50 summertime opinions on the Leafs and other hockey/sports issues

Let’s face it.  We can always try to “create” some hockey and Maple Leaf news on occasion, but every once in a while, especially in the summertime, there just isn’t that much going on.  I don’t doubt that Burke & company are working feverishly to improve the team by whatever method they can.  But it’s a slow time. (Unless the Leafs are indeed trying to work a deal for Stamkos.  That would be anything but a slow news day...)

That said, last summer they made one of their best decisions in August, signing the relatively un-heralded Clarke MacArthur to a modest one-year contract.  He turned into one of their most consistent players during the 2010-’11 season.

In any event, taking advantage of one of the quietest days of the sporting calendar, here are some thoughts that I realize some (many?) may not agree with, but isn’t that part of the fun, after all?

In no particular order of importance:

1. I’m most comfortable with where the Leafs are at on defense.  They should have at least eight guys who can play solidly at the NHL level, if they are given the right responsibilities and ice time—Schenn, Phaneuf, Aulie, Gunnarsson, Franson, Liles, Komisarek and Lashoff or Finger.  I’m likely forgetting someone and there are some young guys who will be pushing up from the Marlies, too.
2. I love Reimer and while none of us can be assured we won’t have problems in net, I believe he will be better than simply “OK”.
3. I like Gustavsson, too, but as I’ve posted recently, he may be better off away from Allaire.  We’ll see.
4. I’m still not comfortable that the forward mix is there.  Connolly is/was not the summertime answer for me.  Short-term he may look fine this season.  Most guys show well early on with a new organization after years with the same team.  Guys get stale.  I’m not among those who applauded the move, though I think I understand why the organization did it.
5. NHL owners will kick themselves for some of the contracts they handed out this summer.  Not just because player performance will often not live up to what has been paid out, but when the new CBA rolls around, they will have no one to blame but themselves when they cry poor-again.  When did the NHL become the NBA, the league of “lousy contracts that have to be moved…?”
6. Something needs to be done about hockey equipment, and I don’t mean goalie equipment.  If we really want to protect players, they will have to reverse some things, slow the game down and make the equipment less….hard.
7. No-touch icing has to be introduced.  I have no idea why it’s still not in place.  Everybody claims to love Olympic and international hockey and they’ve had no-touch icing for years.
8. Just quickly on that subject, I don’t love Olympic hockey.  I did when it was amateurs playing the top Soviets when I was a kid in the ‘60s (when we were underdogs), but not today’s version.  Besides, I prefer the NHL season and especially the playoffs, which are amazing.  I don’t like short tournaments and one-game knockouts.  We never really identify the best team.
9. It’s true, isn’t it, women soccer players dive much less than the men do.
10. I’m glad Roberto Alomar will be inducted in a few days into the baseball Hall-of-Fame.  I’ve watched baseball since the late 1950s and he was, for a handful of years, one of the smartest and best all-around ballplayers I have ever seen.
11. In an era where we automatically discuss/consider just about everybody for HOF induction in hockey and baseball, especially if they won a championship (even just one) how is Jack Morris not in the baseball Hall-of-Fame?  Writers hated him and he was a snarky SOB much of the time with the media, but c’mon.  Besides winning like 275 games (yes, with a high ERA; he didn’t care about stats), he was superb, consistently outstanding, in the post-season.  He pitched a ton of complete games.  If knuckleballer Phil Niekro is in the Hall-of-fame, well…who would you pick if you needed to win a big game?
12. On the baseball HOF issue, for years I have said Pete Rose belongs.  Clearly, the guy is not going in as a builder, I get that.  But what he did to damage the integrity of the game happened long after his playing career was over.  He belongs.  Gambling is an addiction.  Why are other addictions more easily forgiven?
13. I don’t want to see any baseball players go to jail.  I mean, c’mon, Bonds, Clemens, these guys played baseball, and awfully well.  But why should they go to jail because they were placed in the impossible position of having to testify before Congress?  If they tell “the truth”, their baseball records are thrown out.  If they “lie”, they could go to jail.  Surely the U.S. Justice system (and politicians) has/have more pressing things to deal with, and real criminals to chase down.
14. For the record, it’s not as though I like what these guys allegedly did.  But it would appear just about everyone was "cheating” from the early ‘90s on. So what do we do? How can we ever really know who was "clean"?
15. For the record, does anyone truly believe that people in baseball, from the commissioner’s office on down, did not know that players were “using”.  Of course they did.  They may not have known how many, but it would have been impossible to not know.  They chose not to “know”.  Pure hypocrisy. Selig could then look like he was a hero when he finally made his anti-drug pronouncements.
16. If we’re going to put all those baseball players in the Hall, fine.  Just like with Rose, on their plaque, or in a special place right next to it, just include a statement that explains their misdeeds, as in “these players performed during the steroid era, when statistics were highly inflated”.  For Rose, you simply add “Rose unfortunately discredited himself by betting on sports, including baseball, while he was manager of the Reds after his playing career was over..."
17. O.J. Simpson has not been removed from the Hall-of-Fame.  I don’t even know what my opinion is on that one, but if he is still “in”, then surely things that Rose did after his career should not prevent him from getting in.
18. The football strike will end the middle of next week.  Why?  It’s not a prediction.  It’s a question of both players and owners seeing money walking out the door very soon, what with exhibition games around the corner.  Just play.  Stop whining.  We’re talking about sharing billions of dollars a year.
19. It’s funny.  Many of us don’t like certain professional athletes, for any number of reasons—even when we don’t really know them at all.  But if that athlete did something nice for our kids, we would change our minds in a second.
20. Conversely, we may really like a player, but if that player was rude or whatever when one of our kids approached them nicely for an autograph, we would never think the same of them again.  Human nature.
21. I’m sorry to see any city lose their franchise, but I do feel a wrong has been righted with Winnipeg having an NHL franchise once again.  I will say this, however.  Perhaps the city—fans, corporate sponsors, even people who aren’t big hockey supporters—may appreciate having a team even more than before.  It’s the old story, once you lose something, you appreciate what you perhaps took for granted.
22. I’m trying to think of a radio sports talk show guy that I truly enjoy listening to.  You know, someone who isn't annoying, doesn't come across as arrogrant.  Not offensive.  Someone you can just enjoy listening to.  The one guy that jumps to mind is Gord Stellick at The Fan 590 in Toronto.  I don’t enjoy him on TV as much.  I did not like him as a morning-show guy.  But back in his old early afternoon slot, he seems more himself.  Down-to-earth, not trying to be funny, just an everyday guy with a background in hockey who remembers things that happened more than three or four years ago.
23. Another guy I generally enjoy is Michael Grange from the Globe& Mail, who co-hosts occasionally the drive-time show on The Fan.  Thoughtful guy who unfortunately has to play a bit of a subservient role to the host while all the “inside” comments waste a fair bit of air time.
24. Jim Barker, the coach of the Argos, almost makes me want to be an Argo fan again.  (I was a big Toronto fan as a kid.  Dick Shatto was my favorite player in the early 1960s, then Bill Symonds…I may be spelling his name wrong.  But I loved the Argos right through the Leo Cahill years…).  I just like the guy’s enthusiasm for his team, the league and the game.  He’s "selling” me, but I don’t mind, for some reason.
25. The Bruins obviously did not have any interest—zero—in re-signing Kaberle.  Maybe if he was on the market in September and was willing to play for a million a season, they would have signed him back.  Are you shocked that Carolina (I almost wrote Hartford…wow…) offered him more than 4 million a year for four seasons?  I am.
26. Jose Bautista is one of those guys who makes you like baseball.  He’s like the James Reimer of the Jays.  Older, of course.  And he’s bounced around way more.  But you can just see he comes from a family who helped him develop a work ethic. He now clearly appreciate his fortune and also accepts his responsibility as a leader in the clubhouse and in the Toronto community.  Sometimes good guys can finish first.
27. I probably haven’t watched a major-league baseball All-Star game from beginning to end in more than 40 years.  I just can’t get excited for an exhibition game, as much as I enjoy seeing the good players together.  I don’t even watch the home run derby very much.
28. TV sports highlight shows, novel as they were twenty some years ago, now can’t seem to hold my interest.  I wish there would be a better format than one or two “anchors” just sitting there reading a script somebody wrote as they wind their way endlessly from one “highlight” to another.
29. NFL rookies (first-round draft choices) are so, so, so overpaid.  It looks like the owners have caved on that issue.  Too bad.  It really messes up the economics of the sport.  It makes no sense that kids who haven’t played a down make millions—guaranteed.
30. On that topic, it is sad, unbelievable, absurd…pick a word…that the NFL and modern-day players are not doing more for former players who need help.  If every player who makes more than a million dollars a year gave up $10,000 a year, and each owner gave up the same for every player they pay that much too, former players could have proper medical care, shelter, etc.  It remains a travesty that this has to be “collectively bargained”.  Can’t negotiate compassion, I guess.  It should just come naturally...
31. If the NBA lost a season, I’d be fine with that.  Too many guys are overpaid.  And like six coaches per team for maybe 10 guys who actually play.  Red Auerbach did not need five assistants back in the 1960s when the Celtics were great.  Times have changed and young players need coaching, for sure.  But not many fans will have sympathy for either side if this gone on for long.
32. In the United States, people cannot live without football.  They can live without basketball.  And both sides in the NBA labor dispute should recognize that.
33. I used to love when the British Open went from Wednesday to Saturday.  I remember watching the ABC “Wide World of Sports” as a kid.  You’d get the fourth and final round on Saturday much earlier than usual, because of the time difference.  Those were the days.
34. I think Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment does many fine things in the community.  But when it comes to the success of their sports franchises, they have a remarkably dreary record.  The Leafs have not been in the playoffs since 2004.  There is zero excuse for that.  And that includes current management.  The Raptors are one of the worst teams in the league.  (Some young players, sure, but almost everyone has some OK young players.).  Bryan Colangelo, as popular as he is with the media, has not done a good job.  Full stop.  They have been way worse than they were before his arrival. And Toronto FC has consistently gone backwards.  That’s a shocking lack of success on the fields of play for MLSE.
35. I still miss Danny Gallivan, the great old Montreal Canadiens play-by-play man.
36. If Tim Connolly is not healthy for the full season, I wonder what options the Leafs have for first-line center?
37. As those of you who follow this site know, Bobby Orr was the best hockey player I ever saw.  He wasn’t a favorite of mine (I hated the Bruins), but I was fearful every time he was on the ice.  His skating ability was just beyond everyone else's.  Other guys were maybe as fast in that era, but his "extra gear" and ability to stop, turn, pull away, spin around at top speed set him part—along with his vision and smarts.
38. My favorite goaltender of all time was probably Glenn Hall.  I just loved his style.  In his time, he was so unique…not the classic, old-style stand-up goaltender.
39. One of my happiest times as a Leaf fan was when the Leafs traded for Bernie Parent in 1971—a great young goalie just emerging as a star.  The most frustrating time as a Leaf fan was when Bernie jumped to the WHA soon thereafter.
40. Certain “rumors” just seem to persist.  When that happens, I tend to think they may come true—which is why I believe Weiss could end up in Toronto in a deal with the Panthers.  Or maybe even Stamkos.
41. This may be the season the Leafs jump past Montreal in the Eastern Conference standings.  I don’t see the Habs as much improved.
42. I still think the Kovalchuk trade and re-signing last summer was a terrible move by Lamoriello. The Devils may be going backwards for a while.  How can they replace Brodeur, who has the one constant for the franchise for almost 20 years?
43. Was the Canuck loss in the finals just another necessary step in their progression to becoming a championship team, or will they slide back, having missed their golden opportunity?  I see the Canucks as a strong team again, but I think this past season was their “year” to win.
44. I think the player Leaf fans will miss most this coming season is Tim Brent.  The organization may replace him with someone who has more skill, but in one short season, he captured the hearts of many Leaf fans because he was willing to do the hard things, like blocking shots, needed to win. 
45. I think Reimer will be considered one of the top five goalies in the NHL within the next two seasons.  His temperament makes him a guy that should be able to handle problems that will inevitably crop up.  He may have his struggles, but if the Leafs are patient, he should be very good for a long time.
46. The Red Wings are poised to take steps back.  I say this every year at this time, and some year it will be prophetic.  I love the organization and the way they have built the organization over the past twenty years.  I just think they are coming to the end of the line as a dominant team.  Still competitive, but they aren’t strong enough to compensate unless they receive out-of-this world goaltending.  In their hey-day, they didn’t always need that.
47. I thought Ron Wilson was going to get a contract extension at the end of last season.  It’s an awkward situation now.  If the team does really well early, maybe het gets the extension.  But what if they then slip back?  If they do “OK”, does he keep his job and just finish out the season, with the players knowing he may not be back?  If they start poorly, will Burke make a change?  He is not one to fire coaches.
48. I’m hoping Kulemin will keep building on his first few seasons.  His numbers—and his overall play—keep improving.  I was concerned that he didn’t play key minutes for Russia in the World Championships, but that may have been a blip.
49. Kessel still needs to win me over.  I don’t doubt his talent.  That’s there for everyone to see.  But what about his relationships with coaches?  He’s young, for sure.  Lots of time to grow up.  I just wonder if he is a guy that will ever really buy into what great teams need to be successful.  And I also wonder if he will be the kind of player who can be big in the playoffs, when grit means as much as skill.
50. I enjoy writing this blog.  I hope readers—whether they agree or not with some of my recollections, observations and assessments—enjoy it, too.