TORONTO (Jan. 18) — Let me begin with a disclaimer: I like Justin Bourne. He has a wonderful TV presence and works especially well with my old pal, Nick Kypreos. Real Kyper & Bourne is good television on Sportsnet, up against the gold ratings standard, TSN’s Overdrive. I would also like to thank Justin, whom I’ve never met, for unwittingly showing the difference between hockey “journalism” today… and as I remember it during my era (1993–2010) covering the Toronto Maple Leafs for The FAN–590. Again, I want to be careful here. This is not intended as criticism of a particular media member. Rather, it emphasizes my overwhelming hockey pet–peeve: the cross–pollination of media and team ownership. Which will only intensify, next summer, when Edward Rogers officially obtains 75% of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment… and, thereby, full control of the Toronto hockey phenomenon.

On Friday, Bourne wrote an imaginative article entitled THOUGHTS ON THREE PLAYERS THE LEAFS WILL BE COUNTING ON MOST. Citing (debatably) Morgan Rielly, Auston Matthews and Joseph Woll as the pillars of whatever the Maple Leafs will accomplish. From the first sentence, however, he apologized for offering his opinion:

Sometimes I worry that my Leafs analysis can come off negative, which I admit I consciously work to avoid.

Adding: I worry about it because I know what this team is when we zoom out — they’re well inside the better half of the league, they’ll make the playoffs without breaking a sweat, and they’ve got elite talent. They’re fun to watch and have as good a chance to win the Stanley Cup as any team save for a group of maybe two or three.

When I covered the Leafs, no reporter, pundit or columnist “worried” about offending the club or its perturbable legion of supporters. As did Bourne on Friday, we offered our best opinion. But, we let the viewers, listeners and readers determine whether it was accurate, offensive or impartial. Can you imagine such grizzled scribes as Al Strachan, Damien Cox, Dave Perkins or Rosie DiManno saying sorry for an opinion? We’d have laughed ourselves silly. But, we also shared an era in which we could work independently, unencumbered by the marriage between popular team and media. Justin, now 42, is plenty old enough to recognize the vagaries between this era and that. He was 10 when Doug Gilmour nearly hauled the Maple Leafs into the 1993 Stanley Cup final. And, in his teens when Strachan, Cox and others were opining without attonement. Justin’s father, Bob Bourne, was a reliable checking forward on the New York Islanders teams that won four consecutive Stanley Cups (1980–83).

So, this is a person hardly unaware of the evolving media climate.

Another example occurred in a sub–heading to the story: 2. Auston Matthews’ shooting is encouraging.

Encouraging to who? The writer? The Toronto fan base? Bourne’s readers? What if an admirer of the Florida Panthers came upon the article? Would the Leaf captain’s shooting percentage be “encouraging” to a person whose favorite team will battle Toronto for first place in the Atlantic Division? Unlikely. Now, I’m not stupid. Everyone in local media writes for, or talks to, their audience. So, yes, Matthews scoring more frequently on fewer shot attempts would be “encouraging” to the preponderance of Justin’s readers. Why, therefore, the sentiment?

Bourne could have easily removed himself from the equation by adding three words: Auston Matthews’ shooting is encouraging for the Leafs. Done. Tells the story… completely and accurately. Without waving the team flag.

Unless… boosterism is somehow a condition of employment at Sportsnet.

Think about it: Once Ed Rogers gains three–quarters control of the Leafs, how will anyone under his employ speak or write objectively about the hockey club? Even a thought that sounds nonpartisan will be filtered through the prism of “branding” and “corporate partnership.” Throughout the bulk of this appalling conflict–of–interest, those speaking or writing for Sportsnet and Hockey Night In Canada have been fortunate that the Leafs are a winning team. At least between October and April. Imagine if the Leafs were the Buffalo Sabres. Venturing for a first playoff berth in 13 seasons? It happened, here, after an owners’ lockout canceled the 2004–05 National Hockey League schedule and playoffs. At a time when the Leafs were primarily owned by the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan… not one of the two national sports networks. What would the Leaf “employees” on Sportsnet be gabbing about were the club in danger of missing the Stanley Cup hunt — ala the Sabres — for a 14th consecutive year?

Young Leafs fans, of course, have no concept of detachment or neutrality. They’ve been raised with local media cheering openly for the Maple Leafs. Can you imagine Rogers–owned employees discussing the Leafs in a similar tone to columnists Perkins, Cox and Scott Morrison after a six–game playoff ouster, in 1996, against St. Louis?

 

These opinions were no more–worthy than Bourne’s viewpoint this week. But, they were cast without apology or home–team “guilt”. It doesn’t appear that such allowances can be made in the ever–thickening relationship between the Leafs and Sportsnet. Even if umbrella owner, Rogers Communications, loses national TV rights for hockey here in Canada, which the company has enjoyed since the start of the 2014–15 season after forking over a whopping $5.2 billion to the NHL for 12 years of exclusivity and editorial licence. At the time, there were no “streaming” companies on–line. Certainly none that were affiliated with TV production of NHL games. That is not the case today, with such Internet behemoths as Amazon Prime, Netflix and Crave spanning their tentacles into hockey… and very much capable of blowing any network rights application out of the water, financially. Even if it all changes, however, there will remain the 75% connection between the Leafs and Sportsnet. And, it will continue urging informed media voices such as Justin Bourne to make amends for a “negative tone” in Leafs coverage.

When that happens, everyone loses.

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C’MON, NICK, GET WITH THE PLAN

Oh Lord, won’t you buy me a Mercedez Benz
— Janis Joplin, 1971

No surprise that the concept of the Leafs making a “closing” trade remains foreign and incomprehensible around here. The club, during the Brendan Shanahan administration, hasn’t attempted such a move prior to the annual NHL trade deadline… even while the playoff careers of the Core–4 waste away. And, even if media became titillated when the club obtained Ryan O’Reilly and Luke Schenn in March 2023, infamously defining such acquisitions as going “all in” for a Stanley Cup charge (sigh). Rather than seeking a Mercedez Benz, Leafs management has been content with an Edsel on its final legs; the results forever predictable. Even ol’ Kyper isn’t buying into the concept of the Core–4 chasing a closing piece. A day after I wrote my last blog (https://bit.ly/40cupPM), which endorsed the idea of trading futures for a blue line horse such as Roman Josi of Nashville, Nick Kypreos penned a similar–type column in the Toronto Star. With a conspicuous caveat: Trading for a high–end defenceman seems unlikely at this point; a dozen other teams probably have the same desire. There we go: the defeatist, aim low, “it will never work” attitude that has doomed the Maple Leafs for nearly six decades. Something, quite frankly, I didn’t expect from Kyper. Even after he wrote I can’t imagine the Leafs having playoff success without [Morgan] Rielly becoming a real offensive threat like he was in the six–game series victory against the Tampa Bay Lightning two seasons ago, putting up three goals and five assists. Nick knows, as well as anyone, that Rielly is a shell of that player this season. Yet he fails to vouch for a closing move on defense… because “a dozen other teams” have the same desire. So what? Be better than those teams at pursuing what could be the final piece to a long, complex puzzle. Rather than grabbing another retread for “depth”. As encouraged by the local (Rogers–owned) media.

WHAT IS HAPPENING IN MONTREAL?

To think that the Montreal Canadiens can “sneak up” on anyone or anything is preposterous, given the storied history of the franchise. But, it’s been so long (nearly 32 years) since Montreal won the Stanley Cup that the NHL’s hottest team of the past month–and–a–bit has gone largely unnoticed. On Dec. 14, the Canadiens trailed the Leafs by 16 points in the standings. They were 11–16–3 and trying to stay out of the Atlantic Division cellar. Since that date, Montreal has rocketed to an 11–2–1 mark in 14 games. Included are impressive road triumphs over such NHL heavyweights as Florida, Vegas, Colorado, Washington and Dallas. A regulation victory over the Leafs at the Bell Centre tonight would halve the Toronto margin from just more than a month ago: from 16 to eight points. That type of surge from the Canadiens was not anticipated prior to the season… and certainly not after the first two months. Yet, the goaltending tandem of Sam Montembeault and rookie Jakub Dobeš has performed superbly for Montreal, backstopping a renaissance that no one can foretell. If the Habs maintain anything close to their current pace, they’ll not only make the playoffs but threaten Toronto and Florida for the Division title. A preposterous claim in mid–December. Not–so preposterous today. Dare I call tonight’s clash* a “four–pointer”?
*The Leafs authored their most–exhillarating triumph of the season by rebounding from a 3–0 deficit at the Bell Centre and pounding the red–hot Canadiens, 7-3. Toronto scored five goals in the third period.

ONE MORE FOR THE VAULT…

 
RECEIVED THIS FROM A KIND GENTLEMAN IN LONDON, ONT. 1975–76 WAS A MEMORABLE HOCKEY SEASON IN WHICH DARRYL SITTLER BECAME THE FIRST LEAF TO ACCRUE 100 POINTS. PARTICULARLY MEMORABLE FOR YOURS TRULY WAS ATTENDING THE GAME OF FEB. 7, 1976 AT MAPLE LEAF GARDENS WHEN SITTLER ERUPTED FOR SIX GOALS AND FOUR ASSISTS AGAINST DON CHERRY AND THE BOSTON BRUINS. DARRYL’S 10 POINTS — NEARLY 49 YEARS LATER — IS STILL A LEAGUE STANDARD FOR ONE GAME. IMPERIAL OIL (ESSO) WAS THE PRIME SPONSOR OF HOCKEY NIGHT IN CANADA AND PUBLISHED THESE CARDBOARD SCHEDULES IN THE 1960’s, 70’s AND 80’s.

EMAIL: HOWARDLBERGER@GMAIL.COM