Theatre of the ABSURD
In one of the strangest episodes in hockey, Leafs owner Harold Ballard wanted his rehired coach Roger Neilson to wear a bag over his head
In countless times under Harold Ballard’s reign, the Toronto Maple Leafs could not play their way out of a paper bag.
But 40 years ago this month, the owner almost put one over Roger Neilson’s head for a game when he “unfired” his head coach. The three-day soap opera, which included Neilson dismissed on live TV, a desperate search for a replacement, a player campaign to have Ballard change his mind, capped by the paper bag caper, remains one of the most entertaining — make that embarrassing — episodes in Leaf history.
“The whole charade was so off-the-wall,” captain Darryl Sittler said in taking himself back to those crazy days on Carlton Street. “But there were a lot of circuses back then.”
To quickly recap, Ballard had grown impatient with “schoolboy hockey” as Neilson’s second season was coming to an end.
After beating the New York Islanders and getting to the conference final the year before, the Leafs wobbled down the stretch and went into Montreal on a Thursday with a four-game losing streak.
After praising Neilson’s use of video and early analytics, Ballard belittled the cerebral coach in public. He plotted to fire Neilson, but as in many of his personnel decisions, lacked courage to do it face to face.
Toronto played well, but lost 2-1 to the Cup champion Habs, and afterward TV host Dick Beddoes chased Ballard down the Forum hallway, a cameraman in tow. The two huddled and Beddoes rushed back to tell viewers Neilson was gone.
“I think Harold didn’t really want to announce it then, but might have been pressured by Beddoes,” recalled Gord Stellick, then a young hockey office assistant. “Harold didn’t have anyone ready to take over.”
Newspaper beat writers were then advised by Ballard of the firing, but the boss never told Neilson and then didn’t get on the flight home with the team. At 25,000 feet, it was finally left to general manager Jim Gregory to inform Neilson that he and assistant Al Dunford were out.
But if Ballard thought filling the post with someone from the Leaf hockey office would be easy, Friday became another gong show. Former coach John McLellan was approached first and said no, partly because of ulcers resulting from his initial experience behind the bench and knowing the perils of being Ballard’s coach.
Next up was Moncton, N.B., farm team coach Eddie Johnston, but that club was jointly operated with the Chicago Blackhawks and Johnston was not free to leave. Scout Gerry McNamara was also approached and a last resort was going to be Ballard’s sidekick King Clancy, who had twice before filled in when Toronto coaches were ill.
“Harold was the most pissed off that McLellan had refused,” Stellick said. “Gerry didn’t want to do it, but it got as far as Hockey Night in Canada’s Brian McFarlane asking to pre-record an interview with Gerry as coach, just in case.”
Meanwhile, the confused players showed up to work at the Gardens through a phalanx of reporters. Neilson, still hoping to confront the absent Ballard, was at work as usual at 7 a.m. looking at game tape and even running practice, before conceding he had better pack up.
“It wasn’t Roger’s fault how we were playing,” Sittler said. “Playing for a guy like that, he always had players at the highest degree of readiness. Maybe we weren’t as good as some teams, though Roger always had us prepared. But we were sure in a rut at that time.”
Later that night came a bizarre meeting of the principals. As told in William Houston’s biography of the Leaf owner, Neilson was moving out his belongings when he came across the 75-year-old Ballard stretched on a bench, having his toenails clipped by Leaf trainer Guy Kinnear.
Ballard fumbled his way through the conversation, then asked his ex-coach what he had planned that weekend. Neilson said he’d been invited as Peter Maher’s colour analyst on CKO radio for Saturday’s home game against the Flyers.
“Well, don’t go too far away,” Ballard advised.
On Saturday, the players were running the morning skate by themselves. The more they reflected on what happened to the popular Neilson, the angrier they became. Sittler and a small group of senior Leafs went to Ballard and asked for a reprieve.
“Tiger Williams was the most instrumental in what happened there,” Sittler said. “He was a real team guy and always had a good relationship with Harold.”
Williams had hunted a grizzly bear with bow and arrow on a hunting trip in Saskatchewan and presented Ballard with the hide, which the boss made into a rug for his office.
Ballard was non-committal after the meeting, but if his players didn’t sway him, negative media coverage had an effect. Muck of his own making was usually something Ballard thrived in, but this time, fan reaction seemed to strike a nerve. While most saw Neilson partly to blame for the slump, their condemnation of Ballard was near unanimous.
Ballard decided he could still salvage some headlines by withholding an announcement until game time and then trying to make it look like the whole saga was staged from the start. But that was going to require cooperation from Neilson.
“Game time was coming up and Harold came out of his office in his bathrobe,” said Stellick. “That’s when I heard him tell Gregory he wanted Roger to wear the bag. No one would be standing behind our bench until just before puck drop, then Roger would come out wearing the bag and pull it off or have someone do it at the last second.”
Gregory tried his best to get Neilson out of the farcical situation, but Ballard would have none of it.
“He just launched into this four-letter rant, yelling “he’d better wear the “f **king bag or he won’t coach,” Stellick said.
Neilson came to the Gardens, happy to be back, but shocked that the price would be going along with Ballard’s buffoonery. Neilson was buzzed into Ballard’s office to discuss it, but the boss was adamant. A ski mask or garbage bag were discussed, but a paper bag eventually was chosen.
“I guess they didn’t want Roger to suffocate,” quipped Stellick.
“At one point, Jimmy gave the paper bag to me and said, ‘Just keep telling Roger it’s what Harold wants.’ ”
Sittler remembered seeing the bag and all the discussion going on in the room just before warm-ups. A haggard Neilson was about to relent and wear it when Dunford pulled him aside and, according to Houston, warned his friend he’d look as foolish as Ballard if he played along.
By then, Ballard and Clancy had gone to watch the game in their famous south side bunker and figured they’d had enough fun. As 8 p.m. arrived, McFarlane and the HNIC crew built up suspense as to who would appear behind the bench.
Though Stellick recalled CKEY radio’s Brad Diamond had the scoop that Neilson would be back via a dressing room source, no one was 100 per cent sure until MacFarlane re-introduced Neilson like a rock star.
A standing ovation followed from the crowd of 16,485.
“Ballard loved a theatre,” said Stellick. “For me, a kid working in the Leaf office, that was like having a front seat to watch Hamilton. I gladly would’ve paid.”
The Leafs made the playoffs but after losing to Montreal in the second round, Neilson was fired by Ballard, this time for real.