Leafs Yearn For Ballard’s Return: European Experiment A Bust In Toronto?

By Louis “King of Roncesvalles” Pisano

To say Harold Ballard wasn’t liked by everyone might be an understatement.

When I skimmed over the players, even after the influx of European talent that began flooding the NHL in his later years, he stood stead fast with his beliefs of drafting mostly Canadian players and almost down-right refused to draft Russians.

Over the years the percentage of Canadian players in the NHL which has been a dominant number thorough out the history of its existence has declined.

The Toronto Maple Leafs one of the Original Six teams is or was Canada’s team, though francophone and Les Habitant fans may argue this point.

They were a group of guys from mostly Ontario Quebec and the Prairie Provinces that were hardnosed hockey players that played the game with heart and passion and brought this game to where it is today.

It sure as hell wasn’t about the money, because they got paid one-one thousandth of what these guys are getting today, if that.

Looking down the list of recent Stanley Cup winning teams, perhaps excluding the Detroit Red Wings, who mind you were led by one of Canada’s best in Stevie Y, the majority of those rosters were made up of Canadian players.

Now taking a look at the Toronto Maple Leafs roster I see 10 Canadian players. What place do they sit in the standings at this point you ask, dead last, I exclaim with disgust!

The San Jose Sharks sit in first overall and their roster has, how many Canadians you ask again, a whopping 17, hmmm?

Is there a correlation between the lack of a Canadian contingency and the bottom of the barrel where they sit in the standings?

Don Cherry may have an opinion on this and I’d bet it might not be far off from what I am trying to get at here!

Is there something in the Canadian water that breeds heart and a night in and night out determination to win whether playing and scoring the game winning goal in the Stanley Cup finals with a broken leg like Bobby Baun, or getting your face in front of a puck to make a save in the pre-goalie mask era like Johnny Bower?

The Toronto Maple Leafs have no chemistry, a lack of determination, a lack of effort for a complete games and it makes me wonder if their limited number of Canadian players is the key factor to their demise.

When Brian Burke finished putting together the team in Anaheim that won the cup in 06-07 they had a team that was made up by a majority of Canadian players, close to the most in the league at that point.

Will Brian Burke build a similar team in Toronto that would make Harold Ballard proud or will Leafs Nation be left wanting for a team that does justice to the history of Canadian hockey and the great honour that it is to don the Blue and White?

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