TORONTO (Sep. 1) -- It was a heart-wrenching scene for fans of the Toronto Maple Leafs on that night at the Calgary Saddledome in March, 2003 when Doug Gilmour crawled off the ice and into retirement. There had been so much excitement back in Toronto over the re-acquisition of Gilmour by GM Pat Quinn at the trade deadline two days earlier. One of the most popular skaters in franchise history had been playing well for Montreal, and he was looking forward to boosting the Leafs' playoff hopes in the stretch drive of the 2002-03 regular season. It appeared to be a dream come true for Gilmour, who wanted to end his NHL career in the place where it had flourished most spectacularly a decade earlier.
But, it just wasn't meant to be.
A fluky collision with Flames' veteran Dave Lowry only two shifts into his Leaf comeback had Gilmour on all fours, heading desperately to the Toronto bench. I'll never forget leaning out of the press box at the Saddledome and looking almost directly below me, as No. 93 struggled to get off the ice. Turns out he would never play another shift in the NHL. His knee was shredded so badly that months of rehab from surgery could not properly strengthen the joint. When newly-hired Leaf GM John Ferguson rather coldly implored Gilmour not to use the club's Lakeshore Arena practise facility in his comeback attempt, the Kingston, Ont. native saw the light and almost immediately called a press gathering to announce his retirement.
Gilmour's choice to use discretion rather than valour in reacting to Ferguson's command has certainly paid dividends. While it seemed like a shabby way for a neophite manager to treat a franchise icon, Gilmour took the high road and allowed others to chastise the young GM. Had he chosen to speak his own mind, chances are fairly good the forthcoming reunion of No. 93 and the Maple Leafs would have never gotten off the ground. As it stands, however, Gilmour is only days away from accepting a fairly significant management position with the hockey club.
It will be an all-encompassing role with both the Maple Leafs and the AHL's Toronto Marlies. Gilmour will join assistant GM Mike Penny and Director of Amateur Scouting Dave Morrison among Ferguson's close advisors in the hockey department. The former Leaf captain will take on a myriad of responsibilities in his quest to learn the management side of the sport -- an element that never seemed to be in his future while he played the game. During his latter years in the NHL, Gilmour shunned the spotlight and became legendary for showering and darting out of dressing rooms before reporters could seek his comments. At the time he announced his retirement, Gilmour seemed fully prepared to drop out of sight and concentrate solely on his family and private business ventures. But, as Wayne Gretzky would be first to admit, you can take the man out of the game, but you can never take the game out of the man. As such, No. 93 is set to jump back in with both feet, just as No. 99 did as coach of the Phoenix Coyotes.
"You know, playing the game for 20 years is a long time and it's hard to make a complete break," Gilmour confessed during a telephone chat I had with him earlier today. "I've stayed around the game and have seen the Leafs play many times in my season tickets at the Air Canada Centre. Hockey is in my blood and always will be -- you know that. So, this is really a great opportunity for me. It came about kind of suddenly through a mutual person that brought [Ferguson] and me together. We're in the final stages of our discussions over exactly what my role will be, but I'm really excited about it. We should have it wrapped up and ready to announce in the next few days."
It's hard to believe that more than 13 years has passed since Gilmour almost carried the Maple Leafs into the 1993 Stanley Cup final. His acquisition in a record ten-player deal with Calgary on Jan. 2, 1992 ranks as one of the great heists in NHL history. Cliff Fletcher made the trade with his former team and a five-year plan to make the Leafs respectable suddenly turned into a five-month plan. Gilmour had the greatest offensive season in Leaf annals in '92-93 and he sparked the club to a Game 7 showdown with Los Angeles in the Campbell Conference final. If not for a match that Gretzky still calls his best-ever playoff effort, the Leafs may well have ended their interminable Cup drought at 26 years. Instead, Gretzky controlled the ice that night at Maple Leaf Gardens -- as he had done so many times in the past -- and the Kings edged the Leafs to play Montreal in the Cup final.
But, Gilmour's brilliance in the '92-93 and '93-94 seasons (238 combined scoring points) thrust him to the apex among all-time Maple Leaf heroes. To this day, no one receives as loud an ovation when his image is shown on the videoboard at the Air Canada Centre. Starting this season, that image will be flashed from the executive box high above the seats. Is it a move by Ferguson chiefly to appease Leaf fans, and to mend his own public image? Certainly there is some merit to that argument, and Fergie will benefit from any sort of P.R. help. But, Gilmour seems sincere in his desire to become part of NHL management, and his appointment should sit well with Leaf fans.
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