NEWS OF MAPLE LEAFS
Last Update:
Saturday September 19, 1998 12:55AM EST
Thursday Septmeber 17, 1998 Ware's time may be now
The Maple Leafs have maybe three options in their bid to become a lot tougher on the blue line.
- Trade for or sign a Marty McSorley-like cop.
- Hand the job to 30-year-old training camp walk-on Glen
Featherstone.
- Or roll the dice with 6-foot-4, 220-pound rookie Jeff Ware. Ware hasn't distinguished himself since the Leafs collared the former Oshawa junior in the first round (15th overall) of the 1996 entry draft. He appeared in 13 games with the Leafs as a 19-year-old before being released to Canada's world junior team. He completed his dizzying season back in Oshawa, where the reviews were not favourable. Ware took a second stab at the big-time last September, emerging from training camp with four fights under his belt and a career-stalliing concussion. "My helmet came off as I went to hit a guy in Buffalo and I smashed my head into the glass," said Ware, who subsequently was dispatched to St. John's where he had a suprisingly little impact. (con't Sept 17)
Thursday Septmeber 17, 1998 Toronto selected as All-Star site for 2000
The NHL's 50th All-Star Game will be played here Feb. 5-6, 2000, the league said Wednesday. "Toronto is the home of an 'Original Six' team, the birthplace of the All-Star Game and the home of our sport's Hall of Fame," NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said. "It is only fitting that the All-Star celebration should return for this milestone game in the millennium year, 2000." It will be the eighth time the All-Star Game will be held in Toronto, but the first since 1968. The 1999 game is scheduled Jan. 24 at Tampa, Fla. The Gardens and the Air Canada Centre will play key roles when the National Hockey League's all-star game returns to Toronto, Feb. 5-6, 2000. It was reported in The Toronto Sun last month that the Leafs and the NHL had signed a deal to bring the all-star game back to its 1947 birthplace. The game, which now involves a North America vs. the World format, will be played at the Air Canada Centre, but the Gardens likely will be used for the Heroes of Hockey old-timers game and skills competition, while the National Trade Centre at Exhibition Place will be used for the NHL fan events and other functions. The 2000 game will be the 50th in league history, Toronto having held it seven other times, most recently in 1968 when the Cup champion Leafs played the NHL selects. "(Getting the game) was something we took pretty seriously, something we wanted to have happen," club president Ken Dryden said last night in Hamilton. "It should be in Toronto. It's a city that symbolizes the past, but is a city that is a symbol of the future. It's one of the most global cities on the continent at the time when the game has never been more global."
Thursday Septmeber 17, 1998 Hodge to host Leafs telecasts
Dave Hodge and the Maple Leafs are together again. The veteran TSN announcer, who once was run off the air by the team, will be the host of 31 regional Leafs telecasts on TSN this season. Hodge will team with co-host Bob McKenzie while longtime Toronto play-by-play voice Joe Bowen will call the games with analyst Harry Neale. Former Leafs owner Harold Ballard fired Hodge in 1989 for a series of disparaging remarks about the team.
Hodge's appointment was announced yesterday as the network finally made official the news it has reached a multi-year deal with the Leafs and Molson. TSN will carry 31 games this year, the first of a six-year deal with the team that sources say will net the Leafs as much as $23 million annually. Global and Hamilton's OnTV each will carry 10 games this season,while next season TSN will carry a minimum of 51. The Leafs acquisition, along with a similar deal with the Montreal Canadiens, helps TSN compensate for the loss of national cable rights to rival CTV Sportsnet, which signs on Oct. 9. Hodge will leave his role as host of That's Hockey, the magazine show that airs weeknights through the NHL season. Gord Miller will replace him. Hodge also will work on a number of sports specials throughout the year. TSN's Leafs schedule debuts Oct. 19 from the Gardens with a game
against the expansion Nashville Predators.
Wednesday Septmeber 16, 1998 Goalies get their fill
If Maple Leafs coach Pat Quinn had to choose between Curtis Joseph and Felix Potvin based on their first head-to-head meeting, he might opt for Glenn Healy. Neither of the two top goaltenders looked sharp yesterday, giving up eight of the 10 goals in their half of the daily scrimmage as the Leafs scorers exploded on the third day of intrasquad matches. "There was definitely curiosity on our part to see them at opposite ends," winger Tie Domi said. "But we're not letting this (goaltending
situation) distract us. This was just a camp game and our team let Felix see more rubber than the 401." On his first test, Joseph was beaten by Mats Sundin's breakaway goal. Moments later, Potvin gave up goals to Nik Borschevsky and Jason Sessa on back-to-back wrist shots. Igor Korolev, playing centre, had three points in the game, while Sundin and Borschevsky each had a pair of goals. "I don't think goaltending is a problem, so I wasn't even watching (Potvin and Joseph)," Quinn said. The two likely will oppose each other tonight for a period in the Blue and White game (7 p.m. at Copps Coliseum). The Leafs open the pre-season Saturday in Hamilton against the Oilers.
Wednesday Septmeber 16, 1998 Leafs to host 2000 NHL all-star game, report says
Toronto is expected to be awarded the 2000 NHL all-star game, according to a published report Tuesday. "Toronto is getting it," NHL spokesman Frank Brown told the Bloomberg news service in the U.S. "They've just been waiting for a few things to fall into place before making a formal announcement." Boasting the new 18,800-seat Air Canada Centre, scheduled to open Feb. 20, the Maple Leafs would host the all-star game for the first time
since 1968. The Leafs beat out a bid by the Nashville Predators, the league's newest expansion team.
Tuesday Septmeber 15, 1998 Big Mats pumped
He's not Mats Sundin for nothing. No matter how bleak the Leafs training camp may look to an outsider, the Big Swede sees only brighter days ahead. "You always have to look at the positive side every time you get a fresh start," Sundin said yesterday. "Especially when you're the captain."
Sundin then listed ways the Leafs are better:
* "There's a new coaching staff with a lot of new ideas," he said.
* "Cujo (goalie Curtis Joseph) is one of the best in the league."
* "We picked up Sylvain Cote at the end of the year and he helped our power play."
* "We have (younger) people like Mike Johnson, who is going to pick it up this year, and Freddie Modin was great at the world championships (which Sweden won).
Sundin pointed to the playoff performances of the Buffalo Sabres and Washington Capitals as motivation for the Leafs. "It shows you what can happen if you play a good system and the team is playing with confidence," he said. The Toronto teams of the past two seasons certainly were not very creative and rarely inspired confidence. A painful 2-6-1 start a year ago choked whatever enthusiasm the Leafs brought into the season.
"That was a nightmare start. I went seven games without a point,"
Sundin said. "We know we have to have a good start this year to
change that." Only three teams scored fewer goals than Toronto in 1997-98 and only one -- the Tampa Bay Lightning -- had an uglier power play. "You have to have a power play that at least is average in the league to go anywhere," Sundin said. This year's camp features a record field of skilled Europeans, though many, such as defencemen Marek Posmyk and Tomas Kaberle, are a year or so away from playing in the NHL. Ex-Islanders winger Niklas Andersson, AHL all-star defenceman Daniil Markov and the Saint John Flames' leading playoff scorer last spring, Ladislav Kohn, are stronger contenders for jobs at this point. Veteran winger Steve Thomas, who scored 42 goals with the Islanders four years ago, also has offensive savvy. Last season, Sundin skated with an assortment of wingers, including Johnson, Derek King and Igor Korolev. "I would like to find a relationship with a player where we worked together like (Teemu) Selanne and (Paul) Kariya," Sundin said. "Those players feed off each other. "I had a great relationship with Doug Gilmour and once you get that it can only help your team. I think I might be able to create that kind of
relationship with Mike Johnson (as he develops as a pro)." Wherever this season leads, Sundin expects more from himself than
the 74 points he had last year. "After missing the playoffs again, it was nice to go over and play in the world championships (and win the title)," he said. "We went undefeated through the entire tournament and that got me prepared for this season. It helped my confidence and I came to realize again that hockey's a great game."
Tuesday Septmeber 15, 1998 Potvin in awkward situation
Felix Potvin stands in the place he is least comfortable, in a darkened corridor at Copps Coliseum with his back to the wall, his hands fidgeting, his expression blank. Here he is, the centre of training-camp attention, standing in a glare of camera lights, trying to handle the awkward situation the Maple Leafs have placed him in. He, like his Mississauga home, is for sale. So far, there are offers for him, none for his home. The right price, in time, will be paid for both. "I wish I didn't have to be here,'' said Potvin, wearing blue and white for the moment. "I'm disappointed to be in this position. I wish they could have traded me in July.'' This is all wrong, of course. The wrong thing happening to the wrong player at the wrong time. Felix Potvin is, was, and probably always will be, one of the good
ones. One of the few good ones. One of those 1990s athletes who actually honours his contract, doesn't get arrested, doesn't say the wrong thing, doesn't embarrass himself or his city or his organization. He is the kind of player every team should want: Underpaid by the standards of his profession, never complaining, never finger-pointing, taking the blame in bad times. "I know what I have to do and I know what I have to say and what I can't say,'' Potvin said. "What can't you say?'' he was asked. "I can't say,'' he said with a smile. He probably would like to say he's angry. He probably would like to say he deserves better than the way Maple Leafs management has treated him. He probably would like to tell management to go to hell for placing the daily burden of explanation on him, making a player who won't be with the team the main media focus of the Leafs training camp. He probably would like to say all of that, but instead he tries to play down his disappointment, doesn't want to feed the potential frenzy. "I really feel for him,'' Leafs captain Mats Sundin said. "It's not easy to go through this. But I still think he made the right decision to be here. He could have made it easy for himself by not showing up. He could have taken the easy way out. "No one wants to be singled out like this. I think Felix was more worried about how others were going to treat him.'' And they are treating him differently. Think of how it would affect you in your workplace. You work with someone and you know someone else has been promoted to take his job. He's leaving and you don't know when and he doesn't know where he is going. "No one has talked about it,'' Potvin said. His soon-to-be-former teammates talk to him about other things, smile at him, ask him how he is and how his summer was, but there is an eerie element to the conversation. No one mentions the possibility of a trade, not even in jest. So, Potvin goes to work as though it is just another day, and yesterday was just another 45 minutes of training-camp shutout for a team it is hard to feel a part of.
"It's easy on the ice,'' he said with a crooked smile. "On the ice, you don't think about all the rumours. You just play. "I don't know how long I'm going to be here. You never know.''
Players get traded all the time in professional sport, but this time it's different. Potvin didn't ask to be traded, didn't ask the Maple Leafs to invest in Curtis Joseph. He didn't want out, nor did he want to be party to the daily vigil of questions without answers that has become his hockey life. Players normally are not part of the process, but this time it is too public. And although the right deal hasn't come along and although the Florida Panthers wouldn't agree to the proper medical tests for Rob Niedermayer, quashing one possible deal, Potvin knows he is leaving. He just doesn't know when he's going or where. Communication with the modern athlete has changed so much in
recent times. Had a situation like this occurred years ago, Potvin would have been in almost daily contact with Leafs associate general manager Mike Smith. But not anymore. Smith talks to Potvin's agent, Jay Fee. Fee talks to Potvin. And so the circle of conversation goes. "I haven't talked to anybody in a while,'' said Potvin, who is oddly the longest serving Maple Leaf. "But it was important for me to come to camp, to get ready. The season is about a month away. I have to look after myself. I have to get myself ready.'' Today, Felix Potvin plays against Curtis Joseph. More questions will be asked. More camera lights will be glaring on the one player certain not to be here when the hockey season ends.
Monday Septmeber 14, 1998 Linden a perfect fit
The long-awaited Felix Potvin deal is out there, waiting to be made. The question is whether the Maple Leafs can pull it off.
It's Trevor Linden for Potvin, straight up. From the Leafs' point of view, the deal sounds good. From the New York Islanders' point of view, the deal sounds good. Therefore, it could happen. Leafs coach Pat Quinn would love to have Linden on his roster. He
coached him in Vancouver, named him captain and knows as well as
anyone that Linden is a premier player with outstanding leadership qualities. At the same time, Islanders general manager Mike Milbury would love to have Potvin on his team. Even though Milbury brought in a goalie coach from Sweden to help Tommy Salo, it's a poorly kept secret around the National Hockey League that Salo is not held in high esteem in the Islanders organization.
In fact, Milbury has very little faith in Salo, and to make matters worse, Salo knows it. With Tommy Soderstrom having returned to Sweden and Eric Fichaud having been traded to the Edmonton Oilers, the Islanders could use some help in goal and Potvin would be perfect for the job. The Islanders acquired Linden late last season, but since then the ownership has changed and the new group is playing hardball with some of its veteran players, Linden included. Zigmund Palffy is in danger of sitting out the entire season as a Group 2 free agent. He wants a contract in the range of $6 million US annually and his chances
of getting that much from the Islanders are virtually non-existent. The ownership -- which doesn't even have an arena at the moment, having walked out of the Nassau Veterans' Memorial Coliseum in a contractual huff -- also is waging war with Linden.
He too is a Group 2 free agent and sitting at home in Vancouver,
refusing to accept a contract offer that is basically a rewrite of his former deal. But Linden, like Potvin, earned $2.5 million US last year. Therefore, the Islanders could get Potvin, who is under contract, for the same amount that they are willing to pay Linden. The Leafs, meanwhile, would have no problem coming up with the kind of money that Linden wants -- $3 million US a year.
If Milbury is going to be without Palffy, his major offensive star, then he is going to need a high-level goalie if the Islanders are to have any chance of making the playoffs. Potvin represents his only realistic chance of finding such a person.
As far as the Leafs are concerned, Linden would be a perfect fit. He's a consistent, high-level player who comes through in high-pressure situations. When the Canucks lost 3-2 to the New York Rangers in Game 7 of the 1994 Stanley Cup finals, it was Linden who scored both goals for Vancouver. When Team Canada fought back against Dominik Hasek and the gold-medal Czech team in the Olympics last February, it was Linden who scored the Canadian goal that sent the game to overtime. The Leafs' most pressing need is a top-flight, second-line centre behind Mats Sundin. And that's exactly Linden's role. He is a rugged
two-way player who would give the Leafs something they did not have last year -- a scoring threat from the second line. Leafs management can't offer public opinions about Linden's merits
because it could be construed as tampering. And players don't like to go on the record telling management types how to do their jobs. But Leafs players yesterday agreed that a Potvin-for-Linden deal would be ideal for the team. With Joseph in goal and Linden on the second line, the Leafs would be much better than the one that couldn't quite make the playoffs last year.
At the moment, the second-line centre's duties fall to Alyn McCauley and that's a situation fraught with danger. McCauley is a fine young player who makes so many subtle contributions that many of them go unnoticed by most fans. In a year or two, he probably will be a genuine second-line centre, or perhaps even a first-line centre. But he is not one yet and, by pushing him prematurely into that position, the Leafs risk doing him more harm than good. The other beauty of a Linden deal is that it could be done right now, thereby putting an end to the soap opera surrounding Potvin's future before it really gets started.
The Islanders know that Linden is not prepared to fold in the
foreseeable future and if they're going to have Potvin in goal, they want him there as soon as possible. The pieces are in place. All that is needed is someone to fit them together.
Sunday Septmeber 13, 1998 Potvin attends camp
He was the only player in the building yesterday
who wasn't wearing a T-shirt with a fat Maple Leafs logo splattered across the front of it. Like a man without a country, Felix Potvin is a goalie without a team and he refused to pretend otherwise. His successor, Curtis Joseph, has a $24-million contract with a two-year no-trade clause. All Potvin has is a two-month-old promise that the Leafs soon will trade him. Now that the Florida Panthers have signed free-agent Sean Burke to
tend their net, it could be six to eight weeks before the trade market heats up again. Potvin decided to come to camp anyway, half-hoping his attendance might speed things up. Two years after being voted Toronto's most popular Leaf, a forlorn-looking Potvin finds himself cast as a training camp distraction. It hardly seems fair, though the Leafs have a history of treating their
most beloved heroes harshly. Remember Dave Keon and Darryl Sittler? "It's disappointing. But sometimes things happen and you have to deal with it," Potvin said following yesterday's team medicals at Copps Coliseum. "Hopefully by coming to camp it might speed up the process and also tell other teams that I'm going to be ready to play rather than sitting at home, not doing anything." Montreal and Vancouver appear to be Potvin's primary suitors, although Canucks general manager Brian Burke last week vowed never to speak to Smith again after the Leafs leaked the names of Vancouver players they covet to the media. But Burke and Leafs coach Pat Quinn remain best of friends -- meaning a deal between the clubs still could get done. The Canucks, who risked opening camp in Whistler, B.C., without a single NHL-calibre goalie in tow, should have at least two on the ice by tomorrow.
Corey Hirsch has agreed to workout with the team while his agent
negotiates a new contract and Group 2 free-agent Garth Snow signed a new deal yesterday. Meanwhile, the Canadiens want to see whether youngsters Jocelyn Thibault and Jose Theodore can handle the load before making a serious bid for Potvin. "I think everybody, once in their career, would like to play in their
home town," said Potvin, who grew up in the Montreal suburbs. "But I would be happy going anywhere."
Sunday Septmeber 13, 1998 No new contract means no Schneider for Leafs
Defenceman Mathieu Schneider yesterday made good on his threat not to report to training camp without a contract. Schneider and the Leafs are about $500,000 apart on a new deal and since he is half-expecting a trade before Toronto's Oct. 10 season opener, he may not feel an urgency to sign. "We haven't had a conversation with (Schneider's agent, Steve Reich) since Wednesday and we don't expect to hear anything for a while," Leafs associate general manager Mike Smith said. Schneider is the Leafs only unsigned player after centre Steve Sullivan agreed to a one-year deal worth about $450,000 yesterday.
Saturday Septmeber 12, 1998 Absent without Leafs
The camp picture will be missing a couple of front-row faces when
the Maple Leafs gather in Hamilton today. Although the Leafs got Group 2 free- agent right-winger Mike Johnson's signature on a one-year deal yesterday, talks with centre Steve Sullivan weren't completed as of late last night, while No. 1 defenceman Mathieu Schneider remains a confirmed no-show. "We would like them all here, but it's no big problem yet," associate general manager Mike Smith said last night from Kitchener, where he took in the Leafs' rookie tournament. "We've had a lot of conversations with Steve's agent (Jeff Solomon) and we may get something done (this weekend)." Johnson, tied for last year's National Hockey League rookie scoring lead, will play on a standard 10% qualifying raise of last year's contract, hoping to earn big bucks on a multi-year deal down the road. Sullivan is fighting to stay permanently employed, but Schneider is waiting until Group 2 defencemen in a higher class, such as Rob Blake or Scott Niedermayer, are signed to set the price for others on the ladder. Smith and new coach Pat Quinn expect 52 players at medicals today, give or take a few rookies who will be promoted from Kitchener, such, as defenceman Marek Posmyk and, likely, centre Adam Mair. The brass has promised a wide-open camp, particularly with huge holes on
defence and at No. 2 centre. "We will certainly give a lot of young guys a look," Smith said. Quinn, looking to jazz up a Leafs offence that limped over the finish line with 194 goals last season, will try a number of experiments, including a revolving cast of wingers with Mats Sundin. With Johnson signed, it was expected he and veteran Steve Thomas would be the logical candidates on first line. "I'm not a stand-pat guy," Quinn said. Quinn will give Curtis Joseph and Felix Potvin equal time in goal at camp for as long as Potvin wears blue and white.
Although the market for Potvin has lost a contender after Florida
signed Sean Burke last night, Smith said he was certain the Leafs
eventually will get fair value in a No. 2 centre. "If Burke gets signed, it also means one less (free agent) goalie available for another team," Smith said before the Burke announcement. "I think it strengthens our position." One member of the Panthers front office rated Burke the fourth-best goaltender in the NHL, behind Dominik Hasek, Martin Brodeur and Patrick Roy, calling last year's calamity of playing for three teams and several off-ice problems an aberration. The Canucks are close to getting Group 2 free agent Garth Snow signed, but with Corey Hirsch out of the picture and Arturs Irbe joining Carolina this week, that still leaves a cast of nobodies in Vancouver's cage. Montreal also may revisit a Potvin deal if it is proved that Jocelyn Thibault and Jose Theodore are not up to the task. The Leafs would like to wheedle a defenceman out of someone as well as a centre, having lost Jamie Macoun, Rob Zettler and Craig Wolanin off the blue line since last year's camp and getting Sylvain
Cote in return.
Thursday Septmeber 10, 1998 Mighty task for Quinn
Whether he realized it or not, Pat Quinn became a big brother to the Maple Leafs the morning he replaced Mike Murphy as coach.
Like neglected offspring of a wealthy but dysfunctional Gardens
family, Leafs players tend to look to their coach, rather than upper management, for guidance and support. It's not always enough. The Leafs have not been to the playoffs since 1996 and have not won a playoff series since 1994. While a switch in conferences will result in less wear and tear on the team, the Leafs were a feeble 8-16-2 against Eastern Conference foes last year, outscored 82-56. This season they'll face four new divisional rivals -- Boston, Buffalo, Montreal and Ottawa -- each of whom won more games than they lost in 1997-98. By contrast, the Leafs finished 13 games south of .500, 20th in a league of 26. In the intervening months, Toronto has hired a new coach (Quinn), signed a $6-million-a-year goaltender (Curtis Joseph) and added a 35-year-old left winger (Steve Thomas). Attempts to peddle Felix Potvin have been less successful, although the veteran goalie is sure to fetch at least one quality player, perhaps even a No. 2 centre. While that would help, it would hardly guarantee Toronto a playoff spot seven months down the road. Only three clubs -- Tampa Bay, Chicago and Ottawa -- scored fewer goals than Toronto last season and only one -- the Lightning -- received less point production from its defence.
Toronto defencemen combined for a paltry 22 goals, with Mathieu
Schneider accounting for half. Little wonder the Leafs power play was a disaster. Up front, a rookie (Mike Johnson), an aging sniper (Derek King) and a training camp walk-on (Igor Korolev) ranked 2-3-4 in team scoring behind Mats Sundin, who was teetering on burnout by late February. It's not just that the Leafs lack scorers. They seem bereft of playmakers, too. There are no Dino Ciccarelli-types here, either, players brave enough to crash the net or stake ground in front of it. After more than a year on the job, club president Ken Dryden and associate general manager Mike Smith surely recognize these shortcomings. Yet they've been infuriatingly slow to react. A September ago, Dryden said he wanted to create a more stable environment for his players. While the stand-pat approach fostered good chemistry in the dressing room, there were plenty of bad vibes on the ice. Would-be Leafs laboring in St. John's became disinterested, too.
Ironically, one of Toronto's better defenceman in April was late-season callup Daniil Markov. Winger Lonny Bohonos, acquired from Vancouver, also showed promise during a six-game stint. But that's about as deep as Toronto's pool of minor-league talent runs. That's why it was critical that the Leafs attack the free-agent market with as much wisdom as they could muster this summer. Instead, the team gambled $24 million US on a goalie who may be only marginally better than Potvin. With $13 million committed to Joseph and Sundin this year, the Leafs have little left in the budget to afford an Alex Mogilny or Petr Nedved -- two elite forwards reportedly available to them. They did scrape enough coin together to bring NHL retreads Steven Rice, Nikolai Borschevsky, Glen Featherstone, Niklas Andersson and Scott Pearson to training camp. But even if all of them win jobs how
much better would the Leafs be? That's where Quinn comes in. There are coaches and then their are special coaches who can take the most incorrigible player and teach him to overachieve.
Some, such as Pat Burns and Mike Keenan, rely on intimidation, a
tactic not likely to work with players already uneasy with Dryden and Smith's aloof style of managing. Quinn is the great communicator, able to sell his players new systems without resorting to mind games. Rather than humiliate a player with a benching or tongue-lashing, he prefers to let them work through their mistakes. It has been a successful approach. Quinn copped coach-of-the-year honors in Vancouver in 1992 and two years later guided the Canucks to the Stanley Cup final against the New York Rangers. At the time, he also was president and general manager of his team. Here Quinn will have to make do with the talent Dryden and Smith provide for him. It's a difficult assignment, but he should know his players will be counting on him. In the confusing, mixed up world that is the Gardens, Quinn represents their best shot at something better.
