Final Leafs eulogy by me on FB. No more after this. I blame Harold Ballard and Leafs management of the 70s. They brought on the Dave Keon curse! By not respecting one of the all time Leaf greats, Keon vowed the Leafs would never win another cup. Early into the 1974–75 season, Ballard publicly blasted Keon, saying that the team was not getting good leadership from its captain and vowing never again to agree to a no-trade clause in a contract, as he had with Keon. When Keons contract expired at the end of the season, Ballard made it clear that there was no place for him on the Leafs. The Leafs believed they had some strong young prospects at centre who needed more ice time, and Keon was again asking for a contract with a no-trade clause. The 35-year-old Keon was told he could make his own deal with another NHL team, but any club signing him would have been required to provide compensation to the Leafs. Ballard set the compensation price so high that other teams shied away from signing him, even though the Leafs had no intention of keeping him. In effect, Ballard had blocked Keon from going to another NHL team. Keon had to sign with an AHL club and the curse started. To get rid of the curse, Leafs brass must do one thing and one thing only. Retire Leaf numbers! Retire Johnny Bowers, Mahovolich, Birilko, Keon, Sittler etc! Honor the greats like Montreal does. No other player should ever wear those numbers! That is my idea. I know the Leaf Head of Operations, Tim Leiweke, reads my status updates so it could get done! 😃
Posted on: Sun, 30 Mar 2014 23:05:16 +0000
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