As the Toronto Maple Leafs finish the remainder of their regular season,many of their young players are hoping to make an impact with coach Ron Wilson, and general manager Brian Burke, as they effectively audition for next season. Speaking of next season, one other thing Maple Leafs management should do, is make a philosophical change to their approach to re-building the team. Brian Burke has emphasized toughness ,as one of his cornerstones in successfully constructing a hockey team.Its become quite clear the Maple Leafs measure of toughness has been counterproductive. At the time of writing, Toronto was the second worst team in the entire National Hockey League. The fighting and tough guy theatrics may at times be entertaining for some of the fans, but it only serves to distract from the overall lack of skill on the team, something which clearly isn’t hidden in the team’s win-loss total.
The only thing that the tough guy element has brought to the Leafs, is an increase in costly and sometimes very dumb penalties, that have hurt the team. The era of the “Broad Street Bully” approach to hockey, employed by the Philadelphia Flyers in the mid-seventies, is ancient history and should be regarded as just that. The best example of toughness in the modern day NHL, are the Detroit Red Wings. They are the most current version of a dynasty, and they rarely resort to fighting, and certainly not during the Stanley Cup playoffs. The way the Red Wings prove themselves to be “tough”, is in the skill department. In winning their 4 Stanley Cups since 1997, Detroit has been too tough to keep up with in terms of the most important areas of hockey, like skating, play making ,passing the puck, forchecking, and special teams. Ask players on teams that have competed against them in the playoffs, and they will tell you that the Red Wings are very intimidating, but in the most important way, and that is with their hockey basics, where it really counts, not at the end of a knuckle sandwich.
One hockey executive gave me a great example, of how 9 time Stanley Cup winning coach Scotty,responded to other teams using “goons” in attempts to intimidate his past Stanley Cup winners. The legendary coach would simply put his most skilled players on the ice when opposing coaches sent out their enforcers. The brawlers could not keep up with Bowman’s boatload of talent, and his teams would simply score goals when the third and fourth line of the opposition was sent on the ice.
The Maple Leafs should learn from this, and recognize that they can’t intimidate anyone,other than their paying customers, with the big bucks they pay for their seats. Not only do they not frighten opposing teams, but based on their record this year, you would think that most NHL clubs look forward to playing against Toronto. Scoring goals beats starting scraps every time in hockey. It always has, and always will. Even the Broad Street Bully Stanley Cup champions of 1974 and 1975, the Philadelphia Flyers, were enormously skilled. For example, here are some of their 1973/74 regular season statistics, starting with goalkeeper Bernie Parent,( 68 games,44 wins,14 losses, 10 ties, GAA –2.03, SV% .918) and some offensively gifted forwards, like Bill Barber (34 goals,37 assists), Rick MacLeish(38 goals, 41 assists),Reggie Leach(45 goals,33 assists) Bobby Clarke,( 27 goals,89 assists, 125 penalty minutes) as well as several key role players, like LW Ross Lonsberry ( 24 goals, 25 assists) and C Bill Clement (21 goals, 16 assists) . Toughness was just one feature of their game ( Dave Schultz ,472 penalty minutes), but without Parent and their potent offense, the Flyers toughness would not have meant much. It’s time for Toronto to toss the truculence in the trunk of hockey history. They should follow the blueprint of the Red Wings. You can’t be any better than a proven dynasty,and that superb success, would intimidate any opponent.