Leafs Nation has always had a weird relationship with the Ideas of Leadership, Character, Grit and Heart as being a major thing the team always lacks. It really isn't difficult to find examples of this thinking. I'm sure it's not just a Toronto problem, I'm sure if I talked to fans of teams in Boston, Montreal, or Philadelphia, I'd be sure to encounter a lot of the same things, particularly from the fans and the media. The weird thing is though, it doesn't appear into the ethos of the franchise like it has here (Though Philly and Boston both love their tough guys to the point of deification, if I've learned anything from reading the hate tweets delivered to Puck Daddy's Ryan Lambert).
It's weird to just pin it on one set of guys or management/coaching teams though, as It's something that's always been a fixture throughout my years watching this team. And I feel like as an identity (hey another media buzzword!) it's not necessarily bad to have a tough, gritty team with strong leadership.
Here's the problem though, most players in the NHL are given monikers like "character guy in the dressing room" or "heart and soul guy" or "Tough, gritty player" or "brings veteran leadership qualities" it usually means they don't put up points.
Now I said usually because Leafs fans had some shining beacons of optimism in terms of hard nose players who could also fill the net.
Scary Gary Roberts: Man could play
Insane Darcy Tucker: 4 seasons where he scored 20+, 2 seasons of 50+ points, Plus Crazy Eyes
But Leafs Lore isn't complete without mentioning Wacky Wendel, Just as a Leaf, broke 30 goals 4 times (5 if you count the years split between New York and Toronto), Plus he was tough as nails
Can you see what I'm getting at here people, and it's not like the concept is a weird one either, it really does appear as though the Leafs have just tried to spend time recouping that tough edge lunch bucket type of hockey. But these guys aren't Lunch bucket guys.
Let's take a look at the Leafs most recent attempt to recapture that past glory,
David Clarkson is an okay hockey player, born in March of 84, by age 30 Clarkson has had exactly one year where where he's scored 30 or more goals, and 0 seasons where he has accumulated more than 50 points, for comparisons sake let's look at Captain Crunch, above, Wendel had 4 30 or more goal seasons before 30, and 5th in the season he turned 30 (October birthday). Now it's not fair to compare a first overall pick to David Clarkson, so let's take a look at our other illuminates on our list, Tucker never put up 30 goals, but put up 2 plus seasons of 50+ points by his age 31 seasons. Roberts? Massive numbers before his broken neck, even after he came back, after 30, two 50+ point seasons. Like Clark it's hard to compare Clarkson to Roberts another former first round pick, but after his broken neck, Roberts took a role closer to Clarkson's in the grand scheme of the NHL, no longer a PPG top line player Roberts became a solid second/third line guy who could play the powerplay and spot duty on the first line if needed.
If Clarkson isn't a fair comparison, let's look at the identity who got away, Dave Bolland, No seasons over 50 points, no season cracking 20 goals, for comparisons sake Darcy Tucker was bought out after 2 disappointing seasons, which would be Bollands's second best and fourth best seasons in terms of point totals and one that would be 5 goals better than Bolland's best goal scoring season.
Now this isn't just a trip down memory lane for the sake of doing so, it's more the message overcoming the process. I'd argue since Fletcher's second coming (Marked with an inexplicable trade of a draft pick for future AHL and Czech League fixture Ryan Hollweg) The Maple Leafs have fetishized being tough, or big, or gritty or bring leadership qualities, but they've seemed to miss a huge part of their feisty leaders who were tough as hell. They put up points. Because no matter how you slice it, hockey games are won by putting more pucks into the opponent's net than they are able to core on yours.
Not saying there isn't room in the NHL for guys like Clarkson or Bolland or Komorov. But the best way to incorporate guys like this into your lineup is by keeping them low in your lineup and not giving them a brinks truck of money that cripples your cap like a mob enforcer. It's insane thinking like this that leads the Leafs to drafting guys like AHL healthy scratch Tyler Biggs, who is showing all the signs of a first round bust, ahead of players (and full time NHLers), Ty Rattie, Tomas Jurco, Boone Jenner, Nick Ritchie and Brandon Saad. Or using a first round pick on a guy like Freddie Gauthier, who may end up a useful NHLer but currently projects to being a 3rd line C, which seems odd for a first round selection.
But lets stop looking to guys who happened to be a championship teams as leaders, and let's stop comparing guys who occasionally fight and have had one decent second line type season as the next coming of the last #1 overall pick. I loved the Clark/Gilmour teams, but Wendel has us obsessing about a player like him the same way Neely had B's fans drooling over a similar guy for years (and lets be honest, comparing Lucic to Neely is like comparing Megablox to Legos, they just aren't the same), and we project the tough guy, leader, character, heart and soul guy on the wrong type of player, because these 40 plus goal scorers who drop the gloves basically ended with Iginla.
And maybe let's recall for all the leadership and grit and wonderful stuff that came of the Clark/Gilmour Era, they've won as many cups in Toronto as Sundin, Kessel, Sittler and Phaneuf have. The recent changes this off-season show the process is changing, grabbing Nylander in the draft, and building a cheap, effective bottom 6 could go a long way in restoring some glory to the Blue and White.
Though I guess its hard not to want a guy like Clark, DGB knows what's up.
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