TORONTO (Oct. 10) — Your father dies… and they drop the puck. Yes, life goes on. As it should.

The 2024–25 season for the Toronto Maple Leafs began somewhat ominously on Wednesday night with a 1–0 loss at Montreal. Thereby making Craig Berube the first Leafs coach since Billy Reay to be blanked in his debut.

That’s right: It was way back on Oct. 8, 1957 that Reay, taking over from Howie Meeker, saw his Leafs drop a 1–0 decision at old Chicago Stadium. Ed Chadwick played goal for Toronto, as he would in all 70 games of 1957–58 (the last Leafs netminder to play the entire schedule). Dick Duff led the club in scoring with 49 points in 65 games. And, the Leafs finished dead–last in the six–team National Hockey League with a 21–38–11 record for 53 points.

All Leaf coaches since Reay — and here they are (in descending order): Berube, Sheldon Keefe, Mike Babcock, Peter Horachek, Randy Carlyle, Ron Wilson, Paul Maurice, Pat Quinn, Mike Murphy, Nick Beverley, Pat Burns, Tom Watt, Doug Carpenter, George Armstrong, John Brophy, Dan Maloney, Mike Nykoluk, Joe Crozier, Punch Imlach (1979–80), Roger Neilson, Red Kelly, John McLellan, Imlach (Nov. 29, 1958) — have at least been rewarded a goal by their new team. But, enough with the history lesson. There’s another game tonight, in New Jersey. Perhaps Auston, Mitch, Willie and the boys will light the lamp. Giving ol’ Craig something to smile about.

MITCH MARNER FED THE CAPTAIN FOR ONE LAST VOLLEY… BUT TIME RAN OUT IN MONTREAL.

While running around so much during Dad’s final days, I had an opportunity, in the car, to listen to Sportsnet–590 and TSN–1050. As usual, the chatter was Leafs–centric… and so darkly familiar. I remember thinking “this precise conversation could have occurred in any Autumn since 2018.” The names were the same; the hopes were the same and the gripes haven’t changed in nearly a decade. Right on schedule, before Wednesday’s opening match, Leafs paramour Luke Fox of Sportsnet posted his annual “why this team will be different” essay. I thought Luke might have waited until after the Bell Centre clash… but he couldn’t contain himself. As with the radio blather, his article could have been written prior to any season in the past eight years. Only the backbenchers have changed, yet again. As such, we have the interminable narrative: Expect lots of goals, fancy stats and victories in the regular season. We don’t know about goaltending. And, nothing truly matters until the playoffs. It’s a broken record.

For some levity, the Maple Leafs, this Autumn, have chosen to talk Stanley Cup.

“Forget about the ‘first round’ hump. This time, we’re going for the marbles. If we say it to ourselves often enough, maybe it will happen.” Or, sentiments to that effect. It sounds good. But, we know all about words. Right?

It’s arguable that no club in North American professional sport has talked, since 2021, as good a game as the Leafs. And, delivered so minimally. Under two coaches and four general managers, the Leafs have been talented but incohesive. It is teamwork, ambition and physical acumen that allows a club to survive four rounds of grueling, Stanley Cup toil. A Norris Trophy type on the blue line is also quite helpful. The Leafs have routinely fallen short in this criterion quartet. Yet, the increasingly infamous Core–4 goes at it again… for a stupefying ninth consecutive year. As Globe and Mail linguist Cathal Kelly wrote: All of the Leafs stay. They lose and lose and lose and stay for about the same money they could make elsewhere. That’s because they know a lot of places, but this is the only one they know, to an absolute certainty, will tolerate being disappointed again. Great teams can be different, but epochally bad ones are the same. They are all terrified of change. They are prone to the sunk–cost fallacy. They fixate on statistics, rather than focusing on the evidence of their eyes. Everyone on top is overmanaging the meaningless and undermanaging the vital. The inmates aren’t just running the asylum, they’re setting their own annual budgets. So, again, what can we expect to be remarkably different about the current Maple Leafs cast?

The answer may lie with the trio of veterans Brad Treliving added to the roster. Providing they are healthy and strategically deployed so they have fuel for the playoffs, Chris Tanev, Oliver Ekman–Larsson and Max Pacioretty could offer the Leafs a different vibe when it matters. This has been tried before with such fading stars as Patrick Marleau and Joe Thornton. But, not so much on the blue line, where moves are generally reserved for the March trade deadline. It hasn’t been long since Tanev and Ekman–Larsson were elite defensemen. This isn’t the same as bringing back Luke Schenn for the stretch drive. Schenn, though a competent, reliable NHLer, was never in the class of Tanev or Ekman–Larsson. Pacioretty, if he can remain in one piece, has the personality and veteran demeanor that could help any team. Particularly at playoff time. Again, he’ll need to be “load managed” (as much as I detest that term) by Berube so as to retain energy for the spring. And, none of this, of course, excuses the Core–4; neither will anything be accomplished unless the big–money boys finally come through in the clutch. I’m just thinking that maybe the three new veterans can somehow alter the playoff mindset and help change the narrative.

Nothing else has worked, so why not this?

As for the annual goaltending puzzle, it’s a roll of the dice to expect China Doll Woll to stay intact for a prolonged stretch. He wasn’t able to start the season on Wednesday and we may never find out if he can be a playoff–caliber goalie in the NHL. Anthony Stolarz came as advertised against the Canadiens; he was almost the equal of Montreal counterpart Sam Montembeault. Particularly during stages of the first and third periods, when the typical Leafs fire drill in the defensive zone emerged. Stolarz is positionally sound… as are all NHL stoppers today. Most spend the majority of time on their pads rather than skates, but it isn’t possible to stay in the NHL without positional acumen. Just like the auto industry, where a poorly manufactured car today is a rarity, so, too, is a goalie that cannot follow the puck. What we don’t know is whether Stolarz and/or Woll can carry the Leafs through the bulk of the schedule… then during the two–month playoff slog. And, we obviously won’t know until it happens.

My position hasn’t changed: I am convinced — and have been since the 2021 playoff collapse against Montreal — that Nylander, Marner, Matthews, Tavares and Morgan Rielly, as a group, will not get it done for the Leafs. Neither am I going out on a limb, with eight years of solid evidence. Leafs management strongly hinted at fundamental change in that now–farcical press conference last May. In the end, and once more, only the calendar flipped.

FROM THE VAULT…

With the new NHL season, we dive into my collection of old TV Guide magazines and recall the start of the expansion era in hockey — 57 years ago:

 
TV GUIDE FROM OCT. 28 TO NOV. 3, 1967 AND THE FIRST VISIT OF THE EXPANSION CALIFORNIA SEALS TO MAPLE LEAF GARDENS. INCLUDING A HOCKEY NIGHT IN CANADA AD; THE ACTUAL TV LISTING AND ONE OF THE “CLOSE–UPS” FOR WHICH THE MAGAZINE BECAME FAMOUS. IN ’67, TV GUIDE STILL LISTED PROGRAMS THAT WERE IN COLOR.

 

THAT FIRST TOROS GAME…

THE WORLD HOCKEY ASSOCIATION CAME TO TORONTO IN ITS SECOND SEASON WHEN THE OTTAWA NATIONALS RELOCATED FOR 1973–74. THE NEW TORONTO TOROS PLAYED HOME GAMES IN ANCIENT VARSITY ARENA AT THE UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO. WITH A CAPACITY OF 4,300 SEATS. I STILL MARVEL THAT SUCH NHL LEGENDS AS GORDIE HOWE, BOBBY HULL AND ANDY BATHGATE PLAYED IN THAT OLD BARN. I ATTENDED THE FIRST TOROS GAME WITH MY MOM, DAD AND SISTER. I STILL HAVE THREE COPIES (ABOVE) OF THE CHICAGO AT TORONTO MAGAZINE FROM VARSITY ARENA ON OCT. 7, 1973 (A SUNDAY NIGHT). TOROS DEFENSEMAN CARL BREWER GRACED THE COVER. HE HAD BEEN PART OF THREE STANLEY CUPS WITH THE LEAFS UNDER PUNCH IMLACH. THE TOROS–COUGARS LINE–UPS ARE BELOW.

JUST ARRIVED: THE FIRST–EVER MONTREAL EXPOS MEDIA GUIDE. FOR THE 1969 SEASON. FRONT AND REAR COVERS.

EMAIL: HOWARDLBERGER@GMAIL.COM