Toronto was seen colliding with California’s Bill Hicke.

 

Programs, above, from Toronto (left) and Oakland during the 1992 American League Championship Series, which turned on Roberto Alomar’s iconic home run off Dennis Eckersley in the ninth inning of Game 4 at the Coliseum. Front covers, below, from the Toronto Sun and Oakland Tribune of Oct. 12, 1992.

 
 
In December 2014, I went to San Francisco with my son, Shane, for a brief holiday. We crossed the bridge into Oakland to watch the Raiders clash with the Buffalo Bills at the Coliseum. With darn–good seats, as evidenced by my photo (top–left). Following the game, fans left the stadium past the adjacent Oracle Arena (right), where the Seals and Leafs had once played… and where the Raptors would, 4½ years later, win the NBA title. Moments after departing San Francisco on the return flight to Toronto (below), we passed directly over the Coliseum and Arena site, located off the Nimitz Freeway in Alameda County, 6.8 miles southeast of downtown Oakland.

 

The biggest triumph: Kawhi Leonard and the Toronto Raptors defeating Golden State to win it all in 2019.

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