SOCHI, Russia – The flashbacks to his days in Toronto come when Leo Komarov least expects them. Sometimes they arrive in the form of a fleeting thought or funny memory; other times, he’ll look up at the scoreboard while playing for Dynamo Moscow in the KHL and be taken right back to his final moment in a Maple Leafs sweater.
"We’ve had some games this year that I was leading 4-1 in the third period and I keep thinking about it," he told me Friday at the Bolshoy Ice Dome.
"It," in this case, is Toronto’s infamous Game 7 collapse at TD Garden last spring. While his former teammates have had plenty of time to move on from that moment, it’s almost remained static in Komarov’s mind.
Soon after it happened, he decided to return to Moscow when it became clear that the Leafs wouldn’t be willing to pay him anywhere near as much as he could get in Russia. But you can tell that the thought still burns at him to this day.
"It’s like everything is black from that situation," he said. "It was 4-1 and everything was good, everybody was happy, and then it’s just all wrong. I don’t know."
Komarov truly seems like a man of the world and a lot of that is due to his unique upbringing. After arriving at the Olympics with Team Finland’s other European-based players, he seamlessly bounced between interviews in English, Russian and Finnish. Had there been any Swedish reporters present, he could have spoken in their native tongue as well.
Born in Estonia while his father played professional hockey in that country, Komarov was raised in a small Finnish village by Russian parents. His dream was always to reach the NHL and he finally realized that goal during the lockout-shortened 2013 season.
However, the one thing the experience taught him is that he is essentially an in-betweener. A tough two-way forward, Komarov plays an important role on a good KHL team and entered the Olympic break as Dynamo Moscow’s second leading scorer. With the Leafs, he averaged 13 minutes 56 seconds of ice time – a good chunk of it in short-handed and other defensive situations – and scored four goals in 42 games.
Even though he embraced the grinder’s role last season, and said he would willingly do so again in the future, it wasn’t something he was eager to do while trying to secure an invite to the Olympics. The other obvious factor in his decision to leave was money. Komarov is currently earning $2-million from Dynamo Moscow – more than twice what the Leafs were offering – and doesn’t have to pay Canada’s higher income tax rates or contribute to escrow while in Russia.
"In that situation, I had to go," he said.
There is no doubt about Komarov’s role on a Finnish team that many see as a solid darkhorse choice in this Olympic tournament. He will be on a defensively responsible unit that is crucial to the country’s chances because Finland relies on such a patient, structured style that it will be looking to win 1-0 or 2-1 each night.
The 27-year-old is a mainstay on his country’s world championship teams – he won gold at that event in 2011 – but this will be his first taste of the Olympics.
"It’s going to be fun," Komarov said. "We’re in the same group as Canada so we’re going to try to beat you guys. It’s been a lot of waiting for this and it’s going to be hard games."
The experience is also bound to bring back some memories of his time in the NHL. In Sochi, he’ll have a chance to catch up with former Leafs teammates Nikolai Kulemin, James van Riemsdyk and Phil Kessel, and those conversations could open his mind to the possibilities that lie ahead this summer.
Komarov will be an unrestricted free agent on July 1 – in both the NHL and KHL – and will definitely pursue his options in North America. If the situation was right, he would clearly love to return to Toronto.
"I really like it there man," he said. "It’s probably the best city I’ve played in, the organization is huge and all the fans and players were nice to me. I really liked it there but things changed a little bit.
"I would come back, though – you never know."
Stranger things have happened.