Rigamarole - A Foot In The Crease - Episode 5.6

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There may not be a more frightening sight in the game of hockey than when a player is seen lying motionless on the ice. Perhaps only when that player is then being carted off on a stretcher does the scene get even more ominous. In the last week, twice we have seen this scenario play out and both times it did not need to happen.

Avalanche forward Darcy Tucker spent a night in hospital with a concussion and a forty stitch gash to his forehead after his head was smashed off the glass on a late hit from Jarkko Rutuu. On Saturday night, David Booth of the Panthers was knocked out cold by a head hunting Mike Richards with a flagrant open ice hit.

Now I’m the first one who will stand up and advocate for a good, hard hit or a well timed and purposeful fight so don’t go off calling me soft. Physicality is one of the great features of this game. But another thing I am very high on is common sense, something that would go a long way – perhaps even further than fines or suspensions – in eradicating these types of dangerous plays.

Said Richards after the hit, "I'm never out there to hurt anyone. I have respect for the game and respect for the players. My concern is with him. Hopefully, he's fine and gets better. I just wanted to separate him from the puck." Really? Or was he trying to separate Booth’s head from his neck. To hit someone on the head who is not looking that hard, at that speed is just not necessary. Say to you weren’t trying to hurt them is a lie. You certainly weren’t trying to do them any favours that’s for sure.

Hockey does not need these types of hits in the game to be a tough physical sport. If you are hitting like Ruutu and Richards did, you are hitting to hurt. Period. And that’s not right. But hey, all that was just rigmarole.

Rigamarole - A Foot In The Crease - Episode 5.5

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0 -7 to start the season…or 0-6-1 if we want to stick to the facts and preserve the very smallest of moral victories – that late game collapse on opening night against the Montreal Canadiens that led to an overtime loss, the Maple Leafs only point recorded thus far. At this point, it seems just about everyone is running out of answers on how to correct what, so far, has been a season that began with promise and anticipation gone horribly wrong.

There has been the ranting and raving by Head Coach Ron Wilson; the somewhat more subtle methods of sending a message including scratching healthy players from the line up and reducing ice times considerably; reassurances by General Manager Brian Burke that he still believes in the group assembled; a pushing of the Staples-like ``Re-set Button``; even a day of fun last Thursday that included a shootout survivor drill, scrimmages and dodge ball. So far none of that has worked; in fact, it is arguable that the Maple Leafs have managed to get progressively worse.

With that in mind, the only option left is to hit the road Jack, and that`s exactly what the Maple Leafs will do as they embark on a five game road trip that will take them to Vancouver, Anaheim, Dallas, Buffalo and Montreal before finally returning home on November 3rd against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Getting out of the pit of negativity that Toronto has become is likely the that best possible option right now as everything the Maple Leafs have been doing, most of it wrong, continues to be magnified, only serving to further sow the seeds of doubt.

If the Buds can use this trip to refocus on so many of the fundamentals they have butchered since the season began by simplifying their game and not worrying about the suddenly hostile environment at Air Canada Centre, then it will be a success. They need to find a way to get back into good habits. Although if even this trip can`t snap the Maple Leafs out of it, paper bag masks anyone. But hey, all that was just rigamarole.

Rigamarole - A Foot In The Crease - Episode 5.4

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Well with six fights through their first four games, it would appear that the Maple Leafs certainly have got the message that General Manager Brian Burke has been delivering for months now. The problem is though, apart from Colton Orr, Jay Rosehill, Jamal Mayers and Mike Komesarik attempting to “set the tone” in fights with pugilists and other third line opponents, that team toughness mantra has not filtered through the rest of the lineup. At this point, for the most part, the Maple Leafs are still far too easy a team to play against.

When you think about it, Colton Orr going out and challenging a Georges Laraque or an Eric Godard to a fight early in a game really has little impact at all on the outcome unless the rest of the team puts forth a conscious effort to make it difficult for their opponent’s impact players. At the end of the day, whether Eric Godard is challenged to a fight matters very little in terms of whether Sidney Crosby or Evgeni Malkin are able to perform at a high level.

The next time the Pittsburgh Penguins make their way into Air Canada Centre, the Maple Leafs might as well just lay out a red carpet and let the Penguins’ superstars walk to the front of the net because that’s the only way it could have been made easier for them on Saturday night.

Perhaps that is where Brian Burke went wrong in that message of toughness. He wasn’t specific enough. Making it more difficult for your opponent’s fourth line tough guys isn’t going to make one shred of difference. You have to actually make it more difficult for the players that ultimately have the ability to beat you.

In fact, you could argue that the Maple Leafs haven’t even got the toughness message yet despite their six fights. Players like Orr, Rosehill and Mayers don’t need to be convinced to play that way. If they don’t, really, what else can they bring? It’s everyone else who needs to buy in before the Maple Leafs become a tough team to play against. But hey, all that was just rigamarole.

Rigamarole - A Foot In The Crease - Episode 5.3

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With the retirement of Mats Sundin, the NHL said goodbye to one of its most dominant players of the past two decades. When he was acquired by the Toronto Maple Leafs in an unpopular trade at the time in 1994 that saw, among other players, fan favourite Wendel Clark sent to the Quebec Nordiques, few had any notion that the unassuming young Swede would eventually go on to become arguably the best ever to put on a Maple Leaf jersey.

Apart from the lockout shortened season in 1994-1995 in which he scored forty seven points in forty seven games, Sundin was the model of consistency, never scoring less than seventy points in a season. All the while, he handled the pressure of leading, as captain, one of the most storied teams in hockey with the kind of class and dignity that turned him into a superstar not just on the ice, but off the ice as well.

Never winning a Stanley Cup will be long seen as the glaring omission from his sublime career not unlike another former Leaf captain, Darryl Sittler, whose records Sundin surpassed during his final days with the Maple Leafs. But while surrounded by and large throughout his time in Toronto with B-list wingers at best, Sundin still managed to produce, on his own, many of the moments that define the last decade and a half of Maple Leaf hockey.

While he was with the Maple Leafs, it took Sundin too long to earn respect from the fans. Now that he’s gone, the fact that the Maple Leafs are still grappling with the decision of replacing him as captain should show how lucky they were to have him. As Joni Mitchell once said, “Don’t it always seem to go that you don’t know what you’ve got ‘till it’s gone.”

There is no question in my mind that in three year’s time, Sundin will deservedly be a sure-fire first ballot Hall of Famer and will one day have his number immortalized with other Leaf greats in the rafters of Air Canada Centre. Forever #13 in a Maple Leaf jersey will belong to Mats Sundin. But hey, all that was just rigamrole.