Hockey Night in Canada was built upon the ancient rivalry of the Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadiens and Saturday night’s renewal at 7 p.m. ET on CBC and NHLN-US will offer rich history and tradition, if little else.
Toronto is in the midst of a disaster of a season while Montreal is a bona fide Stanley Cup contender. But if ever there was a pro sports rivalry where you could throw out the records this would be the one. Fan allegiances for this matchup are generational as is the tradition. It is fitting that the final pre-expansion Stanley Cup Final in 1967 was between the Leafs and Habs to end the Original Six Era. The Leafs won the series in six games, which was their last Stanley Cup Championship. It remains perhaps the greatest and most memorable moment of the Leafs-Habs rivalry as well as one of the bigger upsets in Stanley Cup Final history
Sensational Sixties
In the 1960s the Maple Leafs and Canadiens ruled the NHL by winning the Stanley Cup each year, with the lone exception of 1961 when the Chicago Blackhawks hoisted Hockey’s Holy Grail. The rivalry at that time included a great coaching matchup of Hall of Famers Toe Blake of Montreal and Punch Imlach of Toronto.
Just as the 1967 Final was a fitting end to the Original Six era, the 1960 final was also historic. Legendary Montreal Hall of Famer Maurice Richard ended his career as a Stanley Cup Champion when Montreal defeated Toronto in a four game sweep.
Going Both Ways
Among the most interesting aspects of the rivalry are the players and coaches who ended up working for both teams. Dick Duff, Frank Mahovlich, Dickie Moore, Bert Olmstead, Jacques Plante, and Marcel Pronovost are among the legendary names that wore both the blue and white of Toronto and Montreal’s bleu-blanc-rouge in their careers.
The late Hall of Fame coach Pat Burns coached both teams with a high level of success, although he fell short of winning the Stanley Cup with both teams. He led the Canadiens to the 1989 Stanley Cup Final and led Toronto to the 1993 Campbell Conference Final. That 1993 season would have featured a Leafs-Habs Final had Wayne Gretzky and the Los Angeles Kings had not rallied to beat the Leafs in seven games.
Ken Dryden had the distinction of being a Hall of Fame goaltender for Montreal and then serving as President of the Leafs.
Expansion Cools Hostilities
The Great Expansion of 1967 marked the end of Leafs greatness that has remained ever since. The franchise has become a joke and a mere shell of its former self. Meanwhile, Montreal remained the dominant team in the NHL until 1980 when the New York Islanders dynasty was established. The Habs have had their own Stanley Cup dry spell with their last Stanley Cup title coming in 1993.
Stark Realities of Today
Toronto has become a train wreck of a franchise that has a top heavy organizational chart of executives with poorly defined roles. The Leafs also have a fan base that perhaps comes the closest of any group in sports to resembling human ATM machines. Leaf fans continue to pay exorbitant prices to fill the Air Canada Center and make the team the most valuable franchise in the NHL according to Forbes Magazine.
Ironically, it is that very loyalty of Leafs fans that may actually be a detriment to the on-ice success of the franchise. There has been little incentive for the Toronto brass to truly make the team into a power contender because of the guarantee of sellout crowds and top revenue production.
The best thing that could happen to the Leafs would be a revolt and desertion of their fans, but that is not likely to happen. Much like what was the case with the Chicago Cubs in baseball, the Leafs are a cultural phenomenon. Cubs fans eventually wised up, stopped selling out Wrigley Field, and forced the organization to radically correct its ways as a perennial on-field failure. Leafs Nation would be wise to follow suit.
With a top defenseman in the flamboyant and dominant P.K. Subban and a world class goaltender in Carey Price, Montreal has two of the components necessary for a run to the Stanley Cup Final. Montreal made the Eastern Conference Final last year before running out of gas against the New York Rangers. but remains a top choice to take the next step this spring.
The Canadiens have won their last three meetings with the Leafs including a 4-3 triumph in the last meeting on October 8.
