Another Dreadful All-time leaf
Record to be ashamed of, leaf fans.
If you are a leaf fan, you dismally look back at the last 36
years of Cupless drought and question not so much why your leaf never wins, but
more so, why haven’t they even come close? As a leaf hater, I find it fun to
uncover revealing facts and statistics that clearly point to the leaf
indifference towards building and icing a team with real solid potential to
bring a championship to Toronto. Sorry, leafer boys and girls, it’s true. They
just don’t care.
Are you ready? Here’s a startling leaf trivia question for you. Who is the
all-time leaf leader in playoff scoring points? Specifically, that’s points
accumulated solely in a leaf uniform. Hold on to your blue and white seats
because the answer might shock you. It’s Doug Gilmour. Dougie amassed 77 career
playoff points as a leaf in four leaf playoff seasons in the mid-1990’s.
Now that total in itself is not a bad overall performance by Gilmour, but what’s
really devastating is the fact that this is an all-time high leaf career number.
Where the hell have all the other leafs been? For the leaf organization and its
86 year existence, this is truly a pathetic team record number. The next guy
closest to Gilmour is Dave Keon and he’s ten points back with a career total of
just 67 playoff points as a leaf. Unbelievable! Where’s Mats Sundin? Well, old
horse tooth is trudging along, only at 61 playoff points so far. But what about
all of those all-time so called great leafs we hear about when granddad starts
to reminisce about gathering around the radio on Saturday night to listen to
Foster Hewitt? Nope, no former leaf is even close to Gilmour’s paltry 77 career
playoff points as a leaf.
Just to put this feeble leaf number into perspective, let’s compare the
equivalent individual playoff career scoring records of some other teams. Steve
Yzerman, as a Red Wing now sits at 176 career playoff points and counting. Apart
from Stevie Y, the Wings have several players who have exceeded the leaf team
record of 77. Federov, Gordie Howe and Ted Lindsay all accumulated more. Even
Nicklas Lidstrom, as a Red Wing defenseman, now has 109 career playoff points,
so far, for Detroit only.
But, you’re going to argue, “These guys all spent most, if not all of their
careers as Red Wings.” Yeah, that’s the point precisely, stupid. The good teams
like to hold onto their all-time career leaders, unlike the ugly leaf.
I have used the Red Wings as a comparison. If I started to type the names of all
the Canadiens, Bruins and Blackhawks that have more than 77 career playoff
points, I’d develop carpal tunnel syndrome long before I could complete the
list.
In Canada alone, every Canadian based team that’s been around for the past 20
years or more has had at least one player with more than 77 career playoff
points in its history. Trevor Linden now has 88 career playoff points for
Vancouver alone. Al MacInnis, again as a defenseman, had over 100 playoff points
as a Calgary Flame. We need not mention Gretzky and all the Oilers but here’s
something fascinating, nevertheless. You know how the Rangers have missed the
playoffs for the past six years straight? You also know how we will remember
Mark Messier’s long career primarily as an Oiler. Well get this. As a New York
Ranger alone, Mark Messier has 80 playoff points. Now there’s an indication of
just how damn ordinary the leaf all-time record of 77 really is. Oh, and let’s
not forget Brian Leetch, another Ranger, and yes, another defenseman. He’s got
89 career playoff points, so far. There is an endless list of NHL players who
have scored more than 77 playoff points with one team. The leaf just sucks
again, in this and every other category.
In retrospect, it was lucky for Gilmour that he did get to enjoy a Stanley Cup
winning year in Calgary in 1989 before becoming a cursed leaf. After giving so
much of himself as would any good Canadian boy, the leaf dumped him to New
Jersey in 1997 for Jason Smith, Steve Sullivan and Alyn McCauley. Not
surprisingly, these three guys had just enough time for a cup of coffee with the
stupid leaf and have gone on to flourish elsewhere, Smith in Edmonton, Sullivan
as a Blackhawk where he’s doing just fine, thank-you and McCauley just now
starting to take off in San Jose. By the time Gilmour made his heroic five
minute return last season, all three of the guys he had been traded for were
gone. Then Dougie retired, heart broken, with a slap in the head from leaf
management as they told him he was no longer a part of their plans. Disgusting
leaf!
So you say you’re a leaf fan, eh? Just what the hell is it that you cheer for
anyways?
I hate the leaf
Blow leaf blow
Leafhatred.
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