TORONTO (Dec. 28) -- The difference between the hockey and business operation at Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment has long been evident to fans in this city, but it bears repeating. If the business side of the company came close to breaking even, financially, heads would roll with such force there'd be brain matter all over the office floor. With the power of the Leafs' hockey logo, economic projections at MLSE are enormous. Like in any large company, employees are expected to "make plan", and the peripheral run-off from the hockey club's appeal allows for it to happen on a continuous, spectacular basis.
Expectations for the branch of the company that drives the engine, however, are miniscule by comparison. It is entirely permissible for the Maple Leafs to "break even" on the ice. A struggling hockey team playing at the .500 level encourages pleas for understanding and patience by people who'd be firing employees, left and right, if the business operation faced the same dilemma. It has long been pondered why executives of MLSE do not hold the on-ice product even close to the same standard as other elements of the company. Perhaps it's simply because they can't. Putting a representative product on the arena floor is obviously beyond the grasp of these otherwise brilliant tacticians.
As a result, a middling performance by the hockey department is somehow considered in the same category as a lucrative business achievement off the ice. And, it's the prime reason why the Leafs have been stuck in the mud for as long as most of us can remember.
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Vesa Toskala's groin-strain may be no more alarming than the Maple Leafs are letting on, but this is not a particularly good year to take what the hockey club says at face value. For whatever reason, the Leafs have grossly underplayed their injuries this season. Deliberately or otherwise, the club has been miles off the mark when projecting the return dates of its ailing warriors. From Kyle Wellwood's "minor" groin issue in training camp that required surgery, to Carlo Colaiacovo's "incidental" pain behind the knee that kept him out of the first 37 games, the story-line has been the same. That's why we must all consider, with a grain of salt, the Leafs' contention that Toskala's groin is getting stronger by the minute. Only the goaltender's recovery and performance off the injury will tell the tale.
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Count me among those who are not especially surprised by Ray Emery's infantile behaviour in Ottawa these days. I don't know Emery very well, but I spent a full two months around the Senators in the playoffs last spring -- covering all 20 of their post-season games -- to understand the quality of personnel in the organization. From owner Eugene Melnyk, to the coaching and managerial staffs, to the people that handle media relations, and virtually every player in the dressing room, this is a high-class outfit. And, it was easy for even an outsider like me to see how Emery breaks the mold.
Forgetting his indiscretions away from the rink -- we all have moments of poor judgement -- Emery is a difficult person to deal with. At least, from my point of view. Even through his magnificent run to the Stanley Cup final last spring, he stood apart from almost all of his teammates in both attitude and temperament. Condescending and argumentative in media gatherings, he seemed not to fit with the pleasant disposition of the Senators' room. Which, by itself, is no big deal. Until it begins to poison the relationship with his teammates.
A quick story about Emery that endures with me occurred at the Meadowlands during the Ottawa-New Jersey Eastern Conference semifinal last April. The Senators won the opener of the series by springing out to a 4-0 lead in the first-period. Game 2, also at Continental Airlines Arena, went into overtime and Jamie Langenbrunner won it for the Devils by fooling Emery with a backhand deke on a breakaway. I made my way to the New Jersey dressing room afterwards to obtain a reaction from Langenbrunner, then I walked down the hall to the Ottawa room.
Emery was finishing up his first wave of media enquiries when I arrived and I felt kind of badly about asking him to describe the game-winning play once again. I tend to have genuine empathy for the victim of a disheartening circumstance like that, and I'm not prone to simply asking an unfeeling question. As a result, I approached Emery and said something like "I suppose that would have been a very tough save off a good player coming at you with such speed." I felt that was a humane way of approaching the subject, yet I was greeted with a terse "Is there a question there?" For some reason, that stuck in my craw and I replied by saying "Alright, why didn't you stop the damned puck?" Naturally, Emery turned and walked away, as I would have.
But, this was an example of the disdain that Emery often held for reporters last spring -- most of whom were praising him to the hilt for his excellence in goal. I can't profess to understand if Emery has the same relationship with his teammates, but neither am I taken aback by his childish arrogance this week in reacting to his much-earned support role behind Martin Gerber. Not to make a direct comparison, but Emery could learn a thing or two from Andrew Raycroft of the Maple Leafs.
Raycroft played 72 games last season as the undisputed No. 1 netminder in Toronto, though he did not perform at a level deserving of such a workload. As a result, Leafs' GM John Ferguson traded with San Jose for Toskala at the NHL Draft in Columbus, and Toskala gradually established himself as the clear starter this season. Raycroft did not see a minute of playing time for more than four weeks -- from a game in Phoenix, Nov. 24, to last Wednesday's match against the Islanders in Uniondale, N.Y. Yet, he refused to utter a peep of discouragement during his lengthy hiatus. Whenever asked by reporters, Andrew unfailingly praised Toskala for his work between the pipes, and reminded us that he is a paid professional expected to carry out whatever task is required of him.
Any of us who have come to know Raycroft could see that he was talking through clenched teeth. He's a proud man who is obviously upset over losing his position. But, he's also smart enough to understand where he resides in the team-first concept that is so overwhelming at the professional level. Emery has clearly not yet developed that perception. If he doesn't come around in very short order, GM Bryan Murray should remove him from the scene. The Senators are a legitimate Stanley Cup threat once again, and Murray cannot risk the unrest that might permeate the club if Emery's comportment is seen to be acceptable.
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There are whispers in various parts of the hockey universe that former Leafs' coach Pat Quinn could be in line to take over the Pittsburgh Penguins, if the club does not quickly come around for current bench boss Michel Therrien. Of course, Quinn and Penguins' chairman Mario Lemieux have a special relationship that dates to the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. Quinn was head coach, and Lemieux captain, of the Canadian squad that won the gold medal in the men's hockey competition. And, Quinn has made it clear that he wants to resume his bench career in the NHL.
The Penguins have been a disappointment in the first half of the season. How much of it can be pinned on Therrien is debatable, but there is no argument about Quinn's credentials. He could be the perfect fit for a talented club expected to develop a Stanley Cup posture in the not-too-distant future.
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