The last players you’d think the Maple Leafs would seek help from are a Beantowner and a French Canadian.
But rather than checking birth certificates for the bottom six applicants for rivalry purposes, the club only seeks the right demographic of grit and high scoring forwards for regular season in three weeks.
They don’t care if centre Adam Gaudette grew up in a fervent Bruin household, their great playoff nemesis, or that winger Nicholas Aube-Kubel would be one of the rare francophones to wear blue and white in the Kyle Dubas era.
Gaudette, making his third stop in Canada after being drafted by Vancouver and playing half of last year with Ottawa, was pumped to be at the club’s alumni golf tournament Monday, a traditional meet n’ greet for new Leafs.
“My Dad always says playing in the Canadian market is like playing for the Red Sox back home,” he said. “I took a lot of heat being drafted by Vancouver after the 2011 Cup final (Boston beating the Canucks). I come from a sports city, which is why I’m excited to be here. Between the Jays, the Raptors and the Leafs, there’s always a lot of buzz. The Sox are having a tough year, so I guess I’ll cheer for the Jays.
“There’s a lot I’ve taken from everywhere I’ve been to help me out. There’s been a lot of moving around (Vancouver, Chicago and Ottawa the past two years), so it’s good to get in here and get comfortable.”
Gaudette, Aube-Kubel, Calle Jarnkrok, Pontus Holmberg and Zach Aston-Reese are among newcomers who will battle David Kampf, Pierre Engvall, Wayne Simmonds, Kyle Clifford, Nick Robertson and Joey Anderson for checking line and energy line duties.
Yet only free agent Aube-Kubel comes in as a defending Stanley Cup winner with the Colorado Avalanche.
“It was a real cool summer and I’m grateful for that, but now it’s more focusing on camp,” he said. “The regular season means a lot (Colorado won the Western Conference), but you need a good push at the end of the season to start the playoffs feeling confident. That’s what the Avs did well.
“I’m super excited to reproduce that and see what the end of the season will be like here.”
THINK CUP INK
While Stanley Cup rings with previous teams aren’t worn as a rule, Aube-Kubel has a tattoo of Colorado’s title on his leg, complete with the small dent he caused with his Stanley stumble the night the Avs won.
The intricate work was done by a Denver artist, a friend of Aube-Kubel’s.
“I didn’t think about it, but while we were doing it, he said it would be cool if the dent was in there. I thought it was a good idea.”
PRAYERS FOR SALMING
The Leaf Alumni’s annual general meeting last week, attended by about 80 players, was an emotional one as Mark Kirton gave the group an update on Borje Salming, who was diagnosed earlier this summer with ALS. Kirton became aware he had the incurable disease in 2018, but has pressed on with fundraising, lobbying and information seminars.
Former captains Wendel Clark and Rick Vaive played with Salming in the 1980s.
“It’s tough, the most well-fit athlete you’ve ever played with has this happen to him,” Clark said. “He’s having a tough time conversing right now. Mark and Darryl Sittler are keeping us all in the loop.
“He was full of life – who has had more life in everything up to this than him? He always looks like he can play. We’re thinking about him huge, he’s one of the best.”
Vaive says he and the Leafs are respecting Salming’s privacy in Sweden.
“It’s devastating to see something like that. What Mark has gone through is horrible and you just hope Borje has a better outcome.”
CAMPING TENT SETS UP
Many Leafs have been working out at the Ford Centre in private the past few weeks. While most teams do let the media into some of their ‘captain’s skates’, training camp officially starts Wednesday with medicals. Two groups commence on-ice practice Thursday.
The club is likely not releasing its full camp roster until Wednesday morning, allowing for any last-minute changes. That includes the faint hope a new deal for restricted free agent defenceman Rasmus Sandin is done this week, though some salary cap machinations would have to happen first.
LOOSE LEAFS
The Leaf rookies completed the Traverse City Prospects Tournament on Monday with a 4-1 loss to the host Detroit Red Wings. After thumping the Dallas Stars 6-2 in the opener, Toronto lost a chippy 8-3 decision to St. Louis and fell 3-2 to Columbus on Sunday in overtime … Alex Steeves had four points to lead the Leafs at the event, Holmberg had three assists with Graham Slaggert and Semyon Der-Arguchintsev each scoring twice … The Leafs will honour some of the surviving members of Team Canada ’72 at Scotiabank Arena before the Sept. 28 exhibition game against the Canadiens. It will be exactly 50 years since ex-Leaf Paul Henderson’s Game 8 winner to beat the Russians in Moscow … Sittler celebrated a birthday on the weekend. “I’m 72 – that’s 27 backwards,” he quipped en route to the first tee at Rattlesnake Point on Monday … Veteran forward Kurtis Gabriel, who’d hoped to crack the Leafs last year before getting a couple of games with the Blackhawks, has announced his retirement at age 29.
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