TORONTO (Oct. 26) — That was quite a badge of honor the Maple Leafs anointed their new bench boss on Thursday. “Oh, right, you used to coach this team. Damn. Wish it mattered.” Or, words to that effect which materialized at Scotiabank Arena in a no–show against the St. Louis Blues. The same Blues that fired Craig Berube. The same Craig Berube that led St. Louis to its lone Stanley Cup title (in 2019). None of which mattered to the oblivious Core of the Leafs. All of whom took the night off. As they had, 48 hours earlier, in godforsaken Columbus.

For Berube’s sake, let’s hope it wasn’t a preview of a week from tonight, at the Enterprise Center, when the Blues get to “welcome home” their former coach. It can’t be any frostier than the humiliation on Bay Street.

For sure, this wasn’t a repeat of Pat Burns returning, in February 1993, to the Montreal Forum. Doug Gilmour, Todd Gill, Wendel Clark and the players on that Maple Leafs club, full of character, took it upon themselves that their leader would slay the Habs, his former team. No such character exists with the current group. It was unmistakable, yet again, in the 5–1 drubbing by the Blues. Only Joseph Woll, returning from his latest injury, performed to standard. William Nylander, Mitch Marner and Auston Matthews, the team “leaders”, couldn’t have cared less.

How could this happen so quickly? It’s a question only members of the Snore–4 can answer. Sure, in the grand scheme, an early season stinker at home will be forgotten. Neither was there much of a build–up to the Berube/St. Louis reunion. But, to be so thoroughly disengaged on home ice in a game that surely mattered to their new coach was another notch on the belt. We’ve seen it before and we’ll see it again. Ownership and management is too frightened to move anywhere beyond the Snore–4. There is no apparent paucity at Stanley Cup time that concerns the decision makers, even after eight fruitless years. So, of course, the big–money boys are going to mail it in, now and then. That the club could look blasé and indifferent so early in the season would normally be of concern. With the Leafs, it is just part of the journey. Year after identical year. The core players run their own show — financially, physically, emotionally. General manager Brad Treliving and president Brendan Shanahan are mere onlookers. So, too, was Berube against Columbus and St. Louis. Which has to be of primary concern to the club.

This was supposed to be a “honeymoon” period for the coach. Instead, it’s the continuation of a long, messy sacrament that will end in divorce for the club’s nucleus. Already, Marner and Matthews have that brooding look from the playoffs each spring. You see it on the bench late in a game. “Not this again,” the expression connotes, with the now–ingrained knowledge that all circumstances will repeat. The Core–4 wants to stay together, even knowing it cannot win together. There’s enough talent up front that games such as Monday night’s 5–2 romp over Tampa Bay get the Nation excited. If you can chase Andrei Vasilevskiy to the bench, you can beat virtually anyone. Except the downtrodden Blue Jackets. It took all of seven games for the truth to materialize once more; that the Leafs couldn’t offload the crippling malaise prior to their eighth match, while encountering the coach’s former team, told you everything about this group. Again. The sight of Berube excoriating his top forwards on the bench — none of them appearing to care — showed that the Leafs’ big–money boys are bored. With 74 games to play.

CRAIG BERUBE EXHORTS HIS LETHARGIC PLAYERS DURING THURSDAY NIGHT’S DEBACLE AGAINST ST. LOUIS. AUSTON MATTHEWS (AT RIGHT) ALREADY WORE HIS PLAYOFF “BROOD”.

This is what happens — and what will happen — when management tells you it’s okay to lose. When players that flop in the Stanley Cup chase, year after year, are routinely and handsomely rewarded for failure. When incentive disappears. The Toronto playoff deficit (and, randomly, mailing in games during the regular season) cannot be overcome by the same actors. We’ve been warning you about that, here, since the collapse against Montreal in 2021. The leaders don’t have enough drive. Not in late–April. Not in late–October. Even the most–ardent followers of the Blue and White can comprehend the apathy that surrounds this team. No one in Toronto is hockey stupid. Fans may act that way, out of denial, but local hockey zealots understand the futility of the current arrangement.

They just can’t do anything about it (there is one course of action, but it will never materialize).

THE BLANK STARE ON CRAIG BERUBE’S FACE AFTER THE ST. LOUIS GAME. GET USED TO IT.

Now, the Leafs go into Boston, where they rarely win… and into Winnipeg, where the Jets never lose.

Make no mistake: Berube is just starting to comprehend the unattainability of this zestless group.

ARGOS PLAY THREE QUARTERS — AGAIN: If a football fan in this city, do not elevate your hopes for the playoff game, next Saturday, at BMO Field between the Toronto Argonauts and Ottawa Redblacks. The equation is simple: If Ottawa quarterback Dru Brown is provided sufficient protection, he will decimate the appalling Toronto secondary. This became evident again on Friday night in Edmonton, when the Argos (while deploying a number of second–string players) couldn’t hold a 20–9 lead entering the fourth quarter against a non–playoff opponent (they lost, 31–30, in overtime). Just as they nearly spit up a 38–6 advantage, the previous week, against Ottawa, while using their best. Ryan Dinwiddie’s group has been outscored, 46–7, in the fourth quarter of the past two games. This doesn’t auger well for the Grey Cup chase. Against the Elks, at Commonwealth Stadium, the porous Argo secondary yielded three plays of 67 or more yards. Then, a stupid (but typical) roughing penalty against an offensive lineman moved the club out of reasonable field goal range in the first overtime session. Lirim Hajrullahu attempted a 49–yard kick for the lead, but missed badly. Edmonton won the game on a punt rouge. The Argos simply did not replace the three instrumental players lost to free agency last winter: Jamal Peters, Adarius Pickett and Quan’tez Stiggers (who made the New York Jets). Unless the Toronto defensive front of Folarin Orimolade, Jake Ceresna and Wynton McManis makes life miserable for Brown, the Argonauts will be humiliated in the playoffs on home turf for the second consecutive year. Last Autumn, it was Montreal. This year, it will be Ottawa.

BACK IN TIME — MAPLE LEAF GARDENS

In the late–1980’s, a local bookbinder grouped my Maple Leaf Gardens hockey programs from 1964 to 1968 (above) into years. These remain among the most–coveted items in my collection, with monetary and sentimental value. I can easily access the programs (below) in each book. From a time when the Leafs held this city proud.

 
PROGRAM COVER AND INSERT (ABOVE) FROM THE 1964–65 HOME OPENER. TORONTO–BOSTON LINE–UPS (BELOW). THE LEAFS WERE A THREE–TIME STANLEY CUP WINNER HEADING INTO THE SEASON. ON THIS NIGHT, THEY WOULD MAUL THE BRUINS, 7–2, BUT ULTIMATELY LOSE TO MONTREAL IN THE FIRST ROUND OF THE PLAYOFFS.

 

WHO IS OLD ENOUGH TO REMEMBER ESSO’S “PUT A TIGER IN YOUR TANK” INITIATIVE? IT SURROUNDED THE LINE–UPS (BELOW) FOR THE JAN. 7, 1967 GAME AGAINST BOSTON IN BOBBY ORR’S ROOKIE SEASON. DEFENSEMAN BOB BAUN GRACED THE PROGRAM COVER (ABOVE). TORONTO DEFEATED THE BRUINS, 5–2. JUST ONE WEEK LATER, THE SOON–TO–BE CHAMPIONS EMBARKED ON A 10–GAME LOSING STREAK (JAN. 19 TO FEB. 8) THAT HOSPITALIZED PUNCH IMLACH.

 
 
LINE–UPS (ABOVE) FROM THE CENTENNIAL STANLEY CUP PLAYOFFS AGAINST CHICAGO AND MONTREAL (TORONTO UPENDED EACH IN SIX GAMES). EXPANSION CLUBS BEGAN VISITING THE GARDENS (BELOW) IN THE 1967–68 SEASON.

 
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