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BY: DUANE A. STEINEL JR.
So with what we hope will be the start of the 2020-2021 NHL season just a few months away, there’s some time to kill.
Since NHL Free Agency has come and gone and the arbitration period for RFA’s is over, I thought it would be a fun exercise to write a series of pieces of my own favorite players. Not just from the Buffalo Sabres, but my top five favorite players from every single franchise. Past and Present. Included will be profiles, favorite moments, and my overall opinion of each player.
Now it would make sense to start with my beloved Sabres. But with this being the first installment of many articles, I’ll start with the team I hate. The team that brings out the kind of anger in me is comparable to the country’s hate against the Patriots or how a Red Sox fan feels about the New York Yankees……… The Toronto Maple Leafs.
If you follow me on any social media platform, everyone knows how much I hate the Leafs. Whenever they fill our barn and sing their stupid soccer song, my blood boils. You come here, raid our stores, leave your used shoes in the parking lots, and try to sneak as much beer over the border as you can. You maple syrup guzzling, overly polite, fake bacon, and poutine eating butt heads haven’t seen the second round of a playoff series since 2004. Back when Britney Spears was dating that homeless-looking back up dancer, Napoleon Dynamite was in theatres, kids were popping their collars, and people actually listened to Jessica Simpson’s music. You wouldn’t know it’s been that long, though. With a Stanley Cup drought as old as my dad, you’d think Leaf’s fans would be a little more humble. Nope, they act as their beloved blue and white band of nitwits are coming off back to back cup victories.
Even though I do talk a lot of trash and still bring up the legend of David Ayres from time to time, I do love Leafs fans. Their passion matches my own for the Sabres. And we both have one huge thing in common. Both our teams have done A LOT of losing. Where was I going with all of this? Oh, yea. Favorite Leafs players. Shit. I have to say good stuff about the dumbest looking logo in the league—a dried up leaf.
While again, I do talk a lot of trash about the Toronto Maple Leafs, I respect the rivalry with the Sabres and the history of the franchise, and what they represent to hockey. So with that being said, here are my top five favorite Leafs of all-time.
5.) Felix Potvin
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While I’m sure Felix “The Cat” Potvin wouldn’t have cracked almost anyone’s list of top anything, I was a fan of Potvin for two reasons. The first being the memories of playing hockey in the driveway with my older brother.
We both took turns playing goalie with our classic black plastic Mylec pads and baseball mitt for a glove. He always sporting his Potvin jersey and me with my Hasek. We’d shoot on each other for hours. It was during these times, I really fell in love with the position and eventually decided to play competitively. The second reason was that infamous fight he had with fellow goalie Ron Hextall from the Philadelphia Flyers.
It was ironically enough, as I write this on this very day Nov.10, in 1996 when Potvin with both left and right haymakers opened up and bloodied Hextall right above his eye. Potvin was outsized and most would expect outmatched. But “The Cat” not only just held his own but won the contest. The melee started after a dirty hit by Flyers captain Rod Brind’Amour on Leafs Legend and captain Doug Gilmour.
The final nine seconds of this game saw a total of 68 penalty minutes, 29 of those belonging to Hextall alone, who skated the length of the ice to get his face caved in by Potvin. Even though the Leafs lost that game 3-1, many will always remember that night for the infamous tilt between Potvin and Hextall.
Potvin finished his career after 16 seasons, eight of those with the Leafs. Potvin played in 635 games, finishing with 266 wins and 85 ties (yeah, ties. Remember those). He had a 2.76 GAA and 32 shutouts. Not too shabby for the feline.
4.) Doug Gilmour
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After being drafted in the 7th round in the 1982 NHL Entry Draft by the St. Louis Blues, Dougie Gilmour would play 20 seasons in the NHL. Playing for the Blues, Calgary, Toronto, Chicago, New Jersey, Buffalo, and Montreal, Gilmour scored 450 goals and totaled 1,414 points. Gilmour scored over 100 points three times in his career, won the Stanley Cup with the Calgary Flames in 1989, and the Selke Trophy with Toronto in 1993.
He also took home the Canada Cup with Team Canada in 1987. Nicknamed “KIller” by a former teammate due to his resemblance to serial killer Charles Manson, Gilmour wasn’t afraid to play with grit and tenacity. Gilmour recorded 1,301 total penalty minutes over his career.
One of his most iconic moments came in 1993 in double overtime against the St. Louis Blues when he faked up future Maple Leaf goalie Curtis Joseph. From behind the net, Gilmour faked a wrap around to his forehand side. Cujo bit hard, and Gilmour did a spin-o-rama and tucked the puck home on his backhand to end the game. In 2009, Gilmour became the 17th player to have his number retired by the Maple Leafs when they raised 93 to the rafters. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame just two years later.
I’ve always loved a good underdog story. Seeing guys like Gilmour and Joseph, one drafted in the later rounds and the other not at all, have hall of fame worthy careers isn’t just impressive. Impressive is an understatement. It’s a testament to never giving up on your dream and proving the haters wrong.
3.) Curtis “Cujo” Joseph
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Joseph makes this list for many reasons. Joseph was probably the last decent goalie the Leafs have had before Anderson…….Cujo last played for Toronto in 2002. My favorite moments of Joseph as a Sabres fan will always be watching him get fleeced by Buffalo in the Eastern Conference Finals four games to one.
All Toronto hate aside, Cujo was quite an athletic specimen. After making a name for himself in both St. Louis and Edmonton, with highlight-reel windmill glove saves and doing the splits on breakaways thwarting superstars like Pavel Bure, Joseph signed with the Leafs in 1998. Along with the all-star ability to stop a puck, Joseph brought with him one of the sexiest equipment setups in the league.
Between the sexy blue and white Bauer Reactor pads set up, to his goalie mask, which paid homage to the Stephen King movie “Cujo.” It is one of my all-time favorite goalie masks. I even wore that exact helmet throughout high school and still have it to this day. Along with his unbelievable athleticism and stylish gear, Cujo was also very hot-tempered. He was never afraid to partake in a goalie fight or two pad stack a referee.
After letting in a game-winning goal against the Ottawa Senators, Joseph lost his goddamn mind on the referee over the goal, which he believed shouldn’t have counted due to goalie interference. Although it was an accident, Cujo knocked over the ref, as he was charging after the presiding referee Nick Magoo to dispute the call.
In Joseph’s 19-year career, he posted not just impressive numbers, but in my opinion, they were Hockey Hall of Fame worthy. After going undrafted, Cujo played for St. Louis, Edmonton, Toronto twice, Detroit, Calgary, and Phoenix. In his career, Joseph won 454 games, held a 2.79 GAA, and 51 shutouts. He ranks seventh all-time in wins, sixth all-time in saves (24,279), and sixth in games played with 943. He won the King Clancy Trophy in 2000, being the player who best exemplified the best leadership qualities on and off the ice. He was also a member of Team Canada in 2002 when they won a gold medal in Salt Lake City. Joseph also backstopped Team Canada to gold in the Spengler Cup in 2007.
Joseph always had an uphill battle throughout not just his career but also his life. Before he spent 19 years in the NHL, where he was undrafted, he was adopted as an infant and, in his own words, had an “embarrassing upbringing” In his book, “Cujo; The Untold Story of my Life On and Off the Ice”, he writes about his upbringing in a home for the mentally ill, where the norm was living in animal feces, and lacking basic everyday nutrition we all might take for granted. He never even was in a grocery store as a kid growing up. I think it’s easy to say that Cujo exceeded what many would have expected with what he had to overcome.
2.) Tie Domi
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Let’s be real. There was no way that Tie Domi wasn’t making the list. I don’t have enough fingers and toes to count the number of times we saw Domi drop mitts with not just rival heavy Rob Ray. Domi also threw down with Brad May, Matthew Barnaby, and “The Boogie Man” Bob Boughner. The theatrics that came with Domi every time he and The Maple Leafs came to downtown Buffalo was can’t miss TV.
If you weren’t there watching in person. Over their careers, both he and Ray fought a total of 13 times. Whether it was to fire up a quiet crowd or an attempt to give their own team momentum or light a fire under their asses, Tie Domi and Rob Ray never disappointed. It was almost a guarantee Ray’s jersey would come off in the early years, giving Ray the competitive advantage. This was until, of course, the “Rob Ray Rule” was instituted where, “a player who engages in fisticuffs and whose sweater is not properly ‘tied-down’ (jersey properly fastened to pants), and who loses his sweater (completely off his torso) in that altercation, shall receive a game misconduct.”
In his career, Tie Domi amassed 3,515 penalty minutes in 1,020 games. He also holds the league record of 333 fights. If you do the math here, and assume that no misconducts are involved, that’s 1,665 fighting major penalty minutes. That’s nearly half of his total penalty minutes just from fighting majors. Domi also scored a time or two. He recorded 245 points and actually had three seasons where he scored 10 or more goals. Not too shabby for an NHL tough guy.
He’s also one of the very few players to have grappled with a fan. We all remember that time a fan fell through the glass into the penalty box after Domi squirted him with a water bottle. But we all also remember that Ray did it better.All chirping aside, I have a TON of respect for Tie Domi.
By now, both Sabres and Leafs fans know that Domi and Ray are close friends, and if they didn’t, the Sabres put together a 2-part special documenting the history between the rivalry of both Ray and Domi. Not just the fisticuffs, but the friendship and where it all began. So for me, Domi is almost just as much a part of Sabres’ history as Ray.
1.)Mats Sundin
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When people are asked who comes to mind when thinking of famous Swedish pro hockey players, most would say Henrik Lundqvist, the Sedin twins, or Henrik Zetterberg. Today, most kids would even say current Sabres defenseman Rasmus Dahlin, Toronto winger Willy Nylander, or Vancouver center Elias Pettersson. One name that I don’t hear enough though is legendary Leafs center Mats Sundin. Drafted 1st overall in the 1989 NHL Entry Draft by the Quebec Nordiques, Sundin took the league by storm as a rookie scoring 59 points. By his third year, he scored 114 points, which ended up being his career-high. He was then traded at the end of the 1993-1994 season in a blockbuster deal to Toronto, which also saw another former first overall pick, Wendel Clark, going the other way to Quebec.
Through my teenage years, Mats Sundin was a player I hated to see the Sabres play against. He was the true leader of the Leafs and carried himself as such. With any hated team in all of the sports, there were always players you respected. Jeter and Rivera with the Yankees, Kobe Bryant and Shaq with the Los Angeles Lakers, and even Tom Brady with the Patriots (Okay, that one is tough, but it’s hard to deny the point that he’s the greatest ever to throw a football). Well, Mats Sundin is that player for me. As much as I’ve always hated the Maple Leafs, Sundin, I respected and would have traded half my team to acquire.
Two moments from his career that stick out to me the most are his most iconic. The night he scored his 498th, 499th, and 500th goals against the Calgary Flames. Making him the only Swedish player to ever score 500 goals in the NHL. The second moment comes in 2001, in game one of a playoff series against the Senators. Sundin brought the puck in across the blue line in overtime and wound up for a shot, but then hesitated.
He picks his head up to take a better look at the awaiting goaltender Patrick Lalime. Sundin then unloads on the puck. It hits the inside of the glove side post and into the net. I have always been blown away by this goal in particular. It was such a high-pressure situation, and Sundin hesitated during the shot to take a better look. Being aware of the situation enough to know he had the time to pick his head up to better aim at what would be the game-winning goal. Absolutely legendary.
Sundin went on to become the captain of Team Sweden in the Olympic games in 2006. They took home the gold medal after beating Team Finland 3-2 in the final round. Sundin recorded three goals and eight points in the tournament.
Sundin signed with the Vancouver Canucks almost three years later in one last attempt to chase a Stanley Cup. Sundin recorded 28 points that season in 41 games. The Canucks finished the season with 45 wins and 100 points and won the Northwest Division title. Unfortunately, though, Sundin’s cup aspirations ended in the conference finals when they fell to Chicago four games to two.
Sundin recorded two goals and seven points in the series. His career ended after that season. In 18 NHL seasons, Sundin recorded 564 goals for 1,349 points in 1,346 games. He still sits at the top as the all-time points leader in Maple Leafs history with 987 and was a proven clutch performer with 15 career overtime goals. The NHL all-time leader is Alexander Ovechkin with 22. Sundin was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2012, and on Oct. 15, 2016, the Maple Leafs officially raised Sundin’s number 13 to the rafters, joining 17 other Maple Leafs to have their numbers enshrined at the Air Canada Centre.
As you can see, I haven’t even attempted to chirp Sundin and his career. That’s because, to me, he is like Derek Jeter. I’m a diehard Red Sox fan, but there’s one player I’ll never say a negative thing about who wore the pinstripes, and that was Jeter. The same will always go for Mats Sundin. He was elite. He was classy. And wore the captains “C” with pride. He played the game with honor and will go down as one of the greatest to have ever played the game.
Until next time…….Blow Leafs Blow. I’ll hang up and listen.
The Sports Desk can be reached at editorialtrainwrecksports@gmail.com
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