flyerfan2

Tucker urges fans to lay off McCabe


Joe O'Connor , CanWest News Service



Published: Tuesday, October 16, 2007
TORONTO - He did not commit murder.
But he did leave behind a smoking gun, a damning piece of documentary evidence shot Monday night in Buffalo.
Bryan McCabe was already a marked man around Leafs Nation; a scapegoat with a fat salary that fans at the Air Canada Centre have been targeting for boos since the beginning of the season for his various defensive crimes and misdemeanours, both real and imagined.
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And then in a blur it happened in Buffalo: McCabe, the Toronto Maple Leafs' whipping boy, whipped the puck into his own net with 3.7 seconds remaining in overtime, giving the Sabres a 5-4 win.
The own-goal is every defenceman's nightmare. But McCabe had already been living a nightmare of catcalls and noxious comments from the crowd.
Darcy Tucker, McCabe's close friend in the Leafs dressing room and his roommate on the road, came to the defenceman's defence Tuesday, saying it was time for Leafs Nation - and the local media - to leave him alone.
"I always find it somewhat ridiculous, that (the fans) booed (former Leaf) Larry Murphy every time he touched the puck, and how many Stanley Cups did he leave here and win (with Detroit)?" Tucker said after practice at the Lakeshore Lions Arena.
"I am sure that the reporters in this town wrote all kinds of crap about Larry Murphy, and I just find it oddly ridiculous that it happens, and you know what, (McCabe) plays as hard as anyone on this team.
"And I know him personally and really well, and he is a character guy and a family person. He takes it to heart when he goes on the ice. And I find (the booing) hard to understand, but such is the business we are in."
There was a time not so long ago when McCabe, much like Tucker or Toronto captain Mats Sundin, was one of the chosen few among Leafs players, a focus of adulation for a fan base that can turn the likes of tough guy Tie Domi into a civic icon. McCabe's signature moments from the Air Canada Centre often featured a cocked stick, a feathered pass from Tomas Kaberle and a quick blast from the point. Afterwards, the McCabe smile, and perhaps a fist pump, and elicited delight from the home crowd.
McCabe scored a career-high 19-goals in 2005-06. He was a candidate for the Norris Trophy, and a wealthy man after signing a five-year, $29 million US contract with the Leafs in the summer of 2006.
But the happy days have been replaced by hard times.
"I'm sure (the booing) bothers him," Tucker said. "I'm sure it doesn't make him feel good. And it really bothers me that people keep saying, 'Well, he makes this much (money).'
"Well, you know what, he still goes home to his wife and his daughter and has a family."
McCabe did not speak with reporters after practice Tuesday. But Tucker did, and what irked him the most about the abuse being heaped upon his teammate was that some of the language he heard in Buffalo was personal, instead of professional.
"I went home last night and thought about them, and I can't believe that people can go on like that," Tucker said. "What bothers me the most was it was guys wearing Maple Leaf jerseys. And that's the hardest thing to take."
Tucker declined to offer any concrete examples of the curses. But McCabe is not the only Leaf familiar with the fans derision. Andrew Raycroft, the victim of McCabe's gaffe in Buffalo, has heard just about everything from the ACC crowd.
"Between Bryan and I, we get booed more than probably the entire league," Raycroft said. "We are not going to fight it. There is nothing that we are going to do about it."
The goaltender was asked if the negative comments planted negative thoughts in a player's head.
"It is so far out of our control," Raycroft said. "People pay to come, and cheer and boo and pay their money. They can do whatever they feel the need to do."
National Post



So do you guys agree with Tucker or the fans.??

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Canuck

Even thought McCabe's own goal vs the Sabres the other night was pretty bad he really doesnt deserve what the media and fans are giving him. It was a bad mistake but mistakes like that will happen once and a while. I definetly dont think McCabe is worth over 5 mill at all but nobody really realized that McCabe didnt have a bad game at all until that goal and played rather good for Toronto before that happend.

Toronto fans (not all of them) are insane for constantly booing and criticizing thier players. If this keeps going on I can see some guys like McCabe, Raycroft, Kubina, and Tucker getting fed up and losing all thier respect for the fans or asking for a trade. Toronto has to start supporting thier players more through both the good times and bad times

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scorpionn

He deserves the booing. He is making almost 6 Million per year and the team bent over backwards for his contract, and he is not earning it. Fans have the right to boo him, he is a professional. His expectations are high, he makes the most of all the players on the Leafs, including Sundin.

hockeyboy14

Andrew Raycroft and Bryan McCabe are the most booed players in the league.
In a perfect world his salary wouldn't matter, however in the new NHL it does. He's not worth 7 million ( for some reason 5.75 comes up, maybe its whats against the cap). He's an average defensemen defensively and has a great slapper.
However in McCabe's defense (no pun intended) you look at players who have similar attributes Sheldon Souray makes $6,250,000.00 and Sergei Gonchar makes $5,500,000.00, and they both have career plus minus worse than McCabe. So its the market of a offensively talented defensemen that is high.
The only thing that bothers me about McCabes contract is the no movement clause.

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mikey84

Souray's cap hit is $5.4M and Gonchar's is $5M while McCabe's is $5.75M

hockeyboy14

Okay
So he's slightly over paid. However in the last few years ( 2 or 3, according to his agent, OTR) he's been top 3 in pts by a defensemen and top 3 in ice time.

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hockeyboy14

"I've heard some comparisons to Larry Murphy," says McCabe. "I could only be so fortunate. "

"He's only got four Cups and is in the Hall of Fame so it's not the worst comparison I've heard in my life."

haha
Man I laughed so hard. Atleast McCabe is keeping his spirit up, a sign of a true athlete and the dedication to the team.

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subby13

To me, the question isn't "does he deserve to be booed?" or "do the fans have a right to ride a player like that?". The question is, what do people hope to accomplish by it?

McCabe hasn't played his best hockey in the opening weeks of the season, that much is certainly true. It's also true that the fans at the ACC pay a lot of money for their tickets and they have every right to heckle and jeer if they want to. But why?

The truth is that if Leaf fans actually want to see him play better hockey, this is not going to help matters. Booing a player (be it McCabe, Raycroft... or the team as a whole on a bad night) isn't going to accomplish anything other than frustrating and distracting the player in question.

You sometimes hear players refer to the home fans as being the 7th man that gives them that extra boost (often it's an empty comment made for PR purposes, but nevertheless...). Sadly, the fans at the ACC often turn themselves into a 7th man for the opposition by turning against their own.

Amoroq

Joe, I agree I laughed as well, it was pure genious to come up with something like that so soon after the event. However, it was posted in the wrong thread. Feel free to re-post it in the game day thread

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BE-LEAF-ABLE

I myself don't don't boo players... not even Bryan McCabe. I don't like the guy, but he's still on your team, and he's still another human being.

Tucker is right in that regard... and that's about it.

As for McCabe himself, the Leafs should have traded him years ago, but only waited til now to even bringit tot consideration. This player is a defencive liability, and has shown to be game in and game out. Bryan McCabe has either not taken the time to work on his defencive game enough, or it's that he really does just suck in his own end of the ice.

When it all comes down to it, he's a defenceman that can't play defence, and he ha and will continue to hurt this team again, and again, and again, and the amount of points he puts up will never make up for it.

All that has happened to start off the year is nothing new, and scoring a goal in Thrusday's game against the Florida Panthers doesn't mean as much to me as it does to the media, McCabe's fans, and the Leaf fans that just "go with the flow".

He had to go, and they missed the chance to do it after a productive season offencively in 2004, and once again after 2006, then they gave him a no-trade clause to boot.

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"It's not the way it's going to be. We have to be very, very patient and build this the right way. We have to go through a process. It may be painful. I hope it isn't. But we're prepared for all the bumps and pratfalls and potholes in the road ahead. I'm prepared for it anyway, or I wouldn't have come." - Ron Wilson, Head Coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs.