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I couldn't agree more with this article (and much of what this columnist writes).
http://www.thestar.com/Sports/Hockey/article/306584
| quote: | Classless Leafs don't deserve Mats
Feb 25, 2008 04:30 AM
Rosie DiManno
Doug Gilmour. Wendel Clark. Rob Ramage. Rick Vaive. Darryl Sittler. Dave Keon.
All were Toronto Maple Leaf captains. And none retired from hockey in that capacity.
Mats Sundin intends to do so, damn it.
He is a man of his word, even if the franchise that employs him is not as equally steadfast.
But they shoot captains in this town. Some go tearfully, some plead to be released from bondage, some never forgive.
As one potential successor to Sundin said in the dressing room the other night when it was suggested he may inherit the captaincy: "How do you politely say no?''
Sundin had been politely saying no – or variations thereof, minimally qualified – to trade overtures for weeks on end. Although the formal invitation to consider relocation was extended by interim general manager Cliff Fletcher only a few days ago, and Sundin's input sought on preferred destinations, the answer that came back last night was as always stated.
Not going. Not waiving.
Can't make me.
Now we can all get back to the business of autopsying another lost season and apportioning blame.
Sundin took it upon himself yesterday to deny, as was written here, that he has ever blamed GM passim John Ferguson for either the club's troubles or his own predicament as reluctant trade bait and putative corrective, via prospects obtained in return.
"It's not true,'' Sundin insists. "I've never said that. I don't blame other people for what's going on. I would never blame John Ferguson for the whole situation in Toronto.''
Ferguson isn't the only villain of the piece, obviously. But his mishandling of long-term contracts lumbered with no-trade caveats and his poor assessment of talent has left the Leafs in a terrible fix, and the pressure mounted on Sundin to fix it by departing.
What Sundin may or may not be saying privately to friends is a fart in a mitten. What he has said repeatedly, and asserted through a released statement after speaking with Fletcher last night, is that he remains, however unfathomably, devoted to this club, to his teammates.
But there is a recurring theme here in the melodramas of Maple Leaf Land.
This is an organization without class and without conscience. Was a time that could be attributed to the deranged persona of Harold Ballard, a bully and misanthrope who abused staff, shamed players and held fans in contempt. But at least there was a face to put to the bungle and a desk where the buck stopped.
If you were to call the Leafs' front office today and ask to speak with the person in charge, who in the world might that be? It's a board of directors accountable to no one except shareholders and immune from scandal.
A few years back, the Leafs announced things were going to be done different. Alumni were welcomed back, the diaspora of beloved ex-Leafs embraced, vows of integrity expressed. In practice, little has changed. It remains a franchise without a soul, for all its iconic stature, thoughtless and disloyal.
Can you imagine the Detroit Red Wings treating Steve Yzerman, when in the eclipse of his career, as the Leafs are treating Sundin, even as respectful as Fletcher has attempted to be? Or the Montreal Canadiens similarly rushing Bob Gainey – his sweater retired on Saturday – out the door, with a slam-bang-thank-you capitaine?
The public has grown weary of sports idols who swap loyalties for the green, and rosier environments.
Would serve the Leafs right if, denied a deal for Sundin at the deadline, he refuses to re-sign here now.
But he won't.
The guy's only crime is that he's not a mercenary, that he's true.
All else is false. |
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