43 Years of Maple Leaf Frustration: 1997-98 Season

The 1997-98 season brought in the era of the five-headed management monster in MLG.

Ken Dryden was hired as president and was looking to totally revamp the entire organization. Well the first problem was his inability to lure someone to serve as his general manager. He tried wooing former Canadiens teammate Bob Gainey from Minnesota among others. So finally hired himself as GM. Then he named Mike Smith as associate GM, scout Anders Hedberg had the title of assistant GM, and Bill Watters was assistant to the President (did that make him an assistant to the GM too?). Let's not forget Pat Quinn as coach. Smith really wanted to be the GM and barely spoke to Dryden. Hedberg was totally frustrated by Dryden's slow and methodical decision-making. Not sure if Watters had anything to do. Meanwhile Quinn who had been both President and GM with Vancouver was just trying to coach.

Not surprising for the second season in a row the Maple Leafs would struggle all season finishing with a 30-43-9 record. The Leafs finished 20th out of 16 teams finishing last in the Central Division. The 1997-98 NHL season was the Toronto Maple Leafs last full season at Maple Leaf Gardens and last season in the Western Conference. It was also the final season for the controversial "FoxTrax"puck system (see below). Just a few days before the season's start, Mats Sundin became their 16th Captain and their first European Captain in their 80 year history.

Following the season Pat Quinn stepped in between the feuding Dryden and Smith and convinced ownership to appoint him as both coach and GM. Dryden remained team President.

In 1997, allegations began to emerge that some employees of the Gardens had sexually abused young boys in the 1970s and 1980s. Martin Kruze was the first victim to come forward—contacting the new owners of Maple Leaf Gardens in 1993, and going public in February 1997. His story of abuses beginning in 1975 prompted dozens of other victims to come forward. In October 1997, Gordon Stuckless pleaded guilty to sexually abusing 24 boys dating back to 1969 and was sentenced to a jail term of two years less a day. Three days later, Kruze committed suicide. An appeals court later increased Stuckless's sentence to five years. He was paroled in 2001. In 1999, former usher John Paul Roby was convicted of sexually molesting 26 boys and one girl. He was subsequently declared a dangerous offender and could have been kept in prison for the rest of his life. Roby died in Kingston Penitentiary from an apparent heart attack in 2001. In 2002, former Gardens security guard Dennis Morin was found guilty of sexual assault, indecent assault and gross indecency for incidents involving teenage boys. Allegations—unproven in court—were also made against other Gardens employees, including Ballard. Several civil suits were settled out of court for undisclosed amounts. In January 2006, the Ontario government filed a $1.5 million lawsuit against Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment Ltd., seeking repayment of the medical costs to the province of treating the sex abuse victims.