GARDEN GROVE, Calif. (Aug. 13) -- The perils of reporting on hockey in an ultra-competitive market like Toronto were evident last week when the Globe & Mail published a story on its website about Scotty Bowman being offered the job as president and chief bottle-washer of the Maple Leafs. The initial story, by veteran hockey writer David Shoalts, was categorical in claiming that Bowman had been presented a chance to assume full control of the Leafs, and would inform the club of his intentions by "Wednesday or Thursday" of this past week. The report did not quote any person connected to either Bowman or the Leafs, instead relying on "a source" for the information. Within a half-hour's time, TSN's website presented the first of many passages that strongly countered Shoalt's story -- Bowman telling the all-sports network that he "had not been offered any position by the Leafs and was not expecting one."
By the following afternoon, Shoalts, himself, had received a similar denial from Bowman, and was moved to write that there was probably nothing to his initial report, adding that the Leafs were operating in a climate that suggested change at the executive level of the hockey club -- something most people had already known about for several weeks. A day later, the lunacy was ramped up when Sportsnet.ca -- clearly on a slow afternoon -- reported that the Globe & Mail was reporting that its initial report was being denied. Still with me? In other words, a country-wide, all-sports TV network in Canada had a line (front-page) story on its website about a national newspaper denying its own "exclusive". Such is the craving north of the border for any crumb of hockey-related information.
Neither of the other Toronto dailies -- the Star or the Sun -- even touched the story, an ominous situation for any reporter hoping that he's landed the "big one".
I write this column not as a critique of the Globe & Mail, or of Dave Shoalts -- both of whom have earned immense respect over the years. Instead, this comes from a long-time hockey reporter who is well versed in the danger of jumping to conclusions... something that should never happen, but is the result, now-and-then, of competition in our hockey market that borders on cutthroat. First, let me say that there has been an enormous amount of smoke over the Bowman-to-Leafs rumor in the past two months, and where this much smoke exists, fire is often in the vicinity. Scotty Bowman has been a master at keeping secrets over the years, so it would follow that he'd deny any involvement with the Maple Leafs until the time of an official announcement. As such, this story could still have legs.
The other possibility is one that catches even the best reporter off guard now and then. In this case, Shoalts receiving a phonecall from someone who saw Bowman walk into the Air Canada Centre last week, as the NHL's all-time winningest coach is frequently sought for his opinion on any number of matters by the league, which maintains an office in the ACC tower. This person may have said something that convinced Shoalts the Maple Leafs were in fact meeting with Bowman about their apparently vacant executive post. Knowing David, he probably made every attempt to contact both Bowman and somebody from the Leafs' front office. Having failed -- and this is where I can relate to, and sympathize with, Shoalts -- the veteran reporter found himself in a quandary: Either sit on this potential powder-keg until he obtained some form of confirmation (thus risking that a rival might have similar info), or go with a report that, if true, would annihilate his competition on the biggest Leafs' story of the summer. Nothing in our business is more enticing or intoxicating than unfurling a bombshell.
Almost the exact situation happened to yours truly a decade ago. You might recall the circumstance in which former Toronto president Ken Dryden attempted to lure his ex-Montreal teammate, Bob Gainey, away from the Dallas Stars' front office to become general manager of the Leafs. It later became known that Dryden went so far as to offer defenceman Matthieu Schneider to the Stars as compensation for losing Gainey. The story reached the point where it appeared all but certain that Gainey would take the Toronto job. One morning around that time, I got a call from a "source" telling me that Gainey had apparently been spotted walking into Maple Leaf Gardens. In my haste to "break" the big story, I immediately phoned my radio station (The Fan-590) and breathlessly told our listeners that the Maple Leafs and Gainey were finalizing their arrangement and would soon announce Gainey's appointment as GM. Ooops!
It turned out that not only was Gainey nowhere near Toronto, but he had recently phoned Dryden to officially reject the Leafs' overture. Looking around for a rock to crawl under, I couldn't find so much as a pebble, and I had no other choice but to confess on the air that I had obviously been given erroneous information. Which was a cop-out in itself. No one had confirmed to me that Gainey was at Maple Leaf Gardens, or even in Canada, for that matter. It was nothing short of sloppy, lazy reporting, and my sports director at the time -- Scott Metcalfe -- had more than enough justification to fire me.
Thankfully, he took a deep breath and saw a reporter that generally worked hard -- and much more responsibly -- in most situations. And one whose aggressive nature had resulted in the odd triumph. So, I was given a reprieve. I later swallowed my foot again after Tie Domi informed me the Maple Leafs were about to acquire defenceman Adrian Aucoin at a trade deadline. I went with the "scoop" -- coming, as it did, from a Leafs player. Obviously, it didn't happen, something my good pal Al Strachan revels in reminding me of at every opportunity.
(Domi, by the way, is a friend. He more than made up for the Aucoin blunder a few years later. In March, 2003 -- when TV websites were reporting that Dallas was about to acquire Doug Gilmour from Montreal at the trade deadline -- Tie called me in my Edmonton hotel room from the Leafs' bus and very quietly said to ignore the rumors; that he was assured the Maple Leafs would land his close friend, Gilmour. I relayed that ultimately correct info to the radio station -- and stood by it for several nerve-wracking hours -- which proves that any fool can occasionally succeed in this pursuit)
The point is, all reporters take chances. Whether or not Dave Shoalts believes he took an unnecessary risk with the Bowman story last week I do not know, because I haven't spoken to him. If Bowman does turn around and become the Leafs' head honcho, David will be accorded the proper credit. If it doesn't happen, however, Shoalts should not be consigned to the reporting scrap-heap. Like a football cornerback that gambles for a big interception and gets burned -- or a hockey defenceman that pinches and is caught up ice -- reporters similarly roll the dice. Sometimes, it results in a windfall; at other times, it comes up craps. That is simply life in this lane.
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