OUR READERS WRITE

In 1967 I was a 13-year-old hockey kid living in Montreal as I watched my then team (The Habs) loose to the Leafs not knowing I was watching such an historic moment for Leafs Nation.

I moved to Ontario in ‘69 and by ‘70 I was on board with Leaf Nation and watching the likes of Keon, Sittler, Wendel, Dougie and Mats – all true grit players who played with so much passion for the game. 

Then in ‘88 Bruce McNall paid $20 million to get Gretzky to move from the Oilers to the Kings.

This started huge paydays for so many.

If you watch the OHL games, you see so much talent and passion from all these young players who hope to get scouted and eventually make the NHL. And they do not make big bucks. So, why not take a very good salary, say $200K, and make that the base pay for all NHL players and everything else is based on agreed performance clauses?

The best players could still make their $10+ million a year by showing up and performing.

Something the Leafs and so many others rarely show consistently.

Why is it we, the Leafs, have beat the best teams and yet so often can't beat the worst teams?

Brian Perras
Caledon