TORONTO (June 2) — A determined canvassing of undiluted honesty amid those employed by the Toronto Maple Leafs since 1967 is rather effortless. There are markedly few examples from which to choose… and most comments pre–date the current era. Here’s a random Top 10:

Why should I put Cadillacs on the ice when I can sell out with a bunch of Volkswagons?
— Harold Ballard in 1975
You can’t win without goaltending. It corrodes your whole style of play. It has an acidic effect on anything you do.
— Brian Burke, who never had much goaltending, in 2010
Them Islanders are burnt toast.
— Dave (Tiger) Williams prior to Game 7 of the 1978 Stanley Cup quarterfinals
Draft, shmaft.
— Cliff Fletcher, in 1996, on rebuilding the Leafs
Maybe now he won’t have to hunt so hard for that center he wants.
— Darryl Sittler, referring to Ballard, after Sittler’s 10–point eruption against Boston in February 1976
Obviously, we’re looked upon here as, you know, kind of gods, to be honest.
— Mitch Marner on being a Leaf
You could send Hammarström into the corner with six eggs in his pocket and he wouldn’t break any of them.
— A cruel Ballard, in 1975, on the passive winger he signed with Borje Salming
If you think there’s no pain coming, there’s pain coming.
— Mike Babcock, in May 2015, after being hired as coach
The Leafs will never win as long as Harold Ballard owns the team.
— Leafs legend Frank Mahovlich, in 1974
He’s a fucking idiot.
— Wade Belak on Islanders’ pest Steve Webb during the 2002 playoffs

I bring you these Leaf moments not only for entertainment (oh, the late, great Belak), but to punctuate the visceral candor of Brad Treliving’s “we need new DNA” remark last week. I do not believe the Toronto hockey market has examined that plea in appropriate depth. Tell me, during modern times, when a general manager has requested an overhaul of the club’s composition. DNA (Deoxyribonucleic acid) “carries genetic instructions for the development, functioning and growth of an organism.” In this case, the nucleus of a hockey team that remains embryonic when evolution is expected. It’s been nine consecutive years of the Maple Leafs missing the benchmarks and developmental milestones of a Stanley Cup contender. So, understand that Treliving’s DNA reference carried well beyond the specter of Mitch Marner and John Tavares leaving as free agents. This was the Toronto GM appealing to the higher–ups at Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment as he certainly could not have just a week earlier, while still under the employ of Brendan Shanahan. To the utmost degree, it was Treliving warning MLSE and Leafs Nation that the deck ultimately needs to be cleared, with all remnants of the futile Core–4 era consigned to history.

It was plainly not an endorsement of the now–flaccid “Shanaplan”… or the “leadership” the ex–president left behind. For, there is none on the current team beyond mid–April. Of that, we can no longer debate. So, what was Treliving calling for? It likely didn’t include Pontus Holmberg, Calle Jarnkrok, David Kampf or any of the interchangeable spare parts that assume 30 seconds of ice time in the playoffs while the “superstars” rest. Other than Max Domi, the supporting cast was typically non–existent against Ottawa and Florida. Especially when the puck arrived. Given cap restraints, the Leafs have deployed more roster “fillers” than at any time in franchise annals.

Treliving wasn’t kicking Marner out the door because the door is Marner’s to open or close whenever the 100–point forward sees fit. During the Shanahan era, Leafs’ management didn’t manage. It turned over control to its playoff pushovers… allowing Marner to dictate the final two years of his contract. Leon Draisaitl didn’t have that privilege in Edmonton, where he will now play in the Stanley Cup final for a second consecutive spring. As Marner said, even those with no playoff résumé over more than half a decade are “gods” in Toronto.

The Leaf Stanley Cup motto should be ABSORB THE FAME AND COME UP LAME. Or, something along those lines. It’s why the current GM is begging for medical intervention; circulatory realignment in the chest cavity.

A friggin’ heart transplant.

Brad Treliving is not minimally content with the club’s disposition and direction, or its docility and submissiveness in the heat of Stanley Cup warfare. He saw the perils of managing under Shanahan’s thumb. A silly newspaper report claimed a “big splash” for Treliving when Auston Matthews, in August 2023, inked his four–year contract extension. Brad had just started on the job, for heaven’s sake. It was Shanahan that orchestrated and signed off on the deal. With some actual authority, Treliving may have pushed back against such a near–sighted, reactionary move. But, he hadn’t yet acquired that level of voice under Shanahan. No one ever could.

If you are Matthews, how do you reconcile the words of your general manager, who told the hockey world, last week, that he wants an entirely different team. New genetics. Nothing close to the same old, same old. Could Matthews consider that anything but an outright and glaring repudiation of his ability to lead the club? Why would a player with even minimal self–esteem yearn to continue in such a barren, fruitless environment? That’s why I firmly believe that Treliving and Keith Pelley are keeping the trade chip close to the table. If I’m running the Leafs — and we don’t know, yet, where Ed the Conqueror stands on the issue — I’d be all over Matthews to reconsider his immediate future. With Shanahan out of the picture, I’d impress upon Matthews that a change of scenery would benefit his slagging career… and his undeniable reputation as a playoff outlier. He’ll never shake the ‘C’–word here in Toronto. Not after nine years. So, why not enjoy his guaranteed riches in a fresh hockey climate? Without the piles of playoff baggage? I’m certain Phil Kessel, Nazem Kadri and Zach Hyman would richly advocate for such a move. All have played for the Stanley Cup since moving on from the incessant glare of Leafs Land.

The alternative is for Matthews to finish a tenth year here; inflate his regular–season stats… then skulk off the ice at the end of another abortive Stanley Cup run. How can it be any different after all this time? And, again, why would Matthews want to stay in the current situation? He has a full no–movement clause and must grant the Leafs permission to seek a trade. So, why not provide Pelley and Treliving a list of 12 cities to which he’d consider relocation? With the cap figure rising — and, potentially $22 million off the books (Marner and Tavares) — the Leafs could afford some creativity in salary retention. And, Matthews could virtually choose where he wishes to play… three years before his next crack at unrestricted free agency. In my view, it would be a win–win for both parties.

What could the Leafs recoup in a trade? The most–valuable player in the NHL today: cap space. Probably more than $8 million per season, if retaining salary. And… a couple of the first–round draft picks haphazardly unloaded through the years. Yes, the club would decline for a period during the regular season. So what?! Better to remain in this cauldron of capitulation and ineptitude when money is on the table each spring? Many wonder how the Leafs could enact a “rebuild” so soon after the previous one? Folks, the last “rebuild” started eleven years ago. It hasn’t worked, yielding a paltry two playoff–round victories; both in the first series. How much longer do you care to bang your heads against a wall? Your GM was spot–on. Actually listen to his words from last Wednesday. What he said, without equivocation, was that nothing will change with the Leafs until a until there’s a genetic alteration.

But, everyone around here is scared stiff of falling off during the regular season. October to April is all that matters in Leafs Land (read Cathal Kelly’s piece today in the Globe and Mail). Even an astute Leaf observer such as Damien Cox is proposing the club has “no alternative” but to re–sign Marner. Bullsh**! Let him go faceplant in the spring somewhere else. With his invisible running mate, No. 34. As an alternative, acquire players, perhaps less–gifted, with actual fire in their bellies. The Brad Marchand type that has toyed with and terrorized the enfeebled playoff pretenders on Bay St. for as long as most can remember. Only then will the Leafs threaten to prevail.

There was nothing banal about the authenticity and temperament of Treliving’s appeal. It was the most blatantly honest appraisal offered by a Leafs executive in decades. This wasn’t an implication of subtle change. It meant the current Leaf situation can no–longer prevail. It was similar to a putsch attempted a few years ago by Kyle Dubas. And, quashed by the omnipotent Shanahan, who hastily jettisoned his one–time protégé. Now, Treliving — in my view, a good hockey man — can work unencumbered by Shanahan, who favored blind loyalty. He can fully consider the weight and cost of post–season failure among the multitudes that adore the Blue and White. And, who deserve so much more than a dispassionate, finger–pointing “leader” with absolutely no playoff traction.

FROM THE VAULT: DEFENDING CUP CHAMPS

Proof that it did happen, even if more than 58 years ago, as evidenced by the 1967–68 EXPORT Maple Leaf Gardens calendar that adorned barber shops across town during the first year of NHL expansion.

 

THE LEAFS FACED AN EXPANSION TEAM FOR THE FIRST TIME ON OCT. 25, 1967, WHEN THE LOS ANGELES KINGS CAME TO TOWN. THREE NIGHTS LATER, IT WAS THE CALIFORNIA SEALS.

BOTH THE MAPLE LEAFS AND THEIR JUNIOR ‘A’ AFFILIATE — THE TORONTO MARLBOROS — WON CHAMPIONSHIPS IN 1967. THE MARLIES DEFEATED THE PORT ARTHUR MARRS AT THE FORT WILLIAM GARDENS IN THUNDER BAY FOR THE MEMORIAL CUP. THEY WERE MANAGED (FRONT ROW, SECOND FROM LEFT) BY FUTURE LEAFS GM JIM GREGORY. ALSO IN THE EXECUTIVE ROW WERE STAFFORD SMYTHE (MIDDLE) AND HAROLD BALLARD (RIGHT). THE CAPTAIN WAS FUTURE LEAF BRIAN GLENNIE. HALL–OF–FAME DEFENSEMAN BRAD PARK IS SECOND FROM LEFT IN THE MIDDLE ROW.

NOVEMBER 1967 SAW THE LEAFS TRAVEL WEST FOR THE FIRST TIME: TO OAKLAND, LOS ANGELES AND MINNESOTA.

NEVER AGAIN WOULD BOBBY ORR REPRESENT THE “SECOND” NHL ALL–STAR TEAM, AS HE DID IN HIS ROOKIE SEASON ALONGSIDE LEAFS LEGEND TIM HORTON. IT WAS “FIRST” TEAM AND NORRIS TROPHIES GALORE FOR THE GREATEST HOCKEY PLAYER THAT EVER LIVED.

EMAIL: HOWARDLBERGER@GMAIL.COM