When you look back at the history of the Toronto Maple Leafs, there have been plenty of players that have become instant favourites back when they were the Toronto Arenas in 1917. From Johnny Bower to Mats Sundin, the team has produced a number of legends and memorable players that fans have come to admire.
One of the most notable names is Darryl Sittler.
Drafted eighth overall by the Maple Leafs in 1970, Sittler spent 12 seasons wearing the blue and white and was named captain for six of them. During that time, he scored 389 goals and amassed 916 points in 844 games while also cementing himself in the record books as one of the most productive Maple Leafs ever as he sits third in franchise goals and second in points. He was then inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1989 and has since seen his number 27 retired by the team.
While he meant so much to the franchise on the ice and off the ice he has continued to be a presence for the team in community engagements and be a part of local charities. There’s a reason why he’s one of the most respected players in franchise history and his character and leadership reflect that.
The Hockey Writers had an opportunity to talk with Sittler on a number of different topics. Here’s an interview with one of the greatest Maple Leafs in franchise history.
Retirement, Community Engagement and Time With Maple Leafs
Peter Baracchini: It’s been a couple years since you have played in the NHL. You’re enjoying retirement, what are some of the things that you have been enjoying or what is something that you have developed over the years with your time away from hockey?
Darryl Sittler: “I retired a long time ago. I just turned 75 this past September and retired in 1985, so I’ve been out of the game a long time. I enjoy business and I do some endorsements, do some speaking engagements, those sorts of things. Along the way, I’ve been fortunate to be gifted with six beautiful grandkids… I spend the time I can watching them with their sports and growing up… we have a cottage up north. Lots of memories from when my kids were young at the cottage to now… my grandkids spending the time there like my own kids did.
“I’m a pretty fortunate guy. I’m blessed the Leaf organization have continued to support guys like Wendel [Clark] and I and other alumni guys to have us involved, not only in the community but in corporate partner stuff. So, it’s nice to still be around the team and out there doing things. I’m a believer you got to get up in the morning and you got to have something that you look forward doing and we’re all different in choosing what those interests are, but I’ve been fortunate not to be bored at all. I just had my knee replaced actually about 18 days ago, so I’m sitting low, can’t drive for three weeks which isn’t much fun.”
PB: Wishing you the best in your recovery on your knee replacement. I know people who have had it and it is a bit of a challenge. You did mention that you’re very happy about the Maple Leafs organization still being a part of everything in your life with Wendel Clark, how you’re one of the main factors in the community, you’re always involved. You’ve always been a Maple Leaf icon, a memorable and beloved one with the fan base. When you played up until now does this all feel surreal that when someone thinks of the Maple Leafs, you’re one of the first players to come to mind?
DS: “I think it’s very flattering and nice. I don’t take it for granted for sure. Playing for the Maple Leaf organization, any player that’s played there and had some longevity to it, you become a house hold name in Canada. In my case as a captain and a popular player I guess, I’ve had some good things happen to me off the ice. I’ve had the opportunity to get involved with them. My involvement with Ronald McDonald House back in the 80s is something that I feel proud about being associated with. I look back now all those Ronald McDonald houses that have been built over the years and the number of families it’s helped.
“My relationship with Terry Fox, if you look behind me, his picture sits in my office here. I had the opportunity to meet Terry when he was running through Ontario. As a kid growing up, I was his hero, so to speak and he became my hero. Now we are 45 years later, the Terry Fox Run continues on, ‘The Marathon of Hope’, through his dream and his passion and dedication, there’s been close to $1 billion raised. It makes me feel good to know my grandkids, they run every year. They run for my late wife, Wendy, who died of cancer and other people. Having the opportunity as a Maple Leaf or a person in the community to be involved in things like that, it means a lot. It’s important.
“I’ve always believed that every day we get up, you have a choice on how you’re going to live that day. You can sit on the side lines sometimes and do nothing, hoping that something will happen. I’m believer you got to get involved and when those opportunities are there, make the choice and you never regret it, getting involved in different things to make a difference and a positive impact. Whether it’s the charity or the people that are involved within the charity. That’s my life and I enjoy it.”
PB: You’ve been a Maple Leaf for 12 seasons, you were a captain. You did get traded to the Philadelphia Flyers. Trades are a part of the business. For you, how difficult was it spending time for so long with one organization being moved to another one?
DS: “When I was drafted by the Leafs, obviously it was pretty special for me. To be named captain in the 70’s as a young 24- year- old, playing with guys like Lanny McDonald, Borje Salming, Tiger Williams, knocking the [New York] Islanders out. Unfortunately, we didn’t win the [Stanley] Cup, but we had a pretty good group of guys, competitive guys that are still close today. Unfortunately, the [Montreal] Canadiens they were the crème de la crème back in the 70’s as were the Islanders and we weren’t just quite good enough to knock them off. All those special memories are important to guys like myself.”
PB: You’ve played against a number of other greats and hall of famers in your career, who was one player that you enjoyed playing against or someone that you wanted to best every single time you played them?
DS: “The player that I still have a lot of respect for and really admired playing against was Bryan Trottier for the New York Islanders in the 70’s. Trottier was a very clean player, he was a hard-hitting player, he was very good on the faceoffs, he was a great playmaker. He and [Clark] Gillies and [Mike] Bossy along with [Dennis] Potvin they had a pretty good nucleus. We knocked them out in ’78, but Bryan Trottier was probably the classiest player and toughest player I played against.
“I was fortunate enough to play against guys like Bobby Orr, Gordie Howe was in the league when I started, Bobby Hull was in the league. Jean Beliveau was my childhood idol growing up, in fact his picture sits on my office wall here and I got to face off against Beliveau. I was 20 years old and he was 41 in the Montreal Forum. Fast-forward and a number of years later, I get inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame and I got to meet Jean Beliveau my childhood idol at these Hall of Fame events or golf tournaments. That was pretty special to me and I don’t underestimate the fact that we had the opportunity to play in a league with the best players at the time.
“ ’76 Canada Cup I got an opportunity to play on that team. To me, it was one of the greatest teams Canada put together. There were 18 players that had gone on and were elected into the Hockey Hall of Fame. To score the winning goal, to be a part of that whole first Canada Cup experience was pretty special to me too.”
Record Books, The Captaincy and Pressure
PB: Records are meant to be broken as we saw Alex Ovechkin breaking Wayne Gretzky’s record for most goals in his career. However, you still own the record for most points in a game with 10. Sam Gagner was the closest to reach your mark back in 2012 [with 8]. Is this one record that you think that you’ll be able to keep for the foreseeable future?
DS: “It’s 50 years coming up this February 7th, 2026. I thought, honestly, that in the late 80s, early 90’s when Wayne Gretzky when he was the top of the league at that time scoring an excess of 200 points on an annual basis, Mario Lemiuex was up in that category too. I remember watching one game, Wayne had eight points after two periods– I think it was in Minnesota– thinking okay he’s the guy that’s going to break it. It never happened. The fact that it’s still a record today, almost 50 years later, it’ll be a tough one to break for sure. Very seldom 10 goals are scored in a game. Not even back then, very seldom we scored 10 goals. It wasn’t like it was an on-going thing. For one player to be involved, it’ll be difficult. But you never say never. That’s what makes sports interesting. If somebody asked me, ‘Would anybody have beat Gretzky’s all-time goal mark?’, for the longevity and the amount of years you have to score that amount of goals for Ovechkin to do it, I would’ve never thought that.”
Related: Darryl Sittler’s Magical 10-Point Game
PB: You wore the “C” for six seasons and there’s a lot of pressure and responsibility wearing the captaincy for this historic franchise. We’ve seen it with Mats Sundin, John Tavares and now Auston Matthews is the captain, this is his second season. What advice would you give him as he embarks on this journey to potentially lead the Maple Leafs to a championship within the future?
DS: “With any captain and with any successful team, you have to have strong leadership within the team. It’s not just the captain. Auston is in a position where he has good leadership around him. Guys like [Chris] Tanev, Johnny Tavares, Morgan Rielly, there are so many key players that can support him. What happens in our situation in Toronto and probably Montreal and some of the other cities, but more so in Toronto, is that the expectations are high. When things are going good and you’re the captain, you’re probably going to get more credit than you really deserve for the leadership, for the success. When things go the other way, which they can unfortunately, you’re the brunt of the action.
“So, I would just say to Auston; just go out there do the best that you can every night, be prepared. Your teammates, they do have a lot of respect for you. Listen to the support of those guys around you and just do the best that you can. That’s all you can control. Things will all work out. We picked Auston Matthews because he does have those leadership qualities. I admire and respect John Tavares for relinquishing the ‘C’ with the idea that he felt that Auston maybe can help the team take next step which is to try and win the Stanley Cup. We wish him the best and just stick to what you do best; scoring goals and being the person that you are.”
PB: There’s always been this talk of pressure playing in this market, especially with the long drought without a Stanley Cup with this franchise. There’s a bit of frustration with the fan base saying, ‘This player doesn’t quite have it’. Do you agree that maybe some players can’t handle playing in this market and how different was it for you playing back in the 70’s and 80’s?
DS: “Well the 70’s and 80’s, we didn’t have social media, we didn’t have the internet, we didn’t have any of those. We only had three beat reporters following us, they did a story in each one of the Toronto papers. Even to that extent, there was still lots of pressure because in Toronto, Toronto is Canada’s team, so to speak and the Leafs were big because of the history winning the Cup, the Original Six and all those things that come with it. Players react differently to different situations. I’m a believer that you just try to stay focused and keep the noise away from you.
“I had lots of noise around me when [Harold] Ballard used to create some controversy and the media come to you and now you had to react to it and sometimes it can catch you off base. Not that it was right or wrong, but there was nobody actually there teaching young guys like myself how to manoeuvre through stuff like that. Nowadays, the current guys, no matter what team you’re on or well coached, the media scrums are more controlled and you’re more prepared for dealing with those off-the-cuff questions that might have happened back when I played.”
PB: It seemed like the Maple Leafs would take a big step with the postseason last year, where they went to the second round again, two games in against the Florida Panthers, they’re up 2-0, it kind of seems like they were in the driver’s seat and in control of everything. Then it kind of fell off after that. It kind of feels like it’s the same thing over and over again. Mainstream media has their own storylines on what needs to change for the Maple Leafs, but I want to get your take, how do the Maple Leafs push forward in terms of getting over that hump and move past the second round in the playoffs?
DS: “Each year, it’s a different circumstance. I don’t think you can just categorize them all and say it’s all happened. If you look at last year, Florida won the Cup the year before, they have a great team, they have great goaltending, good coaching, they have key players that have succeeded under those tight playoff hockey circumstances. Going into that round, we unfortunately lost [Anthony] Stolarz, that’s a bad break for us. Would he have made the difference? Not that [Joseph] Woll wasn’t the difference, but sometimes a guy like Stolarz just gives you that little extra edge when you need it, he wins the game which you thought you weren’t going to win.
“Florida is the benchmark for the league, have been the last couple years. For the Edmonton Oilers to go to the Finals twice and lose out to them, it says something about Florida itself. If you look at our club, now is the time where we have to make it happen if we’re going to win the Cup. Some of our players are getting a little bit older, we’re at the salary cap limit pretty much, we got to win now. I like what we’ve added over the last year. We play with a little more tenacity, we play a little bit tougher in our own end, harder to make things happen around the goal net. Management understands what we need to get by… can we do it? Will we do it? We’ll have to wait and see.”
Harold Ballard and Importance of Giving Back
PB: I just wanted to circle back and follow up on what you mentioned about the Harold Ballard years, how those were tough for Maple Leafs fans, especially for you and the other players. How tenuous was it with the whole entire franchise with Harold Ballard as the owner during that time?
DS: “Looking back on it, in my mind, there was no reason for it. We were all there, young guys like Borje, Lanny, Tiger and I, guys who were good people, good character, cared about the team, worked hard, good coaching staff like Roger Neilson, all with the idea that we wanted to be a team and win. When these other distractions happened because the owner is like the owner is, it makes it a little bit more difficult. Not to make an excuse, but it adds another layer of something that you really don’t need, so you’re dealing with crap like that.
“When Harold Ballard fired Jim Gregory, who was our general manager under those years… and brought in Punch Imlach, for me as a player who was a loyal guy, captain of the team, vice-president of the players union, had no-trade contract, all doing my job for the right reasons and then I was challenged by a guy like Imlach, basically to get me out of town. I had to make a decision. Am I going to cave and forget my no-trade contract to leave? Or am I going stick up for what I felt was right for not only the players, but for myself. They traded Lanny, they traded Tiger, they traded eight or nine guys off that hockey club that knocked the Islanders out two years previous to that.
Related: Then and Now: The Maple Leafs All-Time Centres
“There were all those sorts of things happening off the ice that weren’t fun to be a part of. When I took the ‘C’ off the jersey– which I did back then– I wasn’t being a spoiled little brat, it was just to say, ‘Hey, Listen. What’s my job, here? My job here, I’m paid to play hockey, Imlach doesn’t respect or recognize me as the captain, doesn’t want me to be the captain. I’m just going to go out and do my job and play the game.’
“What I remember most about that after doing it, yeah it was very emotional. I wasn’t being a smart a** about it. The players on the hockey club, when they asked other players to be the captain, they said, ‘No, Darryl is our captain. You don’t have to wear the ‘C’ to do it.’ To me that was a pretty cool measurement of my teammates and the respect that they had for the situation that was going on. I think I grew up a lot and learned a lot as a person. Not about hockey, but about just stuff that happens off the ice. You weren’t coached or trained to go through that sort of stuff. You were kind of on your own and you had to make those decisions which aren’t very easy sometimes. I’m the type of guy, when I’m confronted with something, I say, ‘Okay, what’s the right reason? Do the right thing for the right reason.’”
PB: You mentioned about your philanthropy work with the Terry Fox Foundation, Ronald McDonald House. You’re also the founding co-chair for Have a Heart for Down Syndrome. How important is it to give back to the community and make that a priority for yourself, MLSE and for all the programs that you’re a part of?
DS: “I realized at a young age, growing up in a little village of St. Jacob’s… my parents encouraged my brothers and sisters and I to get involved in the community; whether it’s a paper drive, whether it’s a bottle drive, whether it’s shovelling snow for an elderly person. I’ve learned from those experiences that day. When they’re there you have a choice, do want to do it or you don’t want to do it.
“As I became captain of the Leafs and opportunities like Ronald McDonald House came forward or visit the Sick Kids Hospital, or getting involved with Terry Fox and meeting him. I was happy I did it. The goals and the assists and records all those sorts of things are nice when people comment to you about them, but when I look back at the overall picture, it’s those experiences that I’ve had along the way and continue to have. I’m in a position and so are some other players where you can bring some awareness, you can bring some credibility, you can bring something to that organization. It doesn’t necessarily have to be in money, but it’s in other ways. Whether it’s just a fundraiser event, you’re part of a golf tournament, you donate your time to charity… I’ve learned over the course of my life, the opportunities that I got involved with, I never regretted, I never looked back.
“I don’t do it for the reasons of getting something back, but I find when you do it, another door opens and you made somebody happy or you bring some brightness to a person’s life or a person’s charity.”
Interview made possible with ToonieBet.
