Thread for Leaf Fans OVER 40 ONLY

[colchar]

I will admit it is getting there, but still not even close. You obviously don't remember the Ballard deals. Yeah, we had 3 stars, but Ballard got rid of them. He also got rid of other players too, Sittler bring up any fond memories. Sittler scores 10 points in a game, then guess how many more leaf games he played before Ballard was shipping him out or talking smack about him in the paper.

Sittler demanded a trade.

 

[ClarkSittler]

Loving this thread.

Our last cup win was May 1967. I was born later that month. Babe Ruth jinxed the Red Sox, I think I may have done the same to the Leafs.

I always enjoyed listening to my father talk about all the cup wins before I was born, it'd be nice to witness one myself, but sadly we are farther away from than ever before. Saying that, some of those 80's teams were pretty awful.

Watching Lanny score that OT goal against the Islanders was the highlight of my childhood as a Leaf fan. Sittler's 10 point night and Turnbull's 5 goal performance were up there too. Too bad Ballard was such a jackass, that team had potential.

The 80's much like today were a total embarrassment. I remember one night, out of nowhere, Probert decided to flatten Bester and there was absolutely no response from our players.

Another game, Probert was running our players all night and Brian Curran was forced to fight him wearing a face shield due to a broken jaw. Needless to say Probert pummelled him. Dark days in Leafland not only did we suck, but we got slapped around too (kinda like this year). Thankfully Clark was drafted soon after and put a stop to that nonsense.

The 93 season was magical, loved Gilmour and guys like Potvin, Rouse, Andreychuk, Lefebvre. Unfortunately I was shedding tears at the end of it.

Those Quinn led teams were probably the best we've had since 67, was a treat watching them. The had heart, skill and grit. Three things we're sorely lacking today. Can you imagine Roberts and Kessel in the same dressing room?

As I said in another thread, this is the first time in my life where I really don't care if they win or lose. My apathy is growing by the day. This team is really unlikable. No heart, no character and boring.

I'm a proud member of tank nation and hope we rebuild the right way. It'd be nice to be here 5 years from now with others, regardless of age, celebrating our first Stanley Cup victory.

 

[crump]

At least this team doesn't have a Ballard pulling strings from above like some demented puppeteer. There is opportunity to get this right. Just need to get somebody who has the balls to stick it out for 5 years. We need some cohesiveness in the team from the front office down to the player; an ownership who won't fire their gm after 3 years, a gm who won't hire an old buddy for a coach , a coach that won't play the same culprits big minutes night after night, players who won't make the same errors shift after shift.

It's not great, but it can be fixed. We don't have to wait for the owner to die for a glimmer of hope. I have never felt so conflicted as a human being as the day Ballard died. One side of me felt bad for his family on a human level, but one side of me cried with happiness that the man who ripped this team a new one year after year was no longer running things.

Can the ownership, (rivals in the business world, partners in a game) get past this conflict of interest and let someone run it without interference?

Can Shannahan survive 5 years, actually be capable of ripening a franchise and learn in time to make a difference. Will he make the right choices?

In the end we should have traded the core when value was high. We saw it, certainly someone who played the game at a high level could have watched video of collapse after collapse and know this was not going to work...ever ...with this core.

Now we have to take less than what we could have, but it's better than keeping them. Kessel, Phaneuf Lupul Bozak Gardiner will get you some good draft building blocks. Probably stuck with Clarkson. Reimer or Bernier has to go (personally I keep Bernier). Pray for a high pick this year, bring up some prospects for some NHL experience for a few games each. Be patient, sprinkle in some veteran presence every year or two through UFA (like Winnik, Santo). Bottom out for two years then start the climb.

 

[TheVision]

At least this team doesn't have a Ballard pulling strings from above like some demented puppeteer. There is opportunity to get this right. Just need to get somebody who has the balls to stick it out for 5 years. We need some cohesiveness in the team from the front office down to the player; an ownership who won't fire their gm after 3 years, a gm who won't hire an old buddy for a coach , a coach that won't play the same culprits big minutes night after night, players who won't make the same errors shift after shift.

It's not great, but it can be fixed. We don't have to wait for the owner to die for a glimmer of hope. I have never felt so conflicted as a human being as the day Ballard died. One side of me felt bad for his family on a human level, but one side of me cried with happiness that the man who ripped this team a new one year after year was no longer running things.

Can the ownership, (rivals in the business world, partners in a game) get past this conflict of interest and let someone run it without interference?

Can Shannahan survive 5 years, actually be capable of ripening a franchise and learn in time to make a difference. Will he make the right choices?

In the end we should have traded the core when value was high. We saw it, certainly someone who played the game at a high level could have watched video of collapse after collapse and know this was not going to work...ever ...with this core.

Now we have to take less than what we could have, but it's better than keeping them. Kessel, Phaneuf Lupul Bozak Gardiner will get you some good draft building blocks. Probably stuck with Clarkson. Reimer or Bernier has to go (personally I keep Bernier). Pray for a high pick this year, bring up some prospects for some NHL experience for a few games each. Be patient, sprinkle in some veteran presence every year or two through UFA (like Winnik, Santo). Bottom out for two years then start the climb.

This X 1000

Some of us who have bled Blue & White for three decades would be quite happy to wait another three years IF it means tearing it down, starting from scratch, and building it properly through the draft. It will suck for a few more years, but with good scouting and development, this team COULD be built like Chicago or LA; could also end up like Edmonton without the right management in place. I think the Hunters will be driving forces in this team in the not too distant future.

 

[ironhorse384]

I was ready for the rebuild in 08 and by not doing so all that did was cost us six more years of waiting for this franchise to turn things around. The most frustrating part for me is watching this team spin its wheels never really improving. I mean ****, I want to see a cup winner before I'm dead or have dementia or something. This is ****ing ridiculous already, how this team manages to consistently **** everything up is beyond Pejorative Slured.

 

[Wafflewhipper]

Loving this thread.

Our last cup win was May 1967. I was born later that month. Babe Ruth jinxed the Red Sox, I think I may have done the same to the Leafs.

I always enjoyed listening to my father talk about all the cup wins before I was born, it'd be nice to witness one myself, but sadly we are farther away from than ever before. Saying that, some of those 80's teams were pretty awful.

Watching Lanny score that OT goal against the Islanders was the highlight of my childhood as a Leaf fan. Sittler's 10 point night and Turnbull's 5 goal performance were up there too. Too bad Ballard was such a jackass, that team had potential.

The 80's much like today were a total embarrassment. I remember one night, out of nowhere, Probert decided to flatten Bester and there was absolutely no response from our players.

Another game, Probert was running our players all night and Brian Curran was forced to fight him wearing a face shield due to a broken jaw. Needless to say Probert pummelled him. Dark days in Leafland not only did we suck, but we got slapped around too (kinda like this year). Thankfully Clark was drafted soon after and put a stop to that nonsense.

The 93 season was magical, loved Gilmour and guys like Potvin, Rouse, Andreychuk, Lefebvre. Unfortunately I was shedding tears at the end of it.

Those Quinn led teams were probably the best we've had since 67, was a treat watching them. The had heart, skill and grit. Three things we're sorely lacking today. Can you imagine Roberts and Kessel in the same dressing room?

As I said in another thread, this is the first time in my life where I really don't care if they win or lose. My apathy is growing by the day. This team is really unlikable. No heart, no character and boring.

I'm a proud member of tank nation and hope we rebuild the right way. It'd be nice to be here 5 years from now with others, regardless of age, celebrating our first Stanley Cup victory.

I would like to imagine Kessel and Roberts in the same fitness facility. That's dreaming lol.

 

[ANDI P IS CUTE]

This X 1000

Some of us who have bled Blue & White for three decades would be quite happy to wait another three years IF it means tearing it down, starting from scratch, and building it properly through the draft. It will suck for a few more years, but with good scouting and development, this team COULD be built like Chicago or LA; could also end up like Edmonton without the right management in place. I think the Hunters will be driving forces in this team in the not too distant future.

been saying this for 10 years.....

 

[Stephen]

I was ready for the rebuild in 08 and by not doing so all that did was cost us six more years of waiting for this franchise to turn things around. The most frustrating part for me is watching this team spin its wheels never really improving. I mean ****, I want to see a cup winner before I'm dead or have dementia or something. This is ****ing ridiculous already, how this team manages to consistently **** everything up is beyond Pejorative Slured.

The thing that hurts a lot with that 2008 rebuild window is if they had just stripped it down that year and stayed low in the standings, we could have had a legitimate shot at loading up on three of Stamkos, Doughty, Tavares, Seguin and Hall between 2008 and 2010.

You see that window still open today, and you hope that they will do things right finally so we can watch a young team grow up with the right kind of superstars leading the way and not Dion and Phil.

 

[New Liskeard]

Good idea for a thread. 1975 birthday, turning 40 later this year. What shows the age of the poster is the assumption that Leaf fans will not alienate or leave the Leafs. Been around long enough to see that happen before.

 

[hfman]

Not going to argue ownership, but team wise, this is the worst. The core has to go.

this is what I was getting at. If we're discussing dysfunctional management (Ballard vs. Rogers/Bell), then the 80s were worse.

But if we're discussing the on-ice product, then this is worse. To re-hash again, the 80s had 6 playoff appearances and two of those went to the 2nd round. Doesn't matter how many points you needed. It was an equal playing field for all 21 teams at that point. For the fans, they said "we made the playoffs" is what we're talking about here. Excitement and hope for the city. Also, we had two 50-goal scorers, and had A LOT of heart and passion players to come through.

Fast forward to this era and we have no playoffs for the past 12 years (where's the 'asterisk'), we have had zero passion/heart players and no one's even scored 40. There is nothing memorable in the last 12 years. Nothing at all. It's a big 'blank" for me and in 10/20 years from now, we won't be able to recall a single thing that happened or a single player that any of us care about from 2004-2015.

In terms of the teams that were playing on the ice (forget about management), the 80s had more memorable moments, more memorable players and more "success".

 

[Cams]

hey Cam's i'm 42, in Windsor and a leafs fan too I went to Holy Names. You? Kevin.

Belle River - lived in Tecumseh from 1985 until 2002 - back in Windsor since.

 

[Tyrolean]

In other parts of Canada with a 6 team league the only Canadian teams to cheer for with Leafs or Canadiens. I cheered for Montreal as they seemed to play with a more firewagon type style.

My Dad loved the leafs. I remember the great players like Keon, Ellis, Henderson, F. Mahovolich, Sawchuck and Bower.

 

[theTTC]

The thing that hurts a lot with that 2008 rebuild window is if they had just stripped it down that year and stayed low in the standings, we could have had a legitimate shot at loading up on three of Stamkos, Doughty, Tavares, Seguin and Hall between 2008 and 2010.

You see that window still open today, and you hope that they will do things right finally so we can watch a young team grow up with the right kind of superstars leading the way and not Dion and Phil.

The Leafs are like the first day of a sale at Canadian Tire: they never fail to disappoint. The one lousy thing you want from the flyer resided in the only empty space on the packed shelves.

Guaranteed the Leafs will go on a modest winning streak, enough to get us up to, I dunno, tenth in the upcoming draft.

Book it, Danno!

 

[VaughanBender72]

I was hoping for more cougars

lol.
I used to watch the leafs game, but honestly man really don't care about this team right now until they fix this team MLSE isn't getting any tv ratings out of me.

 

[Scintillating10]

Hopefully the mods will sticky this? I feel most on this board are in the 15-30 age range. Let us "senior" leaf fans over 40 years old share our "wisdom" on the leafs- past, present and future. I miss the 92-93, 93-94 teams as well as the 2000-2004 teams.

Besides the Gilmour Gretzky high stick incident and some close calls in the early 2000's I think we had our best chance in 2003-04 when we had Leetch and Mogilny and Francis and Sundin and McCabe and Kaberle and Roberts and Tucker and Corson and Neiuwendyk and Nolan and Belfour etc etc... now THOSE were some warriors. Intensity personified and clutch players. Lots of HOF's on that team.

I'm 42 btw.

Today's team has to be imho the worst core of players ever. The least dedicated; the least likeable group ever.

Do you remember the Sittler led era? Those teams had character, made for pretty good entertaining playoff years. Red Kelly and Pyramid power, epic battles with Flyers in playoffs, stunning upset of powerful Islanders. The Popcorn kid stole that series for ya. Hewitt broadcasting from Gondola. Wasn't for Montreal in midst of dynasty those teams would have won a cup of Cups.

 

[FerrisRox]

In my mind, I have virtually no positive memories of the 1980s and by the end of the decade, I was barely watching the team.

Actually, at the end of the decade the Maple Leafs iced a rather entertaining team with Doug Carpenter as the head coach. The team had degenerated into a massive joke with the John Brophy era (which was embarrassing) giving way to the George Armstrong era - a man who plainly said, while coaching the team, that he had zero interest in coaching the team. But Carpenter came in an implemented an up tempo style that unlocked the offensive potential of a young Vincent Damphousse; who paired with Daniel Marios and later in the season Gilles Thibaudeau for a line that was a French Connection sequel.

Damphousse blew up for 94 points, Marios had 76 and Thibaudeau posted 18 points in 21 games for the Leafs.

As good as that line was, it wasn't even their first line. Line one had Ed Olzcyk (88 points) centering Gary Leeman who posted 51 goals and a team-best 95 points. Mark Osborne played the other wing and put up 73 points.

On the blueline, the team struggled to keep the puck out of their net, but Al Iafrate, who was quite a character, posted 63 points (his best total as a Maple Leaf) while veteran Rob Ramage, fresh off a Stanley Cup win in Calgary, joined the team and served as its captain. Also on that blue line was Tom Kurvers, acquired mid-season in the ill-fated trade that surrendered the draft pick that became Scott Niedermayer; and the wily veteran Brad Marsh was there too along with Luke Richardson who miraculously was only a -1 on a team that had serious issues keeping the biscuit out of the basket.

The team had some issues in net, under-sized Allan Bester was the starter with back up work from Mark LaForest and Jeff Reese and a small cameo from a rookie Peter Ing, but the fun in watching this team was the refreshing change of pace that Carpenter brought to the team.

After years of sluggish and thuggish John Brophy hockey and the completely misguided and confused Armstrong mess, Carpenter had the team playing, and scoring, better than they had througout most of the lost 80's.

Unfortunately, they stumbled out of the gate the following year and Carpenter got fired maybe a month into the season, but the team, for a season, was fun to watch.

 

[Swervin81]

In the 80's, over 75% (16 of 21) teams made the playoffs. The Norris division was also a complete joke. The Leafs, Wings, and Stars were perennial bottom feeders those days. Funny enough, all 3 teams turned it around. Leafs had 3 ECF appearances (93, 94, 99) with prime Gilmour followed by Sundin, Detroit with 2 cups (97, 98) and another finals appearance in 95 with their juggernaut, and Minnesota with a cup finals appearance (91) with an old Mullen and young Modano before their owner decided to go full Ballard and subsequently move the team to Dallas (seriously, who in their right mind moves a team from Minny, an established hockey crazed bastion, to ****ing Dallas? ).

That said, the joke of a division and > 75% of teams making it are huge factors to the Leafs making the playoffs a lot more than they should've. Good ol' Weird Al, though.

 

[torleaffan]

Burkie screwed up the last rebuild.let's hope Shanny stays with the course and doesn't listen to MLSE when they start to put on the pressure..

 

[Pookie]

Maybe the success of the Fletcher era has clouded the minds of media. A flashy hockey mind that fleeced Calgary and brought instant success. A one season turn around? Sure.

The salary cap and the eventual lowering of the age for UFA status have hurt the Leafs in my opinion.

Buying their way to short term success has always been a blueprint. Those two factors combined to work against that after 2005. Good players didn't become available. The cap prevents lopsided trades.

Yet the mindset amongst ownership probably didn't change much. If Fletcher could do it, it could be done again. Just need to find the right person.

Their development and scouting group was never the envy of the league and probably still isn't. Unfortunately, those are the keys to success now.

I believe that the '92-'93 team is the peak of my interest and pride as a Leaf fan. There have been moments since then but too few and far between.

 

[hoglund]

Maybe the success of the Fletcher era has clouded the minds of media. A flashy hockey mind that fleeced Calgary and brought instant success. A one season turn around? Sure.

The salary cap and the eventual lowering of the age for UFA status have hurt the Leafs in my opinion.

Buying their way to short term success has always been a blueprint. Those two factors combined to work against that after 2005. Good players didn't become available. The cap prevents lopsided trades.

Yet the mindset amongst ownership probably didn't change much. If Fletcher could do it, it could be done again. Just need to find the right person.

Their development and scouting group was never the envy of the league and probably still isn't. Unfortunately, those are the keys to success now.

I believe that the '92-'93 team is the peak of my interest and pride as a Leaf fan. There have been moments since then but too few and far between.

94, 99 and 02 were the last times the Leafs finished in the top 4.

 

[ANDI P IS CUTE]

what a terrible team.

 

[LEAFANFORLIFE23]

Just wait when we are looking back at this last 10 years and saying how great they were compared to our current team. That's the hope I have now. The hope that this team will continue to get worse and worse through the years.

most fans hope for better days

 

[Al14]

what a terrible team.

X 100!

#FireNonis

#FireShanahan

 

[HamiltonNHL]

Let us "senior" leaf fans over 40 years old share our "wisdom" on the leafs- past, present and future.

If you'd gained any wisdom in those 40 years, you would have moved on to another team !

Wise fans discuss things here.

 

[HoweHullOrr]

Toronto prefers to buy a team, versus build one. Even our beloved Dougie was an acquisition from the Calgary Flames where Gilmour won the Cup. I call that (Fletcher) era the Calgary Leafs era.

Our management group is consistently amongst the very worst in professional sports, all professional sports.

Buying a team, as we did in the past (the Calgary Leafs era) is a no-brainer and doesn't take a lot of management skill. Building a team on the other hand takes time, patience, and above all, skill within the management group, something that we have not had, often, if at all.

Really have to wonder about the current group and how effective they could be, just as much as any group that we have had in the past.

And btw, you guys are all youngsters, at least by comparison to some LOL.