TORONTO (May 21) — Paul Henderson, the former Leaf and Team Canada hero from 1972, tells a story about his agonizing decision to defect from the National Hockey League to the rogue World Hockey Association, which competed with the NHL for much of the 70’s. After more than a decade with Detroit and Toronto, he had twice come excruciatingly close to winning the Stanley Cup: in 1964, when the Red Wings blew a 3–2 series lead to the Leafs and lost in seven games; then in 1966, when the Wings pulled a classic “Leafs” and won the first two games of the final on the road in Montreal, only to lose four straight. Eight years later, he found himself at a crossroad: remain with Harold Ballard and the declining Maple Leafs at a cut–rate salary… or join the enemy and become rich.

John Bassett Jr., owner of the WHA Toronto Toros, was moving his club from tiny Varsity Arena (at the University of Toronto) to Maple Leaf Gardens. As an inducement to local fans, Bassett had just landed 1960’s Leafs legend Frank Mahovlich from the Montreal Canadiens. He wanted Henderson, as well, and suggested a phone chat with the Big M. Paul concurred. “I told Frank about my hesitancy to leave the NHL and my dream to win the Stanley Cup (which Mahovlich had done four times with the Leafs under Punch Imlach),” Henderson told me a couple of years ago as we sat in the kitchen of his Mississauga, Ont. home. “And, Frank replied ‘Paul, you will never win by remaining with the Leafs. The problem starts at the top. The team cannot move forward under Harold Ballard; he’s a carnival act.’ In saying so, Frank was confirming what I already suspected. Ballard had turned into such a buffoon. He was so cheap. The move to the Toros was easy — remaining in the same city for double the cash.”

Fast–forward half–a–century and the Leafs have another Ballard — this one wearing skates. As such, allow me to paraphrase the Big M’s comments: the Leafs will never end the longest drought (going on 59 years) in Stanley Cup history with Auston Matthews as central figure of the hockey club. I don’t think I’m going out on much of a limb, here, after nine consecutive years of solid, inarguable evidence. But, it’s true. This is rather a crude analogy, for I would never make light of another person’s malaise. But, let’s say (God forbid) you have a terminal illness. And, you wake up one morning with a terribly sore foot. If you go to the orthopedist, the foot will begin to feel better in a couple of days. But, you’re still going to die. Brendan Shanahan, Mitch Marner and John Tavares are the sore feet. Matthews is the illness. Which doesn’t particularly thrill me to write, as Auston is likely a very fine person who plays the captain’s role off the ice by visiting sick and less–privileged children. Brightening their day. The real stuff in life. The overwhelming bulk, however, of his $13.25 million annual salary is to lead the Leafs to the long–lost Promised Land. And, there is no chance. Not now. Not next year. Not a half–a–decade from today. Never.

Ultimately, and not undeservedly, Shanahan, the president, has paid the price. The Leafs, today, granted him permission to speak with the New York Islanders — the apparent landing spot for all former Toronto executives.

Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment will not engage in a bidding war.

THE LOOK ON BRENDAN SHANAHAN’S FACE, AS ANOTHER LOST SEASON SLIPPED AWAY, TOLD THE STORY.

The 2025 Leafs can continue to dabble on the periphery and claim there is no captain in the league as dedicated and clutch as No. 34. The rest of us, if willing, see differently… with our eyes, if not our brains. The playoff Leafs are akin to waching the Wizard of Oz. We know precisely how the movie will end, yet we still hang in until Judy Garland says “Oh, Auntie Em, there’s no place like home.” As a Leafs fan, you should instantly pick up on the tragic irony of that claim. With a total absence of leadership and conviction, the Leafs are playoff fodder at Scotiabank Arena. More embarrassingly so than ever before. Most in the media are tip–toeing, as always, around the Matthews dilemma. There’s “branding” to keep in mind at Sportsnet and TSN, co–owners of the Maple Leafs. So, the discussion is conveniently laser–focused on Marner and, to a lesser degree, Tavares; both pending free agents. As for Auston… well, he’s been injured since training camp in September. He even reminded us, on Tuesday, about his unplanned medical trek to Germany. But, how does that account for nearly a lost decade?

A comment on a Leafs chat forum pondered the matter: “So, Matthews disappearing every playoffs in Games 5 to 7 means he gets injured in the middle of a series for nine years in a row?” This cleanly captured the absurdity.

For another perspective, I called upon my pal, Dave Perkins, who ranks among the most–esteemed and widely read sports columnists in the history of the Toronto Star, Canada’s largest newspaper. Perky has forever seen through the fragile men wearing blue and white. No one has better combined storytelling and satire. When I requested a paragraph or two about the hobbled captain, here was Dave’s response: Howard… maybe he’s right. Something sure hampered him. Something apparently always does. You wouldn’t want to think he would be this unimportant on purpose. Maybe he had soap in his eyes. Or maybe he was bruised when they threw bananas at him while he was “a passenger” riding around in that shopping cart during those gruesome TV ads (which, of course, is always the kind of thing the captain of an old, established NHL flagship franchise would do to — you know — uphold the dignity of the organization). Can you imagine George Armstrong or Jean Beliveau riding around in a shopping cart catching bananas? Good Lord. I am sure [Keith] Pelley will pick up all those sweaters thrown on the ice and have them cleaned and resold in the team store. And someone will buy them. Someone always does (emphasis added by me). Perky is spot–on. Every year, there’s another excuse. It’s like crying wolf. How will we know if an injury to Matthews legitimately costs the Maple Leafs a chance to win the Stanley Cup?

For an aside, did anyone notice it was 10 years ago this week that the Leafs gaily introduced Mike Babcock as coach, having provided him the richest contract in league history? Why do the Leafs always waste away in the spring after yielding the “richest” contract. Coach. Captain. It just doesn’t matter.

I felt that Tuesday’s group session with reporters went as planned for the Leafs. None of the top figures accepted a crumb of culpability for the latest disaster. Marner actually said, with a straight face, that he and his wife, Stephanie, “have not discussed” the options available to the player beginning July 1. Perhaps neither expected the birth of their first child until it happened 😛 (the couple welcomed a beautiful and healthy boy, Miles Daniel Marner, on May 5). I’m certain Mitchell and Stephanie have spent copious hours in conversation about the future.

Matthews, looking typically forlorn, admitted he sustained an injury at training camp last September that led to “a tough year, physically.” Who am I to discredit such a claim? But, why, Auston, is this perennial incapacity after mid–April close to launching its second decade? No one has been able to explain that incongruity… from the moment it began, in 2018, to this very day. The Leafs keep returning to the same dry well, expecting to come upon a flood. Which simply cannot occur in the absence of character and leadership on the ice. There’s just no way.

 
TWO MORE FAMILAR, LONG FACES… AFTER THE FLORIDA ROMP. AT LEAST ONE WILL DEPART.

Craig Berube temporarily stunned me with his opening remark. I actually hit the playback button to confirm what I thought I had heard: “From a talent standpoint — character and toughness as I call it — we have a lot of that here on this team. We just have to learn to do things a little bit differently in big games and big moments.” They still have to “learn”, Craig, after nine years? When do you expect they’ll come around? Once in their 80’s and 90’s?

But, what the hell was he supposed to say? Berube leapt into this vast cauldron thinking he could lower the heat. It will never turn out for him until management reverses course and pursues players with mettle and conviction.

So, what happens next?

The Leafs cannot trade Matthews without express permission; neither would they have the balls to do it in any circumstance. So, why waste another blog on that? Perhaps they require Auston as stimulis and bait for their next big adventure. I’ve observed Pelley long enough to know that he’s hardly risk–averse. There’s a well–known player in Alberta who can test unrestricted free agency next summer. It is inconceivable that Edmonton would allow for such a possibility… but it takes two to tango. If the Oilers win the Stanley Cup this spring, maybe that guy, Connor, would think about coming home and trying to help end professional sport’s longest–running perplexity: How a storied franchise; a charter member of the NHL, could decay to such an extent that it hasn’t even played for the Stanley Cup in 58 years. Clearly and incontrovertibly, there is no answer on the current roster. Nothing even close. So, heck, why not reach for the outer planets again? No one in these parts will stop paying attention.

EMAIL: HOWARDLBERGER@GMAIL.COM