These Leafs aren't falling

Sporting News, The, Nov 22, 1993 by Larry Wigge

Success can carry over from one season to the next, and Toronto is a perfect example.

After coming up five victories short of their first Stanley Cup title since 1967, the Maple Leafs are off to the fastest start in club history, and Doug Gilmour, who had a club-record 127 points last season, is again leading the way.

Q. Starting the season with 10 consecutive victories obviously is what every team dreams about, right?

A. This game is so much dictated by momentum that each of the 26 teams would like to get off on the right foot. We had learned Pat Burns' system last season and learned that if we play within that system we will win. We may not be the most talented team in the world, but you get results with hard work.

Q. How much of last season's playoff success carries over to this season?

A. It's funny, but we had to go to seven games in each of our three series before losing to the Los Angeles Kings. You learn a lot about the guys you go out there and fight with every night. You learn to trust them. That kind of chemistry is what so many teams strive for. But you can't say you have it until you go through the kind of winning and losing we did last spring.

Q. Does the team's early success refute suggestions that the Maple Leafs should have made more changes in the offseason?

A. You have to remember that Felix Potvin was getting his first chance to play in the NHL after we traded Grant Fuhr to Buffalo. You also have to remember that Dave Andreychak came to us from the Sabres in that deal, and he was certainly a big help to me on our line and he was a big power-play contributor. And John Cullen has been an important part of our team depth this season. I don't think he was ever really healthy for us last season after he came over from Hartford. I think those were enough changes to last us for a while.

Q. Is sound defense and good goaltending enough to help Toronto win a Stanley Cup?

A. It didn't hurt Montreal, did it? We were only five wins away. Though we don't have the scorers the Pittsburgh Penguins or Edmonton Offers did when they won their Stanley Cups, we know if we play good defense and get the great goaltending that Felix gives us every night, we are going to win our share of games taking advantage of the other team's mistakes and scoring when we catch them off-balance.

Q. Some nights you seem to need only one or two breaks. Is that right?

A. People don't give us enough credit for our scoring depth. Dave Andreychuk, Wendel Clark, John Cullen, Nikolai Borschevsky, Glenn Anderson didn't make it to this league as checkers. People sometimes forget that.

Q. Pat Burns is characterized as a disciplinarian. True or untrue?

A. Pat says he tries to scare his players because they have to be scared to lose if they're going to learn how to win. But, for the most part, he's a players coach. I think you have to be when you are asked to get 20-some very different players to follow you.

Q. You helped Calgary win a Stanley Cup in 1989, but the Flames never used you as their leading man the way the Maple Leafs do.

A. They kept telling me I was getting old, that I couldn't play as well as I did and that my production was going down. I disagreed. I just needed to play more often, and they wouldn't pay me what I felt I deserved. But I knew (Maple Leafs General Manager) Cliff Fletcher from our days in Calgary, and I knew he always treated his players fairly. I looked at the change as a positive move from Day 1, even though the Maple Leafs didn't have a very good team.

Q. Do you consciously try to set the tone of a game with your feisty play?

A. My philosophy is that if a guy hits me, I hit him back. This is a physical game. I know if I hit someone, it might get my teammates going. Unfortunately, sometimes I pick the biggest guy on the other team to hit.

Q. During the playoffs, fans were worried that you were falling away to nothing because of all the ice time you were getting. They sent you all sorts of meals to help you keep your strength up. At 30, does the extra work take a toll on your 5-foot-10, 162-pound body?

A. It was tough forcing myself to eat five or six plates of pasta a day during the playoffs. That's why I came to camp at 175 pounds. I feel better than I did five years ago - mainly because I understand the game better and I understand myself better.

Q. With players getting bigger, stronger and faster, you seem to be getting better. Why?

A. Even if you're small, it doesn't mean you can't succeed. You shouldn't just quit. Put me in a game, and I change from Dr. Jekyll to Mr. Hyde. I go from one extreme to the other. I become so intense that I block out almost everything going on around me, except the game. Coach Burns is always telling me to stay out of trouble. But a good hit gets me pumped up.