Steve Spott has seen David Clarkson at his lowest. It wasn’t last season.
It was during the 2003-04 season in Kitchener when a 20-year-old Clarkson was an overachieving over-ager with the Rangers and where Spott was then an assistant coach. Clarkson was desperately trying to imagine for himself an NHL career, but the NHL simply didn’t share his vision.
Spott saw a lot of Clarkson though. The new Toronto Maple Leafs assistant coach became a sounding board for Clarkson when he needed one, which back then was regularly.
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“We laugh about it now,” says Spott. “But I remember when he came back as an over-ager he would ask me on a daily basis: Is there any interest? Are any teams calling? He really wanted to have an NHL career and he was doing all he could do, but nothing was happening for him.”
Those humble beginnings are part of what has become an essential part of Clarkson’s identity. The kid from Mimico who went undrafted in the NHL who nevertheless turned himself into a top-six forward with the New Jersey Devils (blossoming under his old Rangers head coach, Pete DeBoer) to the point where he could command a seven-year $35-million contract when he signed with his hometown Leafs as a free agent last summer.
As any Leafs fan knows, it all went downhill from there. Suspensions, injuries and frustration limited Clarkson to just five goals in the 60 games he did dress for, which is one reason that Spott was promoted to Leafs head coach Randy Carlyle’s staff in the off-season after a strong year with the Toronto Marlies.
It’s a stretch to suggest that Spott is “the Clarkson whisperer” or something along those lines, but Spott’s relationship with the Leafs winger is one asset he brings to the job.
“When Randy and I spoke during the interview process, one of the things we did discuss was David and what we can work on to help him reach his potential in Toronto,” said Spott. “I’d be kidding if that wasn’t part of the reason I did get promoted was to help with a player like him — hopefully it’s a lot more than that — but we need production out of him and I’m a guy that he’ll be able to talk to comfortably. I think that’s a big part of this.”
The 46-year-old Spott grew up in Toronto playing in the GTHL (then the MTHL) where one of his teammates was a gifted forward named Brendan Shanahan, now the Leafs president. He took up coaching shortly after his playing career wrapped up at Colgate University, but as a guy who grew up idolizing Leafs legends Darryl Sittler and Lanny McDonald, Spott still has a refreshing ‘pinch-me’ quality when he talks about working for the Blue and White.
That combined with a natural chattiness made for about as bad a first day at work as a rookie assistant coach can have in the NHL when the Toronto Star ran a story about Spott’s comments at a minor hockey coaching clinic that raised questions about Leafs star Phil Kessel’s coachability.
It blew over quickly, and Clarkson believes that Spott’s presence can help him put an awful first season in Toronto firmly behind him. Having someone he can confide in on the coaching staff who also has a deep understanding of his game and what he does that make him successful should only help.
“I’m a person that’s very lucky to have had people around me that have been there for me, and he’s one of them,” said Clarkson, who has been held out of the Leafs regular workouts with an undisclosed lower body injury that is thought to be minor.
When Clarkson did a conditioning skate after the larger Leafs camp was done Monday, it was Spott putting him through his paces. “Guys like Spotter, Pete DeBoer and Robbie Ftorek [Clarkson’s coach with the Albany River Rats in the AHL] — when I was young those guys are always there to push you and believe in you.”
A year ago Clarkson had a hard time believing in himself.
“Last season everything spiraled out of control all of a sudden,” he said. “My foot’s hurt and I missed five games, I cut my elbow and I’m playing 20 games with an elbow that needs surgery, I got suspended. I didn’t have that many games when I was healthy and even when I was you’re kind of behind the eight-ball because you’re 10 games behind everyone. It just spiraled, but I think I got to the bottom of it.”
Watching it all from across the hallway at the Master Card Centre was Spott, who could only do some much in his role with the AHL team to help the big club’s prize free agent signing as he went through a professional nightmare.
“David’s a player that requires communication,” said Spott. “Part of our job as assistant coaches is to make sure he knows where he stands on a daily basis. That’s important to him. He needs to feel like a contributor to his hockey club. He’s a very proud young man, but he needs to know what he has to do to contribute.”
Enter Spott. Carlyle didn’t lose his job after the Leafs sputtered to a 3-13-0 finish last season and slid out of the playoffs. Paying the price instead were Carlyle assistants Scott Gordon, Dave Farrish and Greg Cronin. When Spott and Peter Horachek were hired part of their role, Carlyle said, was to “put an arm around the dressing room.”
The first player Spott reached out to was Clarkson and Clarkson is glad to have him.
“To have Steve Spott here is a huge thing,” he said. “When you have people around you that believe in you and know you, it’s exciting. It’s not like they’re there to pump you up, it’s just they understand you and maybe what role you play. Spotter was with me when I was a kid and even as pros … it’s nice to get a pat on the back from a coach once in a while.
“I think it goes a long way in the locker room.”
The Leafs are hoping that in Clarkson’s case it will go a long way on the ice too.