Q and A: Darryl Sittler on Gavin McKenna, trade requests and growing up a Habs fan

What do Gavin McKenna and Dylan Larkin have in common?

Sure, they’re both forwards for Atlantic Division teams (for now, anyway), having entered the league as first-round draft picks, ready to usher in a new era of sorts for their franchises.

But one’s Canadian on a Canadian team and the other’s American on an American team. One’s a rookie, the other’s a battle-tested veteran. One has zero career points, the other has 643.

Yet both players, in their own way, harken the story of Toronto Maple Leafs legend Darryl Sittler’s career.

McKenna has 842 games to go to match Sittler’s Maple Leafs career. But 56 years after Sittler joined the Leafs as the eighth-overall pick, a new hope for a team that was coming off a disappointing season in which it missed the playoffs, the kid from Whitehorse has been thrust into an awfully similar position as Sittler was.

A decade later, a lengthy falling out between Sittler and the Maple Leafs began, involving a no-trade clause, trade request and stripped captaincy — almost exactly the situation Larkin and the Detroit Red Wings find themselves in today.

Funny, how history tends to repeat itself.

And Sittler, now 76 and living in Toronto, continues to bear witness to all of it.

Sportsnet sat down with the Maple Leafs icon — also an ambassador for the Princess Margaret foundation ahead of its annual road hockey fundraiser on Saturday in Toronto — to discuss McKenna, Larkin and much more.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Sportsnet: Thanks for taking the time to chat today, Darryl. We’ll start with this weekend’s event. What led to your involvement?

Sittler: There's a chance for everybody to put a team together and go out and have a good Saturday, play a little road hockey. But more importantly, raise awareness and money for Princess Margaret Hospital. I think there's been about $38 million raised from Road Hockey to Conquer Cancer this year. We're hoping to raise $4 million and it's a fun day. Princess Margaret has some patients who have been there to speak and the stories are very touching and very rewarding at times. You hear the success and the cures for cancer that have happened to people and they're inspirational to all of us.

Why is it a meaningful cause for you?  

I think so many people have been touched by cancer somewhere along the line. There's so many different types of cancer. My wife died at an early age, Wendy, at the age of 52. She was diagnosed with colon cancer. And I've always felt it's important to continue to make people aware of the importance of getting checked, being proactive, and paying attention to this sort of stuff. … Princess Margaret's one of the top cancer hospital clinics in the world. And they need these funds and money to continue their research to help all of us someday maybe find a cure for cancer.

OK, let’s talk some hockey. Excuse me if this is a silly question, but how closely do you follow the NHL these days?

Wendel (Clark) and I and Dougie Gilmour, Curtis Joseph and Darcy Tucker are ambassadors for the Leafs, so I get down to maybe 15 of the 42 games. And while I'm there, I'm more or less visiting some of the suites, shaking hands, taking a few pictures, answering a few questions. So I follow it. I'm really pleased to see how, after such a disappointing year last year, how the new management has turned things around. But the bottom line is we're in a tough conference and a tough division. And we're going to have to play pretty good hockey to make the playoffs and then see where it goes from there. 

The Leafs dropped their home opener 3-2 against the Canadiens. Does it still hurt you to see the team lose to Montreal?

There's a good rivalry there. I think it's healthy for hockey, healthy for hockey fans. You go into the building, whether you're in Montreal or here, there's lots of Leaf jerseys in Montreal and there's lots of Habs jerseys here in Toronto. Believe it or not, as a kid, Jean Beliveau was my favourite player and I liked the Habs.

How'd you end up as a Habs fan growing up in St. Jacobs, Ont.?  

I just liked the presence of Jean Beliveau, kind of what he stood for. I was a centreman as a player. I just liked the way he played. So that's why. I don't know, sometimes it's the individual that gravitates to you. It's like, why does somebody become an Edmonton fan? Well, Connor McDavid's one of the best players in the world. Why do they become a Pittsburgh fan? Sidney Crosby. Canadian players, but on other teams. So I respect any fan who chooses a team and that's their favorite team and they're loyal and they support them.

You came to the Leafs in 1970, a highly touted top-10 pick in the league. Gavin McKenna comes in this year, No. 1 pick. What have you made of his adjustment to the NHL? 

Well, never underestimate how difficult it is to play in the National Hockey League, and everybody wants to measure each player against the other. Gavin McKenna, everybody thought he was the guy to be picked No. 1, and we were fortunate to get him. He will be a long-time franchise player for the Maple Leafs. He's got that skill and talent and because he doesn't score the first or second game, that doesn't matter. He's got lots of time to grow. You've got to be patient and he will understand. It's not an easy league to be successful in at all. But he will get there. He's got the skillset to do it. And I just hope that everybody doesn't put too many expectations and too much pressure on him. Let him enjoy the game and he'll be the player that everybody wants him to be.  

Well, I mean, it is Toronto and you know those expectations and pressure, it'll be felt quicker than in most other markets. What would your advice be to him on how to go about handling that?

Just focus on what your job is. That's to come to work every day, to practise with a strong attitude, a strong work ethic. And when the game comes to play, play it hard, play it with the passion that got you to where you are today to be the first-overall pick and things will work out for you. That's all you can control.

Over in Detroit, Dylan Larkin had a tumultuous summer with his trade request and losing the captaincy. Did you maybe pay extra attention to that story? Did it remind you of your situation with the Leafs in the early ‘80s?

I think each individual circumstance is its own and different. … Those things are hard. I see it now with Hellebuyck out in Winnipeg. Obviously he's had a great career. They loved him there dearly. He signed a long-term contract. And I think what happens in the game, sometimes it becomes disappointing. You sign that contract at the time that you're going to feel like you're going to play for them the rest of your career. And then sometimes things change for whatever reasons, personnel or family or whatever it is. And just hope you can adjust and get through them, but it's not easy for the player and it's not easy for the fans or the management when you get holdouts that aren't playing like Hellebuyck.  

How hard is it for the player in this situation?

It's as hard as the management makes it. I mean, I'm sure Hellebuyck would like to do what he loves doing and playing goal and sitting out isn't much fun. Obviously, you signed a contract, the team has control over that situation. You've put the team in the circumstances that they are. And you've got to respect that they have a job to do and get the most for you and resolve it in their best interests and maybe your best interest. So you just have to be patient. It'll work itself out, but it's kind of ugly when it's all happening for sure.

Gary Bettman recently called the rise in trade requests “a problem.” Do you agree with that? 

I mean, Gary Bettman is closer than I am. Obviously, each individual has his own case and reasons why, and it's always going to be in sport, whether it's basketball, baseball, there's personalities involved, there's emotions involved, there's families involved and it's not the side of the game that we all like, but I can honestly say at the same time, you could sign a contract and if you didn't have no-trades, the team can release you anytime they want. I got traded the day I was to be named captain with the Philadelphia Flyers. I left the house to be captain and I come home and traded to Detroit. So yeah, sometimes there's loyalty on either side, so this is what it is.

Another franchise legend, Mats Sundin, joined the front office this summer. Did you talk to Mats before he took that job? 

No, I didn't know. Mats was over in Sweden. I didn't know that he was gonna take that job, but good for Mats. I mean, obviously, it was a big decision for him. He'd been living over in Sweden, he'd been retired, out of the game for 17 years. He's got kids that are, I think, teenagers or young. But to leave Sweden, move back to Toronto, obviously, he felt that that's something he wanted to do and he can make a difference and help make a difference in the organization.

Is there any added pressure for Mats given his status within the franchise already?

No, I don't think Mats looks at it like that. I think he feels that hey, if he can help and wants to help and he's back, that’s the long and the short of it. He knows what's at stake coming into Toronto, but the end result is if you're successful, everybody's gonna love you.