NHL

By Mike Brophy

SPORTSNET.CA

I have a friend who often says the Toronto Maple Leafs could play their games at 3 a.m. during a blinding snowstorm and still every seat at the Air Canada Center would be occupied.

I think he's right.

The Leafs' rabid following helps make them the NHL's most successful franchise from a financial standpoint. Even the defending Stanley Cup champion Detroit Red Wings had attendance issues last season.

So I was a little surprised when Toronto GM Cliff Fletcher mentioned to me last week that the team is being aggressive in attracting more young fans. The Leafs are visiting local schools and helping to refurbish area arenas in an effort to make them more visible, if that is even possible.

Fletcher points out that within two years, there will be more visible minority families, many of whom claim soccer and cricket as their first sporting love, living in Toronto than Canadian-born families. And you can bet those folks don't have hockey running through their veins the way Canadians do.

So yes, the Leafs have a bit of a selling job to do moving forward.

All of which makes the Leafs' Coca-Cola Zero Fans First Game such a novelty and a step in the right direction. The Leafs added an additional pre-season game, to be played Monday night against the Buffalo Sabres, and fans were given free tickets. Coca-Cola paid for and was responsible for distributing the tickets.

"The Leafs have the most loyal and passionate fans in the NHL," Fletcher said at the time of the announcement of the additional game.

Although many of the "free" tickets ended for sale on the internet - some for upward of $125 each - you would have to think the majority of those who received tickets will attend the game.

It represents a wonderful marketing ploy as well as an opportunity for many people, including lots of kids one would presume, to experience NHL action, albeit an exhibition game, that they otherwise wouldn't be able to afford to attend. And just think, some of them might actually clap and cheer and make noise, not to mention be sitting in their seats at the start of each period. What a novel concept.

It would be easy for Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment to sit back and allow the profits to continue rolling in, but with the NHL being a gate-driven league; it makes sense to promote one's future interests even in profitable times. You don't wait for the well to run dry before looking for an alternate source of water. Not that this well is about to run dry any time soon.

Also, as popular as the Leafs remain, something has to be done to change the negative vibe that surrounds the organization. No Stanley Cup since 1967, no playoffs the past three seasons, no superstar around which to build a contending team; that pretty much sums up the current state of the Leafs. Not much to grasp onto, huh?

Hiring Ron Wilson was certainly a step in the right direction. A skeptic might wonder how a coach that had Joe Thornton and didn't make it to the Stanley Cup final can be expected to do much with the current crop of third- and fourth-liners handed to him in Toronto, but Wilson is a proven winner and, more importantly, a great teacher. This is no overnight proposition; his value to the Leafs will be seen and felt over time.

Fletcher looks like he's up for the job as GM for however long it takes to find John Ferguson's permanent replacement and he brings with him some much-needed credibility the last guy was unable to manufacture.

And even though the Leafs do not have much in the way of frontline talent, as Fletcher accurately pointed out last week, they should be a more aggressive team this season with the likes of Jamal Mayers, Jeff Finger and Ryan Hollweg along for the ride.

You can bet your bottom dollar that no matter how many wins the Leafs cultivate or how many losses they suffer; it will be business as usual for the team's bean counters. Profits will continue to roll in and Toronto will remain one of the league's most vital franchises regardless of its record on the ice.

What is important to note, however, is the fact the team has an eye on its future - both on and off the ice. And for the Maple Leafs to gain respectability, both are equally important.

Veteran hockey columnist Mike Brophy writes Monday, Wednesday and Friday on sportsnet.ca