Leafs’ Clifford, anxious to play, dreams big
A big part of the Stanley Cup’s grand mystique comes down to the sheer difficulty of the gauntlet. Hockey folks like to call it the Hardest Trophy to Win in sports. For more than 30 years now, the privilege of hoisting the thing has required victory in four separate best-ofseven series. Sixteen wins for immortality. A marathon that stretches more than two months.
Maple Leafs forward Kyle Clifford owns two championship rings from two separate journeys of precisely that duration, with the Los Angeles Kings in 2012 and ’14. So you won’t find somebody with more respect for the enormity of the task.
But, as the NHL continues to reimagine potential playoff formats in the age of coronavirus, it’s becoming clear that, if and when the world’s best hockey league returns to play, it likely won’t hold a traditional 16-team tournament to determine the winner of the Stanley Cup. Instead, as Clifford was telling reporters on a Wednesday conference call, the latest brainwaves around the league have formats ranging from 20 to 24 teams.
Everything is hypothetical, of course. But one-off play-in games are being considered, just as best-of-three series are being bandied about.
Under normal circumstances, most of those ideas would be shot down as sacrilege, but these aren’t normal circumstances. And, as much as Clifford acknowledged the importance of maintaining “the integrity of the Stanley Cup,” he said the consensus priority among the Leafs, more than two months after the season was interrupted, is to simply get the chance to play for one.
“Just speaking with the guys on our team, there’s a real strong appetite to get playing, no matter what the circumstances,” Clifford said. “We’re not dealing with ideal times. … It’s going to be different, but I think playing for a Stanley Cup is better than not playing for a Stanley Cup at all, regardless of the format.”
Exactly when that’ll happen, of course, is anyone’s guess. The next phase of the NHL’s return-to-play plan will see teams cleared for small-group workouts on actual ice surfaces. And exactly when that’ll happen is anyone’s guess. Beyond that, it’s assumed there’ll be some kind of training camp before the actual competition commences.
“I don’t think it’s going to take as long as most people are going to think (for players to get back into game shape),” Clifford said. “It’s just a matter of being able to prevent injuries that might occur for some players being off the skates for about two months or 2 1⁄ 2 months. I think that’s going to be the biggest challenge. ... We don’t want any soft tissue or hamstring injuries that are going to put guys out for next season.”
To that end, Clifford said his quarantine routine is similar to his summer workout regimen: morning coffee followed by 30 to 40 minutes of stretching, followed by 60 to 80 minutes of working out in the garage gym of the lakefront home in Muskoka he shares with his wife, Paige, and their pre-schoolaged sons: Brody, Ryker and Cooper.
The other day, in a YouTube interview with teammate Justin Holl, Clifford said he and his boys were currently on their third go-round of the 182episode catalogue of “Paw Patrol,” the popular cartoon. That, along with epic games of mini-sticks and even the occasional dip in the lake, has kept the brood busy. And while
Clifford said he appreciates the family time — just as he’s discovered a new-found appreciation for the work of folks in the child-care business — for a career pro athlete, it’s a foreign way of life.
“This is not a schedule that I’m used to,” Clifford said, “but it’s just been a lot of fun. … Usually at this time of year, you’re in a playoff hunt.”
Often around this time of year, depending on one’s playoff fate, players are considering their professional futures with free agency in the offing. A 29-year-old veteran in the final year of a deal with an annual average value of $1.6 million (U.S.), Clifford and his representatives have been in talks with the Leafs on a new contract. And, by all accounts, perhaps in part because Leafs GM Kyle Dubas traded for Clifford in February and once worked for the agency that represents him, the discussions have been productive, even if a deal isn’t thought to be imminent.
Clifford — a childhood fan of the Leafs from Ayr, Ont. — has given every indication he’d like to be back with the club for years to come.
“I’m in a win-now mode and I think the Leafs, they’re in that same mode, too,” Clifford told TSN Radio on Wednesday.
Precisely what will be required to win a Stanley Cup in this unprecedented season remains unknown. Clifford was asked how he’d feel if, in the interest of minimizing the potential spread of the virus, NHL players are forced to wear full face shields.
“If that’s the road we’re going to go down and it’s a matter of safety for the players, it just is what it is. They’re not ideal times right now,” he said.
And, as for how he’d feel about being sequestered in an NHL-governed bubble away from family and friends in the interest of returning to work, Clifford acknowledged it’s a “hot topic” among players.
“If you’re going to be drinking out of the Stanley Cup at the end of it all, I would definitely like my family there,” he said, “but I think that’s a better question for the NHLPA and Gary (Bettman, NHL commissioner).”
Which is not to say he’d be against being sequestered if it meant a shot at being crowned a Stanley Cup champion.
“It’s the greatest feeling. Other than having your children born, it’s definitely been my greatest experience in my life,” he said.
“I’ve been fortunate enough to win two, and I think it only makes you hungrier to win another one. Speaking with the guys on our team, we have a young team and they’re hungry. They want it. They want it for the city of Toronto, bad. It’s been 50-something years since they won and I don’t think there’d be any better feeling than to take it down those streets in Toronto for a parade.”