There’s a lot of history between the Original Six teams, especially between the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Montreal Canadiens. How could it be otherwise? Both teams are over a hundred years old and have crossed paths more times than Gary Bettman has been booed by NHL fans. There are over 100 players who have played on both sides of the rivalry over the years, and at least one wanted no part of being on the Maple Leafs’ side. Josh Gorges blocked a trade from the Canadiens to the Maple Leafs at the 2014 Draft and justified it this way:
I just said, ‘I’m a heart-and-soul player. It’s the only reason I can be good at this level is I have to play and commit with my heart,”‘ Gorges said in an interview with The Canadian Press on Wednesday after practice at First Niagara Centre. “And after playing against them for that many years of being our No. 1 rival, I just didn’t think it would’ve been fair to them. I wouldn’t have been the same player that they would’ve expected me to be.
Here are three players who had no problem going behind enemy lines in the modern era.
The Power Forward: Shayne Corson
Shayne Corson was drafted eighth overall at the 1984 Draft by the Canadiens and would have been a part of their 1986 Stanley Cup-winning team had it not been for an injury suffered in his last game as a junior player. Speaking on the Sick Podcast, he mentioned that Andre Boudrias (the Canadiens assistant general manager at the time) had already bought him his plane ticket to join the team. He would spend the best part of seven seasons with the Canadiens before being used in the deal that brought Vincent Damphousse to Montreal. He very nearly missed out on the Canadiens’ last two Cups.
He captained the Edmonton Oilers for a while but was stripped of the captaincy by then-coach George Burnett. At the end of the season, he signed with the St.Louis Blues as a free agent, and the Oilers received the rights to Curtis Joseph in compensation. The Blues then sent him back to the Canadiens for Craig Conroy, Rory Fitzpatrick, and Pierre Turgeon. He would spend three and a half years in Montreal before signing a contract with the Maple Leafs as a free agent.
Playing 11 years for the Canadiens was not enough to keep Corson from signing with the team he loved as a kid, the team his dad hoped he would one day play for. Unfortunately, the contract with Toronto came too late for his dad to see his dream come true; he died unexpectedly of cancer in 1993. Still, he signed when offered the chance to sign with the Maple Leafs, even though the Philadelphia Flyers had made him a better offer money-wise.
The Trap: Mike Komisarek
During six seasons with the Canadiens, Mike Komisarek looked like a very solid defenseman. So much so that when the alternate captain became an unrestricted free agent in 2009, the Leafs signed him away from the Canadiens with a 5-year deal worth $21.5 million.
Related: Top 3 Worst Free Agent Signings in Maple Leafs History
Then Maple Leafs general manager Brian Burked liked that Komisarek was a no-nonsense, tough-as-nails defenseman, but the signing spectacularly backfired. In Toronto, the blueliner was plagued by injury, something that prevented him from playing with the toughness Burke had been after in the first place.
After three seasons and four games, Toronto had seen enough and decided to buy Komisarek out, and in Montreal, everyone laughed. No, not because the rivals had to spend some of their truckload of money, but rather because, as Eric Engels eloquently put it:
And then there was Mike Komisarek. His stay-at-home bruising style was a perfect complement to Markov’s puck-moving, rush-joining and pinching ways, but he’d be the first to say that playing with the 6-foot, 200-pound Russian was the biggest reason he squeezed a five-year, $21.5-million contract out of the Toronto Maple Leafs in the summer of 2009.
It was then made clear to every fan in Montreal that Andrei Markov had made Komisarek better; without him, he quickly faded into obscurity. The other contributing factor to Komisarek’s poor form in Toronto might have been the fights with Milan Lucic, in which he was completely obliterated—at least, that’s how Boston Bruins fans like to see it.
The Heir: Max Domi
Max Domi was born in Winnipeg but raised in Toronto, while his father, Tie, terrorized opponents left, right, and center in NHL arenas. As the son of a Maple Leafs player, Domi got an all-access pass to the organization, and he spent a lot of time in the locker room with his dad’s friends and teammates:
All of the guys were so generous with their time. Bryan McCabe would often come by where I was sitting and crack a joke to make me laugh. Tomas Kaberle always stopped and asked how I was doing. Wade Belak was a gentle giant who was always asking about my family – he was a generous, kind person every time I saw him. And Matt Stajan was one of the younger guys on the team, so I related to him more and I admired his game.
One day, Curtis Joseph gave me an autographed picture which I immediately hung on my bedroom wall. It was signed: “To Max, all the best. Curtis Joseph. PS, you still can’t score on me. […]
As amazing as those guys were, though, there’s no question that Mats Sundin had the biggest influence on me when I was young. […] “How’s your season going?” he asked one day. “We’re doing all right.” “Scoring a lot of goals?” “Kind of. I like passing more than shooting, though.” Mats Smiled. “That’s a good instinct to have. A great pass can feel as good as scoring a goal. Just remember that sometimes, though, the goalie is waiting for you to pass, so you might need to just shoot the puck.” (from “Max Domi – No Days Off”, Simon &Schuster edition, 2019, p. 9-10)
Talk about being raised to be a Maple Leaf! Sometimes though, fate takes you on quite a rollercoaster ride before you land where you always hoped to be. In Domi’s case, the ride started in Phoenix as he was selected 12th overall by the Coyotes at the 2013 Draft. After his first three seasons in the NHL didn’t go as planned, he was traded to the Canadiens of all teams, the old enemy.
In a surprising turn of events, after the trade, even his dad Tie ended up wearing the Sainte-Flanelle at the Bell Centre:
After two seasons in Montreal, Domi was traded to the Columbus Blue Jackets for Josh Anderson and promptly signed to a two-year contract. He wouldn’t finish in Ohio, as he was traded to the Carolina Hurricanes at the trade deadline of the second year. Then, he signed a one-year pact with the Chicago Blackhawks as a free agent before being traded to the Dallas Stars at the following trade deadline.
After playing for six teams, in the summer of 2023, he finally signed with the Maple Leafs on a one-year deal. Although he finished the season with only 47 points, his role on the team increased towards the end of the year, and he performed very well in the playoffs. Many outlets have reported that Toronto is keen on signing him to another contract, but nothing has yet been signed. If the Maple Leafs are after a player who really wants to wear their uniform, they don’t have to look any further. Domi’s probably waiting for their offer as I write these lines. If he’s kept around and used on the top line next season, I wouldn’t be surprised to see him have a career year. The 72 points he had in his first season in Montreal were not a stroke of luck. Domi has plenty of talent but needs to be put in the right conditions to let it shine.
As much as fans of both franchises are convinced they are Canada’s team, there’s no denying that the Maple Leafs reign supreme for those born in Ontario. Do you think they’ll eventually go after Canadiens’ captain Nick Suzuki? Stranger things have happened…
