The kids are alright
Toronto’s youth out to channel Oilers
During the 1979-80 and 1980-81 seasons, the Edmonton Oilers debuted the following players, among others: Wayne Gretzky (age 19), Glenn Anderson (20), Mark Messier (19), Jari Kurri (20) and Paul Coffey (19).
All five, of course, went on to win multiple Stanley Cups and make the Hockey Hall of Fame. No other team has enjoyed so great an infusion of young stars in such a short time frame. At least, maybe, not until the current edition of the Toronto Maple Leafs.
The comparison is not precise, since several of the Leafs’ new young stars are well past their teen years. Defensemen Nikita Zaitsev is 25 and Connor Carick is 22. Winger Connor Brown is 23. Center Zach Hyman is 24.
But the kids who are the new core of this fast-emerging club are fully cut from the Gretzky/Messier/Coffey mold and all 19 years old: Centers Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner, and right wing William Nylander.
“The style that they play is infectious,” said ex-NHL star and TSN analyst Ray Ferraro, “and what the Oilers were was infectious.”
The Maple Leafs this week supplanted the Bruins in the No. 3 spot in the Atlantic Division standings and are on track to make the playoffs for only the second time since 2004. Few analysts would project a deep playoff run this year, as the youngsters get their first taste of the postseason, but to say the Leafs’ future looks bright is a gross understatement.
One Toronto website this week forecast not just one future Stanley Cup for this group, but four or five.
The management team led by president Brendan Shanahan and general manager Lou Lamoriello has to improve the blue line and also, somehow, manage the salary cap as these youngsters head toward their gigantic second contracts.
The atmosphere around the Air Canada Centre is 180 degrees different from the past few seasons, when fans in the NHL’s priciest rinkside seats would head to the bars during intermission and not bother to return.
The kids have made the game fun again for the long-suffering Maple Leafs fans.
“The forwards are dynamic, skillful, dangerous,” said Ferraro, who compares Matthews (33-27-60 totals before Friday’s game) to Pittsburgh star Evgeni Malkin, and Marner (1740-57) to Chicago’s Patrick Kane.
The super skilled Nylander (2135-56) completes the trio, which has transformed a power play that was 29th last season (15.4 percent) into No. 1 (24.1).
“My experience with Matthews goes back a few years,” said Ferraro. “My brother-in-law, Don Granato, coached him in the U.S. National Development Program for a couple of years. I remember him showing me a half-hour of clips of Auston as a 16-year-old.
“I couldn’t believe how he played. I mean, his skill was obvious. But just the way he played the game. It’s amazing how advanced he is. I think he’s the perfect kid personality wise to handle this.
“And he’s got Marner as his sidekick, who is just the opposite of him. Auston is straight ahead, very determined, very quiet and reserved. He doesn’t seem like any teenager I’ve known. Everything he does is just rock solid.
“And Marner is like, for our generation, Eddie Haskell. He’s always got something to say, he’s always joking around and the way he plays is so dynamic. They’re a real nice mix.”
With Mike Babcock as coach, the young stars are learning well that NHL play isn’t just about skill with the puck, but sound play without it, too. That’s a lesson Gretzky’s Oilers had to learn in the early 1980s.
Once they did, they won four Cups in five years.
“I think we’ve just been playing together (and) not giving up too much,” said Matthews before the Leafs beat the Bruins on Monday. “Taking care of the puck is the most important part. When you play the high scoring teams like Chicago and Boston, and you turn the puck over, they’re coming right back the other way and they’ve got guys who can make plays and burn you. The most important part is to play tight defense with good structure.”
It puts them well ahead of the learning curve compared to some young stars.
“These kids are a good, character kids,” said Leafs veteran center Brian Boyle. “They work really hard, they have lot of fun playing the game, they’re competitive and they’re obviously world class talents.”
It’s a fun time in Toronto. Kind of like it was in Edmonton 37 years ago.