TORONTO (Mar. 3) — Steve Simmons of the Toronto Sun posed a meaningful question in his Sunday notes column, wondering why Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment is entrusting the National Hockey League trade deadline to general manager Brad Treliving. Particularly as it appears certain MLSE will replace Treliving and coach Craig Berube after this lost season. The circumstances for either man to return do not exist. The current situation ranks close in disgrace to the 2014–15 schedule, when Dion Phaneuf, Phil Kessel and teammates blatantly quit on interim coach Peter Horacek, who replaced Randy Carlyle on Jan. 8. After defeating Columbus, 5–2, at Air Canada Centre the next night, the Leafs became thoroughly dishonorable, losing 11 in a row and plummeting to a 5–24–3 mark in 32 games. Mike Babcock came aboard in May 2015… and the Leafs quit on him four years later.

But, nothing equaled the audacity of the team that folded the tent under Horachek.

All that can be accomplished prior to the trade embargo on Friday is for Treliving to regain some draft capital for his successor — and Doug Armstrong’s name won’t go away. The long–time GM in St. Louis (winner of the 2019 Stanley Cup) has fallen on difficult times and may be looking for a fresh challenge. How coincidental that would be considering Berube was Armstrong’s head coach on the championship club of seven years ago. Were I making the call, I’d hire the Hunter boys (Mark and Dale) from London of the Ontario Hockey League and tell everyone else to get out of the way. Perhaps the long–time Lords of the OHL Knights have no desire to leave their rock–solid circumstance and go back to the NHL; Dale coached the Washington Capitals for 60 games in 2011–12 before returning to Junior while Mark may have risen to GM of the Leafs in April 2018 had Brendan Shanahan not selected assistant Kyle Dubas to replace Lou Lamoriello. Given that snub, Mark and the Leafs parted mutually, though it’s clear Hunter resented Shanahan’s choice. The brothers have maintained a perennial powerhouse in London, winning the Memorial Cup in 2016 and 2025. They are widely considered the best hockey builders outside the NHL. Perhaps it’s time to give them a shot where no one else has fully succeeded for nearly 60 years.

MARK HUNTER (CENTER) AND BROTHER DALE (RIGHT) ARE PICTURED, THIS PAST DECEMBER, WITH LONDON KNIGHTS’ GM ALAN MILLAR. SAMMY KOGAN THE CANADIAN PRESS

Clearly, someone other than Treliving will need to inquire whether one or all of Auston Matthews, William Nylander and Morgan Rielly might waive the no–movement clauses in their contracts. It would make no sense for MLSE to clean house this summer and return with the failed core of the hockey club. Every attempt must be made to recoup assets for the three veteran players. Which will likely require coersion. How, then, could Treliving handle the matter after gifting Matthews and Nylander their restrictive current pacts? Treliving must be feeling the heat. I’ve never met the man but I’m told by those who know him that Brad is a warm, friendly and engaging person. That he has repeatedly ignored media requests for a pre–deadline interview is not in character, especially after calling his own pair of “crisis” gatherings earlier in the schedule to accept responsibility and solidly support Berube.

Rebuffing a request that all GM’s normally accept (talking before the trade deadline) tells me that Treliving’s time is up… but not until the off season. That’s when MLSE can either follow through on a current plan, or conduct a “search” for replacements. So, it’s almost certain that Brad will be instructed to unload as many unsigned players as possible before Friday at 3 p.m. Just do not expect a first–round draft pick to materialize for either Bobby McMann (32 points in 60 games) or veteran Oliver Ekman–Larsson, who turns 35 in July. A second–round pick for either man will constitute good work by Treliving. Rielly should be on hands and knees to get out of town before the deadline and the Leafs could obtain value for him if another club feels Morgan will bounce back with a change of scenery. Anthony Stolarz may also be dealt after providing the Leafs a list of 16 destinations to which he’d not accept a transfer. Otherwise, the always–ballyhooed trade deadline will likely be underwhelming, as usual.

Will Mark and Dale Hunter be in charge of next year’s trade cutoff for the Leafs?          

FINALLY, IT COULD BE BUFFALO’S YEAR

Our city and the Queen City of western New York are separated by roughly 180 kilometers of highway… and an ever–tightening border. Otherwise, there is magnificent sports symmetry between Toronto and Buffalo given that the Sabres — in hockey — are mimicking what the Toronto Blue Jays accomplished last season, in baseball. That is, coming from absolutely nowhere, quickly and unexpectedly, to resemble a championship team.

The Jays were a middling 26–28 on May 26 and seemingly unable to scratch out runs. Then, without notice, they took off and went 63–34 in their next 97 games to win the American League East; knocked off the Yankees and Seattle in the playoffs and lost the World Series, cruelly, to the Dodgers. The Sabres, having missed the Stanley Cup tournament, it seems, since Punch Imlach and Roger Crozier were with the club, fired general manager Kevyn Adams on Dec. 15 after two victories and with a 14–14–4 record. The team, astoundingly and without anticipation, has since bolted to a 21–5–2 mark and is vying for the Atlantic Division title (to be abdicated by the Leafs).

Never in the history of professional sport has an ex–employee won GM of the year. There are other candidates but tell me which executive, in hindsight, has done a better job than Adams, who started his NHL career, in 1998, as a checking forward with the Leafs under Pat Quinn? The highlight of Buffalo’s resurgence came on Saturday when the Sabres went into Tampa, erupted for a 4–0 lead by 15:06 of the opening period and clobbered the Lightning, 6–2. Tampa Bay had defeated the Maple Leafs, 4–2, on Wednesday, improving to 21–1–1 in its previous 23 games — surely a National Hockey League record over that span. But, the streaking Sabres arrived and toyed with the home side. Yes, the Lightning was long–overdue for a stinker… but everyone, it seems, is stinking it out against Buffalo in the second coming of Lindy Ruff, the coach who guided the team to the 1999 Stanley Cup final (lost to Dallas on the “no goal” by Brett Hull); then within a game of the championship round in 2006 (edged by Carolina in the Eastern Conference final). Saturday’s game at the Benchmark International Center — Sabres vs. Lightning — featured clubs with a combined mark, beforehand, of 41–6–3. So, yes, a definite signature triumph by the boys from down the Queen Elizabeth Way. A night after knocking off the defending champions in Sunrise, Fla.

THE SABRES TOOK APART SCORCHING–HOT TAMPA BAY ON SATURDAY, SCORING FOUR FIRST–PERIOD GOALS.

How ridiculous it would be if the Sabres won a championship for the city wrenching its gut, during the past half–decade, over the Bills of the National Football League? And, still haunted by the 13 seconds in which Patrick Mahomes spun magic at the end of the American Conference title game, at Arrowhead, on Jan. 22, 2023? The Stanley Cup might seem like a consolation prize for the rabid footbal zealots of western New York, but it could happen this spring. A hot streak of 28 games (or nearly one–third of the NHL schedule) is nothing fluky. The Sabres and Lightning have been the runaway best teams in the league since December (now joined by Dallas, with nine consecutive wins). Could we be looking at a rematch of the ’99 Cup final — still stolen, all these years later, by Hull’s right toe in the wrong place? Though top scorer Tage Thompson (32–31–63) sits 19th in the league (40 points behind Connor McDavid), the Sabres have good balance up front; a stud, Rasmus Dahlin (51 points in 56 games), on the blue line… and superb depth in goal amid Alex Lyon (28 games), Ukko–Pekka Luukkonen (23) and Colton Ellis (13). Ruff hasn’t forgotten how to coach from his glory days with the team nearly a quarter–century ago. And, dammit, there isn’t a fan base in all of North American sport that more deserves a big bounce.

TIMES HAVE CHANGED: If you’re of vintage, you may remember when the Sabres became contenders for the first time… and the rivalry that developed between the Buffalo and Toronto electronic media outlets. In 1974–75, television was different than today. Here in Toronto, we regularly watched seven TV stations: CFTO Channel 9; CBLT Channel 6; Global–TV Channel 3 and CITY–TV Channel 79. Plus the American affiliates in Buffalo: ABC (WKBW–TV Channel 7); NBC (WGR–TV Channel 2) and CBS (WBEN–TV Channel 4). Western New York cities, in 1974 and 1975, did not recognize Daylight Savings Time, so Toronto and Buffalo were actually one hour apart on the clock (the 6 p.m. news in Buffalo began at 7 p.m. here, etc.). Such legendary sports anchors as Rick Azar, Mike Nolan, Ed Kilgore, Chuck Healy and Van Miller had a field day with Toronto hockey fans, especially after the Sabres waltzed into Maple Leaf Gardens on a Sunday night (Mar. 16, 1975) and destroyed the Leafs, 11–3.

GLORY DAYS OF BUFFALO TV: IRV WEINSTEIN, RICK AZAR AND (COMMANDER) TOM JOLLS LED THE RATINGS IN THE 70’s.

Buffalo advanced to the ’75 Stanley Cup final and lost in six games to Philadelphia. The TV stations repeatedly played a number called We’re Gonna Win That Stanley Cup! which grated on fans of the Maple Leafs. Today, with the proliferation of cable news, sports and entertainment channels, along with unlimited streaming services, there exists no–such media competition. Which is sad, considering the intensity and proximity of the mid–70’s rivalry.

PHILADELPHIA’S FIRST VISIT TO THE GARDENS

The expansion Philadelphia Flyers played their first game at Maple Leaf Gardens on Jan. 24, 1968. Doug Favell stopped 46 shots in a brilliant performance as the Flyers edged the Leafs, 2–1. Ed Hoekstra opened the scoring for Philly in the first period. Bob Pulford tied it early in the second and Claude Laforge counted the winning goal (on Bruce Gamble) at 11:36 of the third. The Flyers and Leafs played for the 100th time here in town last night; the visitors prevailing in a shootout.

Here are contents from the Gardens program:

 

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