Wilson set to walk plank in Hogtown
S ince the end of the first Punch Imlach era in 1969, Ron Wilson is the 20th man to have held the title of head coach with the Toronto Maple Leafs. Brian Burke is the club’s 10th general manager in that span.
Nice round numbers. It might have worked out.
But any day, give or take the breadth and depth of Burke’s stubborn streak, which admittedly hasn’t been dented yet, surely it will end with Burke putting Wilson out of his misery.
Both their miseries, actually, for Wilson is walking the walk of a condemned man and if you’ve seen Burke lately, he appears to have aged about a decade in four years and could pack a week’s worth of white shirts and unknotted ties into the bags under his eyes.
Overwhelmingly, the odds are the Leafs will not make the playoffs, again, and never have under the Burke-wilson reign, and maybe (if you put it to a fan vote) don’t even want to, the more realistic course being to plummet far enough to at least salvage a high-end draft pick out of another disastrous season.
It might have worked out better for them. Probably should have. But that’s been said before in Toronto.
Historically speaking, not all the occupants of the two big jobs with the Leafs – Imlach held both positions from 1958-69, winning four Stanley Cups – have been idiots, and these two certainly aren’t, notwithstanding the prevailing sentiment at Air Canada Centre on Tuesday night when the coach’s ears were burning with chants of “Fire Wilson!”
“It was pretty emotional,” Geoffrion said. “I was really close to Pappy, we talked all the time on the phone. He was one heck of a character. He captured a room, you knew his presence. He loved to be the centre of attention and tell some jokes, so when I look up at the banners, those memories come to me of just how much I miss that guy.”
Geoffrion confessed he didn’t know Howie Morenz “on a personal level,” likely because the Habs’ first true superstar died in 1937.
“But I heard a lot of stories about him – the Stratford Streak, the Mitchell Meteor,” he said. “I know the story about him dying of a broken heart (medically, of a coronary embolism), and obviously he was really loved in Montreal, too.”
The Bell Centre ovation Geoffrion will hear Thursday won’t be for Morenz or the Boomer, but for the new Canadien who some are calling Baby Boom.
Even Geoffrion’s given name is famous in this city, the surname of legendary coach Hector (Toe) Blake.
“I’ve asked my mom if my name has to do with Toe,” he said. “But she said she chose the name because she liked it. It’s just a coincidence.” He paused. “I think.” There will be butterflies come game time, Geoffrion admitted, even if last Friday he felt Bell ice beneath his blades and saw the banners overhead that gave him chills down his spine.
“I needed that experience,” he said. “I didn’t play too well for the Bulldogs, but those jitters are gone.”
Geoffrion’s dream comes true just after 7:30 p.m., nearly six years after he’d hoped that the Canadiens would bring him into the NHL.
He’d interviewed several times with New Jersey but the Devils passed him by in the 2006 draft; the Habs in- stead chose Ben Maxwell and Mathieu Carle with their second-round picks, 49th and 53rd overall.
Geoffrion went to his hometown Nashville Predators, 56th overall, and now suits up for what he calls the team that’s “my home away from home.”
His father, he said, “is pumped,” even if Danny needed some convincing. Blake has long teased his father with Internet rumours and when he was dealt to the Canadiens, his call was shrugged off.
“Dad told me, ‘Yeah, real funny. I’m at the movies with Nana, I’ll call you back,’ and he hung up,” Geoffrion recalled.
“I later swore to him on my life that it was true, and he turned to Nana and just said, ‘Taber…’ ” the rest of the word garbled in his laughter.
But now here he is, like three generations before him wearing the CH.
“I’ll tell you what, God works in mysterious ways,” Geoffrion said. “It’s been one heck of a ride.”