TSN Radio Doughty's views on playing in Toronto

[Stephen]

If Steven Stamkos said no, it's never going to happen. There was never an NHL superstar more primed to come home than him.

Steven Stamkos is a big hometown disappointment. Stayed in Tampa where his shot at winning a cup looks like it's fading a bit compared to what the Shanahan is putting together.

 

[JimmyPower]

Who cares about Doughty. After getting owned last year by a certain rookie on Calgary, repeatedly, my view on him has changed. He's not as rugged as he use to be and has lost a bit of an edge since going on those long playoff runs.

 

[Drew311]

Doughty is skinny

I agree, he didn't look good. In his radio interview he said he doesn't start working out and skating until August. At least he is a step ahead of Kessel.

 

[BayStreetBully]

In other news, water is wet. Local Ontario boys always *want* to play for the Leafs. Now that we're good again, they want to *act* on it.

 

[Pookie]

In other news, water is wet.

Well, if the water was less than 0 degrees Celsius and it was still wet... that would be news

 

[Drew311]

Who cares about Doughty. After getting owned last year by a certain rookie on Calgary, repeatedly, my view on him has changed. He's not as rugged as he use to be and has lost a bit of an edge since going on those long playoff runs.

He's an unbelievable defenseman but something just seems off about him. I have a feeling his game will fall off a cliff at some point in his early to mid 30's and the Leafs should stay away from him if he hits free agency. He'll never live up to a 7 x 10M contract.

 

[Brown Dog]

Good for you walking down the street in LA without being recognized.

Shows how much winning a Cup (or two) there is really worth.

 

[Gabriel426]

If Steven Stamkos said no, it's never going to happen. There was never an NHL superstar more primed to come home than him.

Pretty sure Stamkos would have say yes if he is hitting UFA this year. Stamkos will be view as a saviour if he signs with us last year. But Hockey is a team game, and Leafs really didn't have a lot of pieces to attract players last year today. Zait was an unknown, Willie showed signs to be good with his stint last year, Marner won everything there were to win in CHL but he was a question mark. We knew Matthews would be good but not this good. Lastly, Don't think any players would leave a contending team and play for a rebuilding team.
As much as I wanted Stamkos, he made the right choice.

 

[Seras]

Fame isn't for everyone

 

[SniperOnTheWing]

It's easy for us to sit at our keyboards and say stuff like "if I was making millions like him I wouldn't care about privacy" or whatever, but your personality is your personality and money isn't going to change it.

Myself personally, I'm quite introverted. I will sometimes avoid people I know when I bump into them at the grocery store or whatever because I'm just not in the mood for conversation that day, and I'm uncomfortable in crowded rooms full of friends and family and start feeling stressed and claustrophobic. And that's with people I KNOW and like, the last thing I want is to be hounded by strangers every time I go out in public. I can tell you right now that if I had fame and millions of dollars in the bank tomorrow that would not change one bit. I'd probably be in hiding most of the time.

Everybody thinks they want money and fame until they have money and fame, then you will find out pretty quickly what the real price is.

 

[beleaf67]

as a Euro guy, this "fame" BS talk makes me sick. In soccer if you want to make $$$ you have to play for big firms and fame comes with it. You cannot make the same money i.e. playing in la liga on Las Palmas vs. playing on Real M. or FC Barcelona. If we didn't have revenue sharing, guys like Doughty, Stamkos or Jonny T would be "very happy" to be playing on Leafs (or maybe other 4 teams willing to pay them $$$).

 

[ShaneFalco]

Wanna be a nobody rather than someone who could be a star....idolized....good for you. We want guys who embrace the big stage

 

[NikoPopp]

"I want to play in front of thousands of people every night and I want to be paid millions of dollars to do it but I can't handle that someone might recognize me if I leave the house" - hockey players

 

[Stephen]

In the Geno Reda interview he sounded open to being a Kevin Durant and going somewhere to help a team get over the hump. Said it would depend on where his team was in the standings too.

 

[Ari91]

I could have sworn that I had read that before that he was a Kings fan growing up, particularly because of Gretzy.

I guess I can sort of understanding rooting against the Leafs but secretly liking them. He chose a team based on his father's preference but grew up in an area that was very Leaf oriented. I can buy that explanation because I know of a number of people that have said something of similar effect.

I think Doughty's comments are probably more pre-emptive to avoid people jumping on the speculation train after his comments about how all Southern Ontario boys secretly want to play for the Leafs. You don't need to be a Leafs fan to be recognized by Leafs fans, especially around the city. Doughty is from Ontario, he's known as one of the best Dmen in the league, he's represented and won gold for Canada on the international stage, his gf is from Toronto and he's no stranger to the city during his off season - the idea that he doesn't know what it would be like seems unlikely. Then again, maybe he gets noticed so often and that's just on his offseason that he's not sure how he would feel about being surrounded by that for most of his year AND on top of that having people actually talk Leafs hockey with him.

I think for most guys, pay them enough money and they won't mind if fans recognize them on the streets or not - whether that's Toronto, Montreal, etc.

 

[81Leafs50]

Being a Super Star and playing good consistently in a warm climate with no distractions and no crazy hockey fans.........does that really make him a super star? is he really that good?

Can Doughty in a pressure situation block out the 24 hour media in a hockey crazy town with lots of fan expectation?

If no then is he really that good or even a super star?

I don't think so. At this point I take Reilly or Gards or even a Kaberle in his prime over Doughty. All these guys play here and handled everything just fine. Kaberle even married a girl and settled down in Toronto.

Doughty is wrong about this city. He believes the media hype more than the fans here.

He plays a great brand of hockey in a comfortable situation. Seems to easy for me. He wants easy.

 

[WilliamNylander]

Don't kid yourself. If doughty was to ever play here, he would be a god and just as big of a deal as AM34.

I doubt it man. Doughty, Perry, etc. are here every summer and no one really blinks an eye.

Of course he would be famous here in Toronto, but he wouldn't be near the level of AM34. Nobody will be for the next decade+

 

[Rick74*]

This **** annoys the hell out of me regarding this sport.

So our problem is we like hockey too much?

**** OFF.

There are sooo many things wrong with that statement. "I'd rather play hockey where people don't give a **** about hockey"

1) you get paid LOTS...it's was no secret growing up that's what the life style of a hockey player was...so WHY WOULD YOU KEEP GOING IN HOCKEY IF YOU DON'T LIKE THE ATTENTION???

2) You don't need to live or hang out in Toronto. You could pick some small cottage country town and live out there if you like your privacy. And ****ing helicopter into Toronto whenever you get that odd feeling of hitting the town.

3) Warm up to parity folks because sooner or later not everyone can avoid playing in Canada...or Toronto. So playing here is going to be a reality for some of you at some point.

What a little princess.

 

[Gallagbi]

I doubt it man. Doughty, Perry, etc. are here every summer and no one really blinks an eye.

Of course he would be famous here in Toronto, but he wouldn't be near the level of AM34. Nobody will be for the next decade+

Doughty lives in Toronto? I thought he was from London

 

[WilliamNylander]

Doughty lives in Toronto? I thought he was from London

Yeah Doughty, Perry, Kadri are all from London. They go to the local bars there in the summer and its not some crazy celebrity fest at all. Most people just do normal bar stuff. At least thats my experience.

 

[nsleaf]

Well, if the water was less than 0 degrees Celsius and it was still wet... that would be news

Not if it was salt water.

 

[BackPassChampions]

This **** annoys the hell out of me regarding this sport.

So our problem is we like hockey too much?

**** OFF.

There are sooo many things wrong with that statement. "I'd rather play hockey where people don't give a **** about hockey"

1) you get paid LOTS...it's was no secret growing up that's what the life style of a hockey player was...so WHY WOULD YOU KEEP GOING IN HOCKEY IF YOU DON'T LIKE THE ATTENTION???

2) You don't need to live or hang out in Toronto. You could pick some small cottage country town and live out there if you like your privacy. And ****ing helicopter into Toronto whenever you get that odd feeling of hitting the town.

3) Warm up to parity folks because sooner or later not everyone can avoid playing in Canada...or Toronto. So playing here is going to be a reality for some of you at some point.

What a little princess.

I agree to a certain degree. Honestly, this shouldn't even be a headline. This type of headline comes up every so often with these big names. It's kind of ironic if you think about it.

On the other hand, players have every right not play for a certain team. If you ask me, I'm glad certain star players speak up about Toronto this way. You know Lou and Shanahan are looking for specific people who WANT to play here, this just means they'll never pursue him(though they probably never would anyways with that contract).

 

[nsleaf]

This **** annoys the hell out of me regarding this sport.

So our problem is we like hockey too much?

**** OFF.

There are sooo many things wrong with that statement. "I'd rather play hockey where people don't give a **** about hockey"

1) you get paid LOTS...it's was no secret growing up that's what the life style of a hockey player was...so WHY WOULD YOU KEEP GOING IN HOCKEY IF YOU DON'T LIKE THE ATTENTION???

2) You don't need to live or hang out in Toronto. You could pick some small cottage country town and live out there if you like your privacy. And ****ing helicopter into Toronto whenever you get that odd feeling of hitting the town.

3) Warm up to parity folks because sooner or later not everyone can avoid playing in Canada...or Toronto. So playing here is going to be a reality for some of you at some point.

What a little princess.

Imagine the unmitigated gall of this guy. Does he not know that all players should want to play in Toronto.

 

[Pocket Hercules]

Yeah Doughty, Perry, Kadri are all from London. They go to the local bars there in the summer and its not some crazy celebrity fest at all. Most people just do normal bar stuff. At least thats my experience.

I really think this "Toronto hockey players living in a fishbowl" narrative is completely overblown. I remember back in the early 2000's during the playoffs that some of the Leafs were enjoying a night out at a club called Shark City (which isn't around anymore) and I can tell you from my firsthand account that hardly anyone bothered any of them; and this was during the playoffs!

I think its more of a case of "perception is truth". Thanks to such sensationalistic nerds such as: Steve Simmons, Dave Feschuk, Damien Cox etc writing all about the doom and gloom of playing in Toronto and how any player in their right mind would be crazy to play here if given the choice. Read enough negative articles about playing here, then the reader's subconcious eventually accepts it as truth. The power of suggestion works in mysterious ways.

 

[Rick74*]

Imagine the unmitigated gall of this guy. Does he not know that all players should want to play in Toronto.

Don't play for toronto is fine. Maybe you hate the management. Or maybe you just grew up loathing the team.

That's fine.

Saying you don't want to play for Toronto because you don't like all the attention is the most ignorant, diva ******** I've ever heard.

As if you didn't know that being famous was part of the deal of being a hockey player while growing up IN CANADA.

You know I didn't want to get SHOT AT, so I avoided joining the military.

And I can't stand watching animals die so I ruled out being a vet.

Logic.