Maple Leafs have small connection to this year’s final
Kessel’s offence coming in handy for the Penguins, while Reimer backs up Jones in San Jose
Larry Murphy, one more time.
To the most cynical of Maple Leaf followers — few bands of collectively-minded folk have more reason to be cynical — you can see why it might feel that way.
Just as Murphy was booed as a Leaf and transferred to Detroit only to become a Stanley Cup champion twice as a Red Wing, here we are in 2016 with Phil Kessel, a reluctant star found wanting as a franchise player in Toronto, just four wins away from earning a Stanley Cup ring with the Pittsburgh Penguins. Same rotten deal, right? Well, not quite. Murphy was traded in 1997 for future considerations, which were essentially nothing. Kessel, to boil it down, was dealt to Pittsburgh for a first-round pick next month and prospects Kasperi Kapanen and Scott Harrington, as well as $47.6 million (U.S.) worth of extremely valuable salary cap relief spread over seven seasons. That’s a lot more than nothing. The similarity is Murphy wasn’t flourishing as a Leaf when he was traded but did so in Detroit, where he was surrounded by a much stronger roster. Kessel is having a heckuva playoff, but it’s useful to point out that on a talented Pittsburgh team he’s doing so as a thirdliner facing third defence pairings, a big difference from his days as a Leaf when he always received first-line minutes against the best opposition checkers.
The Murphy deal was one-sided, a panic move to silence the boos.
The Kessel deal, even if he wins a Cup, was a fair transaction between two clubs in very, very different situations.
So even if we’re going to be cynical, let’s at least get our Leaf history straight.
Kessel (surprisingly not named to the U.S squad for next fall’s World Cup) and the Pens will face the San Jose Sharks next week for the Cup, a Sharks team that has ex-Leafs Roman Polak, Nick Spaling and James Reimer.
For those three, in two separate trades the Leafs received secondround picks in 2017 and 2018, plus a third rounder in 2018 in the deal for Reimer that was upgraded from a fourth after San Jose beat St. Louis in the Western Conference final.
Again, the Sharks got useful pieces, Polak in particular, and the Leafs were able to flip vets for picks, something they’ve done over and over the last two years but will now no longer be a key part of the team’s strategy. Instead of veterans on short-term deals, they’ll be filling roster holes with young Marlies and prospects, which could mean next year’s team won’t be much better than this year’s 30th-place squad.
The reality, however, is that while we in Toronto like to make everything about the Leafs, none of the ex-Leafs involved in this series will likely be a crucial determining factor.
Kessel may score, but this Cup will be won by Pittsburgh if the foursome of Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Kris Letang and rookie goalie Matt Murray are able to make it happen. Part of the playoffs is for sports media to elevate the supporting class to the role of heroes, but that only happens because the top players on both sides tend to cancel each other out, thus creating opportunities for third and fourth liners to shine.
In this series, if Joe Pavelski and Joe Thornton can’t handle Messrs. Crosby and Malkin, it won’t be left to Kessel, Nick Bonino and Carl Hagelin to do the damage; Nos. 87 and 71 will run wild.
And how about the ageless Thornton? At 36, he’s not only played wonderfully for San Jose this season after being stripped of his captaincy, he’s been so good Team Canada invited him to be part of their World Cup roster for next fall’s tournament after not inviting him to be part of the Sochi Olympic team two years ago.
If you don’t like the affable Thornton, his story and his attempt to win his first Cup, well, maybe you don’t like sports so much.
Neither of these teams were seen as legitimate Stanley Cup threats just five or six months ago. The Penguins were in terrible shape, 12th in the conference in January, with Crosby suffering through what seemed to be his worst season and head coach Mike Johnston jettisoned in favour of Mike Sullivan.
But the coaching change had an impact, youngsters like Bryan Rust, Connor Sheary and Tom Kuhnhackl came up from the minors to make an impact, and defenceman Trevor Daley arrived in a deal from Chicago to help the Pens become the hottest team in the league over the final two months of the season.
Murray, meanwhile, took the goaltending job from an injured MarcAndre Fleury and kept it even after Fleury returned. He’s had a couple of speed wobbles, but has 11 playoff wins to his name and should make this an intriguing goaltending matchup with Martin Jones of the Sharks.
San Jose, meanwhile, has been picked repeatedly over the years by many to win the Cup but never even made a final. Thornton and Patrick Marleau kept coming back for one more try, and after Peter DeBoer replaced Todd MacLellan as coach last summer and Jones was acquired to be the new No. 1 goalie, the team slowly became a tougher, more resilient group.
When the playoffs began, teams like Chicago, Anaheim, Dallas, St. Louis and even Los Angeles were seen as bigger threats in the West. But San Jose was the team to win three series, knocking off the Blues in the Western Conference final in impressive fashion by tearing huge holes in the Blues defence and silencing sniper Vladimir Tarasenko, largely through the work of defenceman Marc-Edouard Vlasic.
In Thornton and defenceman Brent Burns, the Sharks not only have a pair of Canadian World Cuppers, they also have two of the greatest beards in NHL hockey history, long and flowing chunks of facial hair that would rival the best Cowboy Bill Flett ever managed. The fact the head of NBC Sports last year urged NHL players not to grow playoff beards but instead show off their “young and attractive” faces, well, that just shows NHLers aren’t doing it all for the glory of television.
So this attractive series has it all, personalities and stars and compelling storylines. And ex-Leafs, sure.
Few saw this particular matchup of finalists coming.
Pittsburgh will go in as the favourite and with home-ice advantage, and the Sharks might see that as playing right into their fins. Damien Cox is a broadcaster with Sportsnet and Hockey Night in Canada. He spent nearly 30 years covering a variety of sports for the Star, and his column appears here Saturdays. Follow him @DamoSpin.