August 1996
by Barry Stagg
MIKE GARTNER'S SUMMER WHINE
Figure skating impressionist Mike Gartner and his $1.5 million salary were all shipped by the Toronto Maple Leafs to the desert sands of Phoenix as part of Cliff Fletcher's house cleaning of overpaid hired help. In deploring his trade into the far west, Gartner was true to his briefcase-winger ways. The long time head of the National Hockey League Players Association treated the trade as the breach of a handshake promise by the Leaf's management not to trade him.
Perhaps Gartner should look around the league and see that top dog player Wayne Gretzky has been traded twice in his career and now faces a lonely future as an apparently overpriced free agent. He might also reflect on the other teams that have found him and his six hundred goals wanting. Washington was able to do without him and traded him to the then Minnesota North Stars. The North Stars thought that their own battle for the Stanley Cup would be better fought without Gartner and traded him to the New York Rangers. In the deal that brought Gartner to the Leafs, the Rangers felt correctly that Glenn Anderson would be a better gunner for the elusive Cup than the statistically potent Gartner. The Rangers were right and they went on to win the Stanley Cup with Anderson contributing his typical share of timely, crucial goals.
Gartner arrived in Toronto just in time to be part of the problem that has plagued the team for the past two seasons. A lack of grit and a willingness to avoid painful physical contact with opposing players sent the Leafs spiralling down in the standings and out of the playoffs very early in the past two seasons. Gartner's statistics were healthy, as usual. However the Leafs have found that they too can do without the high scoring winger.
The simple fact that plagues Gartner is that he has not won a Stanley Cup despite his tremendous goal scoring numbers. He has been found to be disposable by four teams all hot on the trail of a league championship. These are the facts for a proud veteran player at the tail end of a Hall of Fame career. However, he has the balm of a very high salary to ease his personal angst. Cliff Fletcher, against most conventional wisdom, gave Gartner a three year contract at $1.5 million per season. That is the contract that Gartner takes to Phoenix and despite his wails about the family upheaval that his trade has caused, he will report and he will play for his paycheques. Perhaps he will find time to continue his alternate career as the shirt and tie head of the Players Union. It remains to be seen whether his tirade against Fletcher will have any impact on any ambition he might have to move into a front office career once his 700th career goal is safely behind him.
Of course Gartner's complaint is really a simple one. The team faltered and overpaid veterans did not produce a winner. Regardless of his outstanding statistics, he was one of the leaders who ultimately did not lead the team to anywhere but early oblivion. So, despite his urbane manner, his articulate way with a sound bite and his all Canadian public profile, he is off-loaded unceremoniously in the same way that Todd Gill, Dave Gagner and Dave Andreychuk have been kicked out of the Toronto dressing room. No matter how wealthy a hockey player becomes and no matter how fine the cut of his suit, in the end his fate is determined by how well he performs in the sweaty, physically unforgiving forum that is a National Hockey League rink. You have to do it on the ice.
For St. John's Maple Leaf fans this house cleaning, the hiring of Mike Murphy as the new Toronto coach and the placement of fiery Mark Hunter as St. John's coach points to a new organizational emphasis on young, spirited hockey players who will supplement their talent with grit, career desperation, and testosterone. Saskatchewan farm boy Wendel Clark is once again the spiritual leader of the Leafs. His hard-nosed attitude is in stark contrast to the style and effort of the dearly departed Gartner. The entire Leaf organization should be jump started to produce exciting, aggressive hockey. The fans in Memorial Stadium and at Maple Leaf Gardens should get ready for some nasty business this winter.
Until next month, be proud, be prosperous.