Three statues are missing from Legends Row

The Toronto Maple Leafs unveiled three new statues on Legends Row this month, honouring Dave Keon, Turk Broda, and Tim Horton. The team has saved its best for its 100th season; certainly if one was going to name a starting lineup of the greatest Leafs players ever, those names would be at the top of the list for consideration.

As a true representation of Leafs legend, in a strict sense of the word, the bronzed bench is missing three key figures: Barilko, Ballard, and Smythe.

Bill Barilko

In the latter years of Maple Leaf Gardens’ life as the home of the Leafs, one of the exterior windows (of the “LeafSport” gift shop, if memory serves) was filled with an enlarged photo of Barilko scoring his last goal. A caption in small type outlined Barilko’s story, as succinctly as The Tragically Hip’s Fifty Mission Cap ballad that tells it.

The story of the goal itself warrants re-telling, as not many Stanley Cup championships are decided in overtime. The defenceman with a penchant for coming in off the point to join offensive plays (to the expressed chagrin of his coach) does exactly that in overtime to bury one. Barilko’s style of flying through the air while scoring a Cup-winning overtime goal was later shamelessly copied by Bobby Orr.

If the story ended there, Barilko would be largely forgotten to history, perhaps notable only for his horizontal orientation as the puck went in. That this was the last shot he would ever take makes all the difference.

Barilko of course died in a plane crash that summer. His body was found just over a decade later, coinciding with the Leafs’ first Cup win after he went missing.

Bill Barilko scored what must be considered the goal in Toronto Maple Leafs history, both for its winning the Cup in one shot (over rival Montreal, to boot) and for helping to build Barilko himself into the stuff of genuine legend. The Tragically Hip song encapsulates the legend in a few short lines, and has become something of a hockey anthem in Canada. Well, amongst Leafs fans anyways.

Barilko is a legend for the Leafs in the same way fellow Leafs alumnus Paul Henderson is for Canada. Both scored some big goals in a short span of games, capped off with historic series-winners.

While neither had the sort of career that would seem to warrant inclusion in a hall of fame or legends row, one flick of their wrists ensured that their legend will live on forever.

Conn Smythe

Every time the Toronto Maple Leafs have won the Stanley Cup, one surname has always been etched into the silvery chalice: Smythe.

Conn Smythe was among the group of investors that bought the Toronto St. Pats in 1927, changing the name to Maple Leafs. He was responsible for the colour change from green to blue the next year.

Perhaps his greatest achievement in relation to the hockey club was the construction of Maple Leaf Gardens in 1931. The arena was built in just over five months at the beginning of the Great Depression, and coincided with the creation of Maple Leaf Gardens Ltd. (MLGL), the forerunner of the current Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment.

Conn Smythe’s legend extends far beyond his hockey team. From his exploits in the trenches of World War One (read Pierre Burton’s Vimy for a gripping account of how Smythe escaped death by NOT pulling his trigger one too many times) to his philanthropy in Toronto, Smythe would have been a notable Toronto icon even without a hockey team.

Hockey fans who today find Don Cherry offensive might have found Smythe similarly brash. His “beat ’em in the alley” mantra became the epitome of the Leafs brand, particularly in contrast to rival Montreal’s speed & finesse. Smythe’s style was more Pat Burns and Brian Burke than Mike Babcock and Lou Lamoriello.

Smythe repeatedly offered to buy the contract of Maurice Richard from the Montreal Canadiens, publicly derided MLGL for allowing Muhammad Ali to fight at the Gardens, and ridiculed the idea of NHL expansion, fearing (forecasting, to some) that it would dilute the pool of talent.

The Smythe name (Conn’s son Stafford served as Leafs general manager, and president of MLGL) is forever linked to the Maple Leafs at the team’s very roots. The Leafs were Conn Smythe’s team in more ways than one. Defeat didn’t rest lightly on his shoulders, and he expected the same of his players. The current management team would seem be exhibiting this same disdain for losing, and Leafs fans can only hope that this attitude finds its way back onto the ice.

Harold Ballard

In order to understand Leafs fans’ fervour over successive conference final appearances in 1993 and 1994, one must understand the dark age that came before. To understand that period, one must understand Harold Ballard.

Harold Ballard deserves to be inducted into Legends Row in the “deconstructor” category. He is unquestionably a Leafs legend, and provides an unparalleled villain to Conn Smythe’s hero in Leafs’ lore. Most Leafs fans pin a quarter century of mediocrity on the former owner.

Under Ballard’s watch, the Maple Leafs managed a team record 13-straight seasons without a winning record. They were perfectly pitiable in the 1980’s, as Ballard kept the budget for players at a bare minimum while routinely selling out the Gardens.

He traded away fan favourite Lanny McDonald, caused Darryl Sittler to walk away from the team, and mistreated Dave Keon to the point that the star would have nothing to do with the club for more than 30 years.

There is simply not enough room on this page to list off Ballard’s transgressions. Suffice it to say that he spent time in Kingston Penitentiary, alienated star players, and ran the storied Maple Leafs into the ground. He makes the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan look like hockey-wise saviours.

Ballard is a Leafs legend, though a bronze statue in his memory might well get carried away in the night and tossed into Lake Ontario.