Why Wendel remains the greatest Toronto Maple Leafs player of all time

Chris Hardill is a Peterborough native whose column appears weekly in the Examiner during hockey season. My family and closest friends know that I have always been a passionate fan of the Toronto Maple Leafs. This fandom started in the early 1990s. I was fortunate to attend Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto on numerous occasions with my father to watch the blue and white take the ice. There was nothing better as a youngster than walking through the doors at Church and Carlton streets to hear legend Paul Morris announce the starting lineup and organist Jimmy Holmstrom pump up the crowd with various tunes. I was recently asked who my favourite Maple Leaf of all time was. While most individuals would expect my answer to be a goaltender, surprisingly it was not. While I was a fan of Felix Potvin, Curtis Joseph, Ed Belfour, Jeff Reese and Allan Bester, none of these netminders could be dubbed my all-time favourite Leaf. Similar to the aforementioned puckstoppers, I had an extensive list of Leafs that I adored, including Doug Gilmour and Mats Sundin. However, my all-time favourite Leaf was a player from Kelvington, Sask., who was selected first overall in the 1985 NHL Entry Draft. This player had an incredible combination of skill and tenacity. That player is Wendel Clark. Clark had three tours of duty with the buds and concluded his NHL career with 330 goals, 564 points and 1,690 penalty minutes in 793 regular season games. He also added 69 points in 95 postseason contests. Clark sits atop the Leafs' all-time leaders in playoff goals with 34. Clark was a ferocious player with the ability to dish out thunderous bodychecks and timely goals courtesy of his blistering wrist shot. Clark feared no one and did not back down from any of the leagues top pugilists in the '80s and '90s. Despite standing just five feet 11 inches and weighing 197 pounds, 'Captain Crunch' repeatedly took on notable enforcers such as Bob Probert, Marty McSorley, Rick Tocchet, John Kordic and Behn Wilson. Diehard Leaf fans can recall several memorable moments in Clark's illustrious Leafs career. These include his bone-crushing hit on St. Louis Blues defender Bruce Bell in 1986 that left Bell unconscious, as well as Clark's spirited bout in the 1993 postseason versus heavyweight McSorley of the Los Angeles Kings. Clark and McSorley exchanged blows after McSorley clipped Gilmour with an elbow just inside the Kings' blue line. Further moments etched in Leaf fans' memories are Clark's lethal slap shot in 1993 that ricocheted off the mask of Curtis Joseph, dislodging it from the St. Louis Blues netminder's head. There was also Clark's retaliatory punch to the back of the head of another Blues goalie, Jon Casey, during the 1996 Western Conference quarterfinals — a punch dubbed a 'cocobonk' by long-time colour commentator Harry Neale. If the younger generation wants evidence of Clark's toughness, physicality and goal-scoring ability, they can reference YouTube. They will view jaw-dropping reels including footage of Clark viciously pummeling Minnesota North Star Bob Brooke into the ice in 1988. If only there was a way to turn back the clock and add the 1993 version of Clark to the current Maple Leafs roster to play alongside the likes of Auston Matthews, William Nylander and John Tavares. It's widely known the Leafs have lacked playoff intensity for an extended period of time and their postseason results have been dismal. A young Clark in the prime of his career would provide the intimidation and grit the new era Leafs have so desperately lacked. Clark was 'a nail gun' and as tough as they come. He goes down as my favourite Leaf of all time. Opinion articles are based on the author's interpretations and judgments of facts, data and events. More details