TORONTO (Dec. 23) — Forget the consecutive home losses to the New York Islanders and Winnipeg before the Christmas break in the National Hockey League. I’m still back in Buffalo, last Friday night, when the Toronto Maple Leafs doubled the Sabres, 6–3, while displaying the soft underbelly that has precluded success in the Stanley Cup tournament. A hockey team isn’t proprerly constructed when its most–skilled defenseman — averaging 21 penalty minutes over 11½ seasons — turns resident enforcer. A role that Morgan Rielly has now twice undertaken on behalf of his apathetic teammates: when Ridly Grieg of Ottawa cemented a home–ice triumph, last February, with an exaggerated slapshot into the vacant Toronto net… then, on Friday, after Auston Matthews had twice been manhandled on the same shift by Tage Thompson, the 6–foot–6, 220–pound forward of the Sabres. Rielly should not be enforcing parking regulations, let alone shielding his bigger Leaf colleagues from Atlantic Division prey.

And, this is where the Leafs traditionally fall short. Their Core figures are passive by nature. Understandable with little Mitch Marner, but a waste of skill with Matthews, who should be able to look after himself. There is no circumstance in which the captain — a sturdy 6–foot–3, 215 pounds — should require back up from a smallish defenseman that generally avoids chaos. Or, even from the club’s actual enforcer, Ryan Reaves, a player that rarely accumulates more than four minutes of ice time per game (when he is not scratched from the line–up). What it boils down to is this: the Leafs are going to get clobbered again in the playoffs. Not necessarily on the scoreboard. But, unavoidably, on the ice. It has been proven, repeatedly and unequivocally, that the Toronto club of Matthews, Marner, William Nylander, John Tavares and Rielly cannot withstand the physical grind of the Stanley Cup hunt. If Matthews still needs Rielly to come to his aid, the Leafs are doomed. We all know the big–money boys wither amid the inevitable rise in playoff tenacity. Only talent keeps them in the chase. But, only for so long.

It’s the reason I’ve been arguing in this space — since the 2021 playoff debacle against Montreal — that the Leafs require fundamental change. Which doesn’t entail rearranging the deck chairs around the Core–4, as happens each summer. Or, going “all in” at the trade deadline, over which the excitable local media always drools. It requires dismantling the group that has held the franchise hostage for nearly a decade. Along with the resolve and ingenuity lacking by all that have managed the team since the Big 3 were drafted in 2014–15–16. Those in charge of the club keep waiting for something different to happen in the playoffs. They — and us — will be waiting forever.

You saw why, again, last Friday.

Make excuses, if you want. Call it an “isolated” incident. But, remember how the “leader” of the Maple Leafs — the man for whom the tall thinkers humiliated Tavares last summer — took a physical beating and skated away… while his passive defense ‘mate attempted to scale the lanky Thompson. There is little “fight” in Auston Matthews. Just enormous potential whenever he’s on the ice, from mid–October to mid–April. At which point, a lack of grit and resolve routinely snookers the club. With virtually no help from the multi–millionaires who surround him.

Call it insanity. Call me stupid. Just do not expect the results to change.

SADLY, THESE DAYS ARE LONG GONE…

While going through issues of The Hockey News from the late–90’s, I realized the newspaper never looked better than during the final years of the old millennium. The front–cover designs were colorful and catchy; the subject–matter, in 1998–99, rarely more significant. Including the final NHL game at Maple Leaf Gardens; Wayne Gretzky suddenly retiring at the end of the regular season… and the Stanley Cup being awarded to Dallas amid a blazing and unforeseen controversy. It was a time when you could stop by your favorite newsstand and purchase a physical copy of the weekly publication, which dated to October 1947. Today, just about everything is available on our mobile devices. Convenient, yes. But, that’s all. No “romance” or cut–and–paste creativity anymore.

Here are some of the catchier cover pages of The Hockey News from 1998–99:

 
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