They still dot the crowd on game night at the Air Canada Centre, relics from a bygone era to some, but definitely a happier time for the Maple Leafs and their fans.
Darcy Tucker wasn't feeling the same love by the time he departed Toronto last year, but all those fading No. 16 sweaters are his legacy, a time when he personified Pat Quinn's sandpaper team and playoffs weren't a pipedream in this town. Tucker came back to the ACC for the first time in 18 months yesterday, much more world-wise approaching 35, more at peace and trying to get used to a new role as a Colorado Avalanche father figure. Not long away, but enough to put his eight years here in proper perspective.
RIDE HIGHS AND LOWS
"It's Toronto," he said of arriving in the midst of another Leafs crisis, either real or imagined. "There's no other place where fans are this much into the sport, like the New York Yankees. You ride the highs and the lows and it's only a matter of days (before it changes). It's only five games in.
"The city likes to blow you up maybe when you're not as good as you are and bring you down when maybe you're not as bad as you are. With every person that loves you, there will be someone who doesn't like the way you play or what you do. But that happens in all facets of life."
The early 2000s edition of Tucker was someone the faithful could embrace, a Tasmanian Devil seasoned with a bit of Wendel Clark and Doug Gilmour. Some nights he'd go overboard with his Sideshow Bob schtick, but he had 148 goals and 319 points to go with 756 penalty minutes.
Don't ever tell him the Leafs aren't serious about winning a Cup, after the 2002 team with himself, Gary Roberts and Alyn McCauley at the forefront, almost made the final with a decimated team. It's Tucker's favourite snapshot of his Toronto experience.
"At the time (his 2000 arrival in a trade with Tampa) they were looking for players with grit and I filled that void," he said with pride. "I've always been a blue-collar player; everything I've achieved was through hard work."
That earned him a four-year deal at $12 million US in 2007, leaving money on the table for what he thought was the security of retiring a Leaf. But within a year, the contract and its no-trade clause began working against him.
He eventually was bought out, a great day at the bank, a sad one on the home front for his wife and family,
"I didn't want to believe that it happened," he remembered of the terminating phone call. "I had a few injuries -- I've tried to block out that whole last year in Toronto -- but the bottom line is when your team misses the playoffs and you were part of it, things are going to happen. I was part of those changes and it was time to pick up and move on."
His first year in Denver was a write-off, more injury woes and just 16 points for another team that crashed and burned and changed coaches.
"More than anything else it was a tough adjustment," Tucker said. "My kids pretty much grew up here. I had to move my family and adjust to a different city. I take full responsibility for the poor season I had, but I'm trying to move forward."
He came back to his home north of the city and decided on a new tact, steering clear of any physical activity for two months to let everything heal.
A MENTOR
When the season began under new coach Joe Sacco, Tucker had three points in the first five games and found himself a mentor to a couple of rising rookies, Matt Duchene and Ryan O'Reilly.
"They sit beside me on the road and in the dressing room and have a lot of questions and things that I have to answer," Tucker said. "It's actually helped me out maybe more than them."
He's not sure his fate here would've been different had Brian Burke been calling the shots two summers ago and not Cliff Fletcher. But there's no denying the irony of coach Ron Wilson benching forwards last night for lack of trying and Tucker a few feet away.
LANCE.HORNBY@SUNMEDIA.CA
