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National Post
2 days ago
- Business
- National Post
SIMMONS: Trader Cliff Fletcher turns 90: Maple Leafs legend still going strong
Everywhere Doug Gilmour and Mats Sundin go, they are associated as members of the Toronto Maple Leafs. Associated for life. Article content Both of them were brought to Toronto by general manager Cliff Fletcher in one-sided deals accomplished by the most astounding big-name and big-game trader in hockey history. Article content Everywhere Lanny McDonald goes, everywhere his moustache is shown across Canada, he is associated with the Calgary Flames, the face of that franchise even though he played just 492 of his 1,111 National Hockey League games there. Article content Article content He was brought to Calgary in 1981, the second season after the club moved from Atlanta, in the deal that enabled Fletcher to begin the reshaping of the transferred franchise. Article content All this — and so much more — will be talked about, laughed about and toasted over as stories will be told on Fletcher's 90th birthday on Saturday with 18 family members and friends gathering for the weekend and longer in Laguna Beach, Calif. Article content 'Has anyone else worked 70 years in the NHL?' asked his son, Chuck Fletcher, who still works as a senior executive with the New Jersey Devils. 'My dad started with the Montreal Canadiens in 1955. He's been drawing an NHL paycheque ever since.' Article content Fletcher is on the current payroll of the Maple Leafs in a role of senior advisor, although he admits it's not much of a role anymore. Article content He has trouble walking and difficulty hearing these days, but no trouble watching hockey, talking hockey, or certainly retelling the stories of his own remarkable Hall of Fame career. Article content Article content 'His memory is incredible,' said Chuck, who has worked in the front office of six NHL teams. 'He can tell you everything. You do all the things that he's done and to have the ability to recall all it in such vivid detail, it's very impressive.' Article content Article content What's impressive is the list of accomplishments for his dad along the way. Trading is almost a lost art in today's salary-capped hockey world. But, when it wasn't, Fletcher was a veritable master of the big deal. Article content He stole Gilmour from Calgary just months after he had left the Flames for the Leafs. He all but stole Sundin for 13 Toronto seasons from Quebec in an emotional exchange for Wendel Clark and others in one of the most difficult trades he ever made. He stole McDonald from what was then the Colorado Rockies to begin the Flames footprint in Alberta. Article content He did a lot of stealing along the way. Article content But that wasn't all. In Calgary, he traded for Hall of Famer Joey Mullen and traded away the Hall of Famer Brett Hull. He traded for Grant Fuhr in Toronto and then dealt the Hall of Fame goalie to Buffalo for Hall of Fame winger Dave Andreychuk. He brought Tie Domi to the Leafs, traded for and traded away Larry Murphy, traded Mike Gartner for Glenn Anderson. Article content He drafted Hall of Fame players Al MacInnis, Joe Nieuwednyk, Mike Vernon, Hull and Sergei Makarov with the Flames, while also bringing borderline Hall players such as Gary Roberts, Gary Suter, Theo Fleury, Kent Nilsson and Paul Reinhart to the NHL. Article content The resume has just one Stanley Cup — the 1989 victory by the Flames — and that seems wrong. It should have more. At least one more from Calgary. And who knows what might have happened had the refereeing turned out differently in the 1993 Leafs playoff series against Los Angeles. Article content Article content But when Fletcher looks back now at so many exceptional deals, he does so with a certain pride and reverence. Article content 'For 2 1/2 years, Gilmour was the best player in the NHL … I thought we brought instant credibility back to the franchise at that time,' Fletcher said in a lengthy telephone interview. Article content 'Lanny gave our franchise credibility (in Calgary) when we had this all-time juggernaut just 180 miles down the road in Edmonton and had to establish something to compete. Article content Article content 'Quebec had Joe Sakic and Peter Forsberg as its top two centres. Mats was the third centre on that team and they had just lost a playoff series to Montreal getting outmuscled pretty badly. They needed toughness. They needed someone like Wendel. I always thought the best way to make a trade sometimes was to figure out what your opponent needed to make their roster better and, if worked for both of you, terrific. Article content 'That happened with the Brett Hull trade. I said when we dealt him, that he would score 150 goals the next three seasons. Turned out I was wrong, I think he scored 160. But we wound up winning the Stanley Cup (with Rob Ramage). You never want to trade a player like that away, but that's my only championship and I'll take that deal any day of the week to get a Stanley Cup. Article content 'You know, I was able to trade Brett because we had Joey Mullen, a 50-goal scorer at right wing. We had Hakan Loob, a 50-goal scorer and we had Lanny, all on right wing.' Article content Of all the famous deals made, the one that rarely gets mentioned is a deal close to Fletcher's heart. Article content Article content 'I won't call it my biggest trade, but it might be the most significant,' Fletcher said. Article content In August of 1987, Fletcher acquired defenceman Brad McCrimmon from Philadelphia in exchange for a first- and third-round draft pick. That was before his famous 'Draft Shmaft' line in Toronto became famous. But the importance of the deal remains with Trader Cliff. Article content 'We gave up a lot for Brad McCrimmon, but he did so much for us. He was our leader in the dressing room. He was our leader on the ice and a very physical presence. He ran the room. In a way he ran our team. You can't underestimate what he meant to us. Article content 'The Flames team that won the Cup in '89 had six Hall of Fame players on it, but we were almost eliminated in the first round to Vancouver, who finished 40 points behind us. If Vernon doesn't make two career-like stops in overtime, we're gone — there is no Stanley Cup. After that, we go on to beat L.A. in four, Chicago in five before beating Montreal in six. That's how close it can be between winning and losing. Article content 'In 1986, things were different then. They didn't schedule days off between playoff series. We played St. Louis in the conference finals and went seven games with them, even though we shouldn't have. The final started right after Game 7. We ran out of gas by about Game 3. The way they schedule things today, with more time off, we might have won that year.' Article content That was the year they knocked out the dynastic Edmonton Oilers, interrupting what could have been a run of five straight Stanley Cups. Those were the Oilers of Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier, Fuhr and Paul Coffey. The Oilers they sometimes played 18 times a season. Article content 'You have to understand, we move from Atlanta, we're the nobodies trying to establish ourselves and there's this all-time juggernaut building just down the highway. It was an incredible challenge to build a team that could compete with them, let alone win. Article content 'I'm proud of what we accomplished in Calgary.' Article content The hockey in Alberta in the 80s may have been the greatest NHL hockey ever played. Article content Article content When Fletcher decided to leave the Flames, where he had begun as expansion general manager in Atlanta, after the 1991 season, he thought he would take a year off and enjoy Florida life. Article content Instead, he immediately was sought after by the two wealthiest teams in the NHL. Both the New York Rangers and Leafs offered him front-office control of their hockey operations. He listened to both pitches and he chose Toronto. Article content At the beginning of his second season with the Leafs, his first with full-time Gilmour, his first with Pat Burns coaching, the Blue Jays scored their first of two consecutive World Series victories. Article content 'Toronto was electric back then, sporting wise' said Fletcher, whose two children grew into adults in Toronto. (His daughter Kristy is the COO of the Juno Awards). 'What the Blue Jays did — we respected their operation so much — was incredible. Their excitement became part of our excitement.' Article content As Fletcher gets ready to celebrate his 90th birthday, he knows that Pat Gillick, the architect of those Blue Jays teams, has a birthday coming up in just a few days: 'He's just a few years behind me. I think he's turning 88.' Article content Article content When Fletcher came to Toronto, he got to know one of the board members of the Leafs — including a guy named Ted Rogers. Article content All these years later, Ted has long since passed and the Leafs are corporately owned by Ted's, son Edward. The board Ted was part of was tossed aside when Steve Stavro took ownership control of the Leafs. Article content And Fletcher, who had two different stints as GM, with Stavro and with Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, has remained with the team through the past five general managers and, while he doesn't travel much anymore, he doesn't miss a game on television. Article content 'I know how seriously he takes this,' Chuck said. 'I've sat with him for a lot of those Leafs playoff games. And he's a diehard, He's all-in. And that Florida series last year, with all the highs and lows of that series, that was a tough one to get through.'
Toronto Sun
2 days ago
- Business
- Toronto Sun
SIMMONS: Trader Cliff Fletcher turns 90: Maple Leafs legend still going strong
One of the NHL's all-time best wheelers and dealers, Fletcher marks a big milestone birthday this weekend. Get the latest from Steve Simmons straight to your inbox Former Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Cliff Fletcher smiles at a press conference in 2008. Postmedia files Everywhere Doug Gilmour and Mats Sundin go, they are associated as members of the Toronto Maple Leafs. Associated for life. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account Both of them were brought to Toronto by general manager Cliff Fletcher in one-sided deals accomplished by the most astounding big-name and big-game trader in hockey history. Everywhere Lanny McDonald goes, everywhere his moustache is shown across Canada, he is associated with the Calgary Flames, the face of that franchise even though he played just 492 of his 1,111 National Hockey League games there. He was brought to Calgary in 1981, the second season after the club moved from Atlanta, in the deal that enabled Fletcher to begin the reshaping of the transferred franchise. All this — and so much more — will be talked about, laughed about and toasted over as stories will be told on Fletcher's 90th birthday on Saturday with 18 family members and friends gathering for the weekend and longer in Laguna Beach, Calif. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. 'Has anyone else worked 70 years in the NHL?' asked his son, Chuck Fletcher, who still works as a senior executive with the New Jersey Devils. 'My dad started with the Montreal Canadiens in 1955. He's been drawing an NHL paycheque ever since.' Fletcher is on the current payroll of the Maple Leafs in a role of senior advisor, although he admits it's not much of a role anymore. He has trouble walking and difficulty hearing these days, but no trouble watching hockey, talking hockey, or certainly retelling the stories of his own remarkable Hall of Fame career. 'His memory is incredible,' said Chuck, who has worked in the front office of six NHL teams. 'He can tell you everything. You do all the things that he's done and to have the ability to recall all it in such vivid detail, it's very impressive.' Your noon-hour look at what's happening in Toronto and beyond. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Former Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Cliff Fletcher covers his mouth while on the phone in 2008. Postmedia files What's impressive is the list of accomplishments for his dad along the way. Trading is almost a lost art in today's salary-capped hockey world. But, when it wasn't, Fletcher was a veritable master of the big deal. He stole Gilmour from Calgary just months after he had left the Flames for the Leafs. He all but stole Sundin for 13 Toronto seasons from Quebec in an emotional exchange for Wendel Clark and others in one of the most difficult trades he ever made. He stole McDonald from what was then the Colorado Rockies to begin the Flames footprint in Alberta. He did a lot of stealing along the way. But that wasn't all. In Calgary, he traded for Hall of Famer Joey Mullen and traded away the Hall of Famer Brett Hull. He traded for Grant Fuhr in Toronto and then dealt the Hall of Fame goalie to Buffalo for Hall of Fame winger Dave Andreychuk. He brought Tie Domi to the Leafs, traded for and traded away Larry Murphy, traded Mike Gartner for Glenn Anderson. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. He drafted Hall of Fame players Al MacInnis, Joe Nieuwednyk, Mike Vernon, Hull and Sergei Makarov with the Flames, while also bringing borderline Hall players such as Gary Roberts, Gary Suter, Theo Fleury, Kent Nilsson and Paul Reinhart to the NHL. The resume has just one Stanley Cup — the 1989 victory by the Flames — and that seems wrong. It should have more. At least one more from Calgary. And who knows what might have happened had the refereeing turned out differently in the 1993 Leafs playoff series against Los Angeles. But when Fletcher looks back now at so many exceptional deals, he does so with a certain pride and reverence. 'For 2 1/2 years, Gilmour was the best player in the NHL … I thought we brought instant credibility back to the franchise at that time,' Fletcher said in a lengthy telephone interview. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. 'Lanny gave our franchise credibility (in Calgary) when we had this all-time juggernaut just 180 miles down the road in Edmonton and had to establish something to compete. 'Quebec had Joe Sakic and Peter Forsberg as its top two centres. Mats was the third centre on that team and they had just lost a playoff series to Montreal getting outmuscled pretty badly. They needed toughness. They needed someone like Wendel. I always thought the best way to make a trade sometimes was to figure out what your opponent needed to make their roster better and, if worked for both of you, terrific. 'That happened with the Brett Hull trade. I said when we dealt him, that he would score 150 goals the next three seasons. Turned out I was wrong, I think he scored 160. But we wound up winning the Stanley Cup (with Rob Ramage). You never want to trade a player like that away, but that's my only championship and I'll take that deal any day of the week to get a Stanley Cup. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. 'You know, I was able to trade Brett because we had Joey Mullen, a 50-goal scorer at right wing. We had Hakan Loob, a 50-goal scorer and we had Lanny, all on right wing.' Of all the famous deals made, the one that rarely gets mentioned is a deal close to Fletcher's heart. 'I won't call it my biggest trade, but it might be the most significant,' Fletcher said. In August of 1987, Fletcher acquired defenceman Brad McCrimmon from Philadelphia in exchange for a first- and third-round draft pick. That was before his famous 'Draft Shmaft' line in Toronto became famous. But the importance of the deal remains with Trader Cliff. 'We gave up a lot for Brad McCrimmon, but he did so much for us. He was our leader in the dressing room. He was our leader on the ice and a very physical presence. He ran the room. In a way he ran our team. You can't underestimate what he meant to us. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. 'The Flames team that won the Cup in '89 had six Hall of Fame players on it, but we were almost eliminated in the first round to Vancouver, who finished 40 points behind us. If Vernon doesn't make two career-like stops in overtime, we're gone — there is no Stanley Cup. After that, we go on to beat L.A. in four, Chicago in five before beating Montreal in six. That's how close it can be between winning and losing. 'In 1986, things were different then. They didn't schedule days off between playoff series. We played St. Louis in the conference finals and went seven games with them, even though we shouldn't have. The final started right after Game 7. We ran out of gas by about Game 3. The way they schedule things today, with more time off, we might have won that year.' This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. That was the year they knocked out the dynastic Edmonton Oilers, interrupting what could have been a run of five straight Stanley Cups. Those were the Oilers of Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier, Fuhr and Paul Coffey. The Oilers they sometimes played 18 times a season. 'You have to understand, we move from Atlanta, we're the nobodies trying to establish ourselves and there's this all-time juggernaut building just down the highway. It was an incredible challenge to build a team that could compete with them, let alone win. 'I'm proud of what we accomplished in Calgary.' The hockey in Alberta in the 80s may have been the greatest NHL hockey ever played. When Fletcher decided to leave the Flames, where he had begun as expansion general manager in Atlanta, after the 1991 season, he thought he would take a year off and enjoy Florida life. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Instead, he immediately was sought after by the two wealthiest teams in the NHL. Both the New York Rangers and Leafs offered him front-office control of their hockey operations. He listened to both pitches and he chose Toronto. At the beginning of his second season with the Leafs, his first with full-time Gilmour, his first with Pat Burns coaching, the Blue Jays scored their first of two consecutive World Series victories. 'Toronto was electric back then, sporting wise' said Fletcher, whose two children grew into adults in Toronto. (His daughter Kristy is the COO of the Juno Awards). 'What the Blue Jays did — we respected their operation so much — was incredible. Their excitement became part of our excitement.' This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. As Fletcher gets ready to celebrate his 90th birthday, he knows that Pat Gillick, the architect of those Blue Jays teams, has a birthday coming up in just a few days: 'He's just a few years behind me. I think he's turning 88.' From left. Cliff Fletcher, Larry Murphy, Paul Coffey and Raymond Bourque show off their hockey hall of fame rings. Postmedia files When Fletcher came to Toronto, he got to know one of the board members of the Leafs — including a guy named Ted Rogers. All these years later, Ted has long since passed and the Leafs are corporately owned by Ted's, son Edward. The board Ted was part of was tossed aside when Steve Stavro took ownership control of the Leafs. And Fletcher, who had two different stints as GM, with Stavro and with Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, has remained with the team through the past five general managers and, while he doesn't travel much anymore, he doesn't miss a game on television. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. 'I know how seriously he takes this,' Chuck said. 'I've sat with him for a lot of those Leafs playoff games. And he's a diehard, He's all-in. And that Florida series last year, with all the highs and lows of that series, that was a tough one to get through.' Read More Fletcher jokes that he plans on living long enough to see the Leafs win a Stanley Cup. He says he has no intention of 'leaving this side of the lawn' before that happens. But about this season, who knows? 'In my own mind, I second-guess everything going on around the league like any other fan or media member,' he said. 'It'll be a challenging time for them. Mitch Marner is one of the best players in the NHL. He wasn't coming back and it's up to us now — Brad Treliving and his crew — to find a way to get around it. 'I have so much respect for the current organization that I'm sure they will recover and go back to being one of the best teams in the league.' Either way, Cliff Fletcher will have his say. Either from his couch in Arizona or from his Leaf-issued cell phone. ssimmons@ Other Sports World Canada Sunshine Girls Wrestling
National Post
2 days ago
- Business
- National Post
Happy 90th birthday Trader Cliff: Still alive, still well, still loving the Maple Leafs
Everywhere Doug Gilmour and Mats Sundin go, they are associated as members of the Toronto Maple Leafs. Associated for life. Both of them were brought to Toronto by general manager Cliff Fletcher in one-sided deals accomplished by the most astounding big name and big game trader in hockey history. Everywhere Lanny McDonald goes, everywhere his moustache is shown across Canada, he is associated with the Calgary Flames, the face of that franchise even though he played just 492 of his 1,111 National Hockey League games there. He was brought to Calgary in 1981, the second season after the club moved from Atlanta, in the deal that enabled Fletcher to begin the reshaping of the transferred franchise. All this – and so much more – will be talked about, laughed about, and toasted over as stories will be told on Fletcher's 90th birthday on Saturday with 18 family members and friends gathering for the weekend and longer in Laguna Beach, Calif. 'Has anyone else worked 70 years in the NHL?' asked his son, Chuck Fletcher, who still works as a senior executive with the New Jersey Devils. 'My dad started with the Montreal Canadiens in 1955. 'He's been drawing an NHL paycheque ever since.' Fletcher is on current payroll of the Maple Leafs in a role of senior advisor, although he admits it's not much of a role anymore. He has trouble walking and difficulty hearing these days but no trouble watching hockey, talking hockey, or certainly retelling the stories of his own remarkable Hall of Fame career. 'His memory is incredible,' said Chuck, who has worked in the front office of six NHL teams. 'He can tell you everything. You do all the things that he's done and to have the ability to recall all it in such vivid detail, it's very impressive.' What's impressive is the list of accomplishments for his dad along the way. Trading is almost a lost art in today's salary capped hockey world. But when it wasn't, Fletcher was a veritable master of the big deal. He stole Gilmour from Calgary just months after he had left the Flames for the Leafs. He all but stole Sundin for 13 Toronto seasons from Quebec in an emotional exchange for Wendel Clark and others in one of the most difficult trades he ever made. He stole McDonald from what was then the Colorado Rockies to begin the Flames footprint in Alberta. He did a lot of stealing along the way. But that wasn't all. In Calgary, he traded for Hall of Famer Joey Mullen and traded away the Hall of Famer Brett Hull. He traded for Grant Fuhr in Toronto and then dealt the Hall of Fame goalie to Buffalo for Hall of Fame winger Dave Andreychuk. He brought Tie Domi to the Leafs, traded for and traded away, Larry Murphy, traded Mike Gartner for Glenn Anderson and drafted Hall of Fame players Al MacInnis, Joe Nieuwednyk, Mike Vernon, Hull and Sergei Makarov with the Flames while also bringing borderline Hall players such as Gary Roberts, Gary Suter, Theo Fleury, Kent Nilsson and Paul Reinhart to the NHL. The resume has just one Stanley Cup, the 1989 victory by the Flames. And that seems wrong. It should have more. At least one more from Calgary. And who knows what might have happened had the refereeing turned out differently in the 1993 Leafs playoff series against Los Angeles. But when Fletcher looks back now at so many exceptional deals, he does so with a certain pride and reverence. 'For 2 1/2 years Gilmour was the best player in the NHL… I thought we brought instant credibility back to the franchise at that time. 'Lanny gave our franchise credibility (in Calgary) when we had this all-time juggernaut just 180 miles down the road in Edmonton and had to establish something to compete. 'Quebec had Joe Sakic and Peter Forsberg as its top two centres. Mats was the third centre on that team and they had just lost a playoff series to Montreal getting outmuscled pretty badly. They needed toughness. They needed someone like Wendel. I always thought the best way to make a trade sometimes was to figure out what your opponent needed to make their roster better and if worked for both of you, terrific. 'That happened with the Brett Hull trade. I said when we dealt him, that he would score 150 goals the next three seasons. Turned out I was wrong, I think he scored 160. But we wound up winning the Stanley Cup (with Rob Ramage). You never want to trade a player like that away, but that's my only championship and I'll take that deal any day of the week to get a Stanley Cup. You know I was able to trade Brett because we had Joey Mullen, a 50-goal scorer at right wing; we had Hakan Loob, a 50-goal scorer and we had Lanny, all on right wing.' Of all the famous deals made, the one that rarely gets mentioned is a deal close to Fletcher's heart. 'I won't call it my biggest trade, but it might be the most significant,' said Fletcher in a lengthy telephone interview. In August of 1987, Fletcher acquired defenceman Brad McCrimmon from Philadelphia in exchange for a first and third round draft pick. That was before his famous Draft Shmaft line in Toronto became famous. But the importance of the deal remains with Trader Cliff. 'We gave up a lot for Brad McCrimmon, but he did so much for us. He was our leader in the dressing room. He was our leader on the ice and a very physical presence. He ran the room. In a way he ran our team. You can't underestimate what he meant to us. 'The Flames team that won the Cup in '89 had six Hall of Fame players on it but we were almost eliminated in the first round to Vancouver who finished 40 points behind us. If Vernon doesn't make two career like stops in overtime, we're gone. There is no Stanley Cup. After that, we go on to beat LA in four, Chicago in five before beating Montreal in six. That's how close it can be between winning and losing. 'In 1986, things were different then. They didn't schedule days off between playoff series. We played St. Louis in the conference finals and went seven games with them, even though we should't have. The Final started right after Game 7. We ran out of gas by about Game 3. The way they schedule things today, with more time off, we might have won that year.' That was the year they knocked out the dynastic Edmonton Oilers, interrupting what could have been a run of five straight Stanley Cups. Those were the Oilers of Gretzky, Messier, Fuhr and Coffey. The Oilers they sometimes played 18 times a season. 'You have to understand, we move from Atlanta, we're the nobodies trying to establish ourselves and there's this all-time juggernaut building just down the highway. It was an incredible challenge to build a team that could compete with them, let alone win. 'I'm proud of what we accomplished in Calgary.' The hockey in Alberta in the 80s may have been the greatest NHL hockey ever played. When Fletcher decided to leave the Flames, where he had begun as expansion general manager in Atlanta, after the 1991 season, he thought he would take a year off and enjoy Florida life. Instead, he was immediately sought after by the two wealthiest teams in the NHL. Both the New York Rangers and Leafs offered him front office control of their hockey operations. He listened to both pitches. He chose Toronto. At the beginning of his second season with the Leafs, his first with full-time Gilmour, his first with Pat Burns coaching, the Blue Jays won their first of two consecutive World Series victories. 'Toronto was electric back then, sporting wise' said Fletcher, whose two children grew into adults in Toronto. (His daughter Kristy is the COO of the Juno Awards). 'What the Blue Jays did – we respected their operation so much – was incredible. Their excitement became part of our excitement.' As Fletcher gets ready to celebrate his 90th he knows that Pat Gillick, the architect of those Blue Jays teams, has a birthday coming up in just a few days. 'He's just a few years behind me. I think he's turning 88.' When Fletcher came to Toronto, he got to know one of the board members of the Leafs. Guy named Ted Rogers. All these years later, Ted has long since passed and the Leafs are corporately owned by Ted's, son Edward. The board Ted was part of was tossed aside when Steve Stavro took ownership control of the Leafs. And Fletcher, who had two different stints as GM, with Stavro and with Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, has remained with the team through the past five general managers and while he doesn't travel much anymore, he doesn't miss a game on television. 'I know how seriously he takes this,' said Chuck. 'I've sat with him for a lot of those Leaf playoff games. And he's a diehard, He's all in. And that Florida series last year, with all the highs and lows of that series, that was a tough one to get through.' Fletcher jokes that he plans on living long enough to see the Leafs win a Stanley Cup. He says he has no intention of 'leaving this side of the lawn' before that happens. But about this season, who knows? 'In my own mind, I second-guess everything going on around the league like any other fan or media member,' he said. 'It'll be a challenging time for them. Mitch Marner is one of the best players in the NHL. He wasn't coming back and it's up to us now – Brad Treliving and his crew – to find a way to get around it. I have so much respect for the current organization that I'm sure they will recover and go back to being one of the best teams in the league.'
New York Times
06-03-2025
- Business
- New York Times
NHL rumblings: Lightning go all in, Devils' injuries create Metro power shift and John Gibson market
No first-round pick until 2028? 'Draft schmaft,' Hockey Hall of Fame executive Cliff Fletcher once famously said as general manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs. Today's Cliff Fletcher is undoubtedly Julien BriseBois. No GM in the NHL is more comfortable going for it than the Tampa Bay Lightning's BriseBois, who now doesn't have a first-round pick for the next three drafts. From Blake Coleman to Barclay Goodrow to Brandon Hagel to Tanner Jeannot to Wednesday's trade for Yanni Gourde and Oliver Bjorkstrand, BriseBois has dealt away seven first-round draft picks. Not to mention other picks. Advertisement When you've won two Stanley Cups and gone to another Cup Final in that span and you're in a position to chase another championship? It all seems worth it through that lens. 'Winning the Stanley Cup is hard, and it is what drives us and guides us in our decision-making,' BriseBois told The Athletic on Wednesday after his blockbuster trade with the Seattle Kraken. 'You need good players to win a championship. The more good players you have, the better your odds are. I am trying to assemble as many good players on our team as possible and using our draft picks to do so. 'The value in having draft picks lies in our ability to convert them into players that can help us win NHL hockey games. We used some draft capital to add two good players that will help us win more games this season and beyond. Ultimately, the calculation is that trying and failing will yield less regret than failing to try.' I love that last part. The biggest regret is not taking a swing, win or lose. The Jeannot trade was a bust. But Hagel has blossomed into a star who just helped Team Canada win 4 Nations, and Coleman and Goodrow won a Cup with Tampa Bay. BriseBois' record on these is pretty good. Is it an overpay for Gourde — a player the Lightning know well — and Bjorkstrand? Maybe. But the Lightning once again zeroed in on what they wanted and got it done. Draft schmaft indeed. Could a shifting playoff picture in the Metro Division affect Friday's trade deadline? Or rather, vice-versa? The New Jersey Devils have been whacked with injuries to their franchise center Jack Hughes and now to top blueliner Dougie Hamilton in the past week. It's ridiculous bad luck, and losing Hughes for the entire season is just brutal news. Devils GM Tom Fitzgerald is working the phones and is intent on finding help before Friday's deadline. There's no white flag there despite the key injuries. GO DEEPER With Jack Hughes out, where could the Devils turn at center? But it unfortunately begs the question: Is third place in the Metro suddenly in play for the Columbus Blue Jackets or the New York Rangers? Columbus on Wednesday morning woke up four points behind New Jersey with two games in hand. The Rangers have actually been sellers, but the defending President Trophy winners still have a decent shot to make the playoffs. Advertisement And where does that leave the Islanders? Could Tuesday's win over the league-leading Winnipeg Jets embolden GM Lou Lamoriello to stay in the fight? I still think it's more likely he trades pending UFA Brock Nelson if he can't re-sign him, but as of Wednesday evening, one league source said it could still go a number of different ways. Which is wild in itself, this late in the proceedings. GO DEEPER What I'm hearing about the Islanders' Brock Nelson trade (and extension) talks As for the Blue Jackets, it's extremely likely they're keeping hold of pending unrestricted free agent Ivan Provorov. I believe for sure the defenseman would fetch a first-round pick if they did move him. There were more talks this week between GM Don Waddell and Provorov's agent, Mark Gandler, and the gap remains fairly wide in what an extension looks like for each side. But part of that conversation, I believe, was agreeing that they could resume that contract discussion after the season and that he most likely wasn't going anywhere now. I won't say 100 percent Provorov won't get moved because I think Waddell has kept open the possibility that a team might lose its mind in an offer he can't refuse. But all things being equal, I think Provorov will stay put. My sense is the Jackets would like to add a forward before Friday's deadline and preferably a forward signed past this season — not a rental. And finally, there's the Carolina Hurricanes in second place in the Metro — a veritable Cup contender every year. But what do the Canes look like if they flip pending UFA Mikko Rantanen before Friday's deadline? League sources Wednesday said Carolina had stepped up its talks with teams regarding what they might be willing to do in a Rantanen trade. It doesn't mean he's for sure getting dealt, but man, he sure could be. How does Carolina look like a better team after that? Depends on the return, obviously. Advertisement But between a potential Rantanen trade and the Devils' loss of Jack Hughes for the season, I truly wonder how the standings end up in the Metro and how much of it is also a result of the moves we see before Friday's 3 p.m. ET deadline. Likely. Never say never, but the two most logical destinations for the Anaheim Ducks netminder don't appear to be fits ahead of the deadline. The Edmonton Oilers, despite Stuart Skinner's struggles, don't appear to see Gibson as a true upgrade and aren't keen on his contract, which has two remaining years after this one at a $6.4 million average annual value. I don't think the Oilers see a realistic upgrade on the market at the moment. The Carolina Hurricanes, who had advanced trade talks with the Ducks last summer on Gibson, have had on-again, off-again dialogue with Anaheim again this season, but I don't sense it's likely happening before Friday's deadline for a couple of reasons. First, Frederik Andersen has been solid since returning, with a .911 save percentage on the season and a 6.6 goals saved above expected, according to MoneyPuck. And of course, the Canes are high on No. 1 Pyotr Kochetkov. So there isn't the urgency that might have been there had Andersen stunk out the joint or got hurt again, at least not yet. Secondly, I believe there's a very different view between the Ducks and Canes on what a Gibson trade return should be. I think Anaheim believes that if it's retaining salary on Gibson for the remainder of his contract — plus the fact that the 31-year-old goalie has played well this year (14.7 goals saved above expected) — they should be able to get a first-round pick. That opinion is not shared, clearly, by the Canes. Obviously a lot can change in the next two days before the deadline, but as it stood on Wednesday, it didn't look like Gibson was going anywhere.
