43 Years of Maple Leaf Frustration: 1986-87 Season

Harold Ballard had a tendency to hire coach and managers with no NHL experience likely because they came cheap. Gerry McNamara, Mike Nykoluk, Floyd Smith, Joe Crozier, and Dan Maloney all were hired with no experience and invariably once they picked up some job skills they were gone. Dan Maloney was no different.  When his contract expired during the offseason Ballard refused to give him a two year contract with a modest raise.  He was likely the lowest paid coach in the league with no security.  So he quit.  The next day the Winnipeg Jets signed him.  For some reason McNamara made no effort to sign Maloney.  Yet he worked out a four year contract for himself several months later.

Finding a new coach for Leafs was not a simple process - he had to be cheap, he had to be someone from the Leaf organization and he had to be someone Ballard liked.  This time around it was John Brophy.  John Brophy turned out to be a huge blunder for McNamara and one of the most controversial individuals to walk the halls of Maple Leaf Gardens.  He was a career minor league player and coach and totally unequipped to handle young players.  He was a tough disciplinarian with an explosive temper. Meanwhile, McNamara tough approach to negotiating contracts offended many players who forced the manager to trade them in a series of bad moves that saw the Leafs trade Steve Thomas, Gary Nylund, Bob McGill and Rick Vaive.

The Leafs stumbled through the season but made the playoffs when the Minnesota North Stars collapsed late in the season (they qualified through a tie breaker). Although the Leafs were able to advance past the St. Louis Blues they were once again unable to advance to the third round. During the season long-term Maple Leaf King Clancy had to undergo surgery to remove his gall bladder. Unfortunately, infection from the gall bladder seeped into his body during surgery, causing him to go into septic shock. He died November 10th, 1986.  Young star player Wendel Clark missed 14 games with a back problem that became chronic because of poor care provided by the Leaf doctors. The team's leading scorer was Russ Courtnall who along with Wendel Clark and Gary Leeman formed a decent line referred to the Hound line.