As a Mississauga-born NHL veteran who spent his first decade in the NHL playing for Toronto rivals in Ottawa and Tampa Bay, Nick Paul used to get the question a lot.
asserted
Paul → bear → question
“Everyone would ask me, ‘Would you want to play for the Leafs?’” Paul was saying this past week.
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Paul → ask → Leafs
Like, I didn’t even want to think about it.”
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I → want → it
Only those closest to Paul knew the truth.
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those → know → truth
Before this summer, after all, Paul was best known in the GTA as a cold-blooded Maple Leafs killer — the guy who single-handedly eliminated Toronto from the first round of the 2022 playoffs by scoring both Lightning goals in a 2-1 Tampa win in Game 7.
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who → know → Game
Less known was that Paul, deep down, is a born-and-bred Leafs loyalist.
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is → know → ?
As a kid growing up in Mississauga’s Lorne Park neighbourhood, winter nights were spent playing three-on-three on the backyard rink with a Leafs game on TV in the living room that doubled as a dressing room.
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that → grow → room
The Paul household was strewn with Leafs sweaters bearing the names of Mats Sundin and Darcy Tucker.
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household → strew → Sundin
“Eddie the Eagle and Cujo were my guys — I had the Cujo helmet,” Paul said, speaking of Ed Belfour and Curtis Joseph.
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Paul → have → Belfour
So when Paul got the news July 1 that he’d been traded to the Leafs in a deal that sent goalie Dennis Hildeby and draft picks to the Lightning, the shock was seismic.
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shock → get → Lightning
Paul told his wife Janessa, who figured he had to be joking.
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he → tell → wife
“She was getting her hair done and I called her and said, ‘I just got traded to the Leafs.’
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I → get → Leafs
And she said, ‘Ha ha, funny,’” Paul said.
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Paul → say → ?
When Paul told childhood best friend Daniel De Sousa that he’d been dealt to the team they both grew up worshipping — De Sousa’s favourite player was Tie Domi — Paul said he could hear De Sousa choking up on the video call.
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Sousa → tell → call
“It was like a whirlwind of emotions,” said De Sousa, who played in the OHL and QMJHL and now owns Etobicoke’s Grappa Restaurant.
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who → say → Restaurant
“I’m just super happy to be able to watch him play and watch the Leafs, because that’s my favourite team.
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that → ’m → Leafs
If there’s no shortage of NHLers happy to frame Toronto as a horrible place to play, rife with too much media and too much pressure, Paul sees it differently.
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Paul → ’ → it
“Like, this is the team,” Paul said.
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Paul → say → ?
“I grew up knowing what it meant to be a fan here, and how much it meant to wear the jersey, because I’d go to bed as a kid just dreaming of being on the ice here.
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I → grow → ice
After injuries limited him to 51 games last season in Tampa, Paul is hoping to see plenty of prime ice as the Leafs attempt to bounce back from last season’s 28th-place debacle.
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Leafs → limit → debacle
The opening practices at training camp saw Paul centring a third line flanked by second-year winger Easton Cowan and fellow newcomer Colton Sissons.
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Paul → see → Cowan
“That’s a line that should be able to play against the other team’s best players, but also (produce) offensively,” said Jim Hiller, the first-year Leafs coach.
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Hiller → ’ → players
“Because those three players, they can score goals.”
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they → score → goals
Paul, who potted a career-best 24 goals a few seasons ago, also brings value as a dressing-room life force with a wicked sense of humour.
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who → pot → humour
As a member of the Lightning he was known to dress up as Santa Claus and give out gag gifts around Christmas.
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he → know → Christmas
Example: One year he presented teammate Darren Raddysh, who is bald, with a hairbrush.
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who → present → hairbrush
Raddysh, of course, went from Tampa to Toronto in a June sign-and-trade.
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Raddysh → go → sign
“(Paul) is always laughing and having a good time when it’s time for that,” Raddysh said.
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Raddysh → laugh → that
“And when he needs to dial in and play, he’s always ready.”
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he → need → ?
As team captain Auston Matthews recently told Leafs host Ryan Leslie, Toronto’s off-season roster transformation has brought aboard some “pretty big personalities” and “some characters,” mentioning Paul first among them.
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transformation → tell → them
We’re about to begin an inflection-point season in Leafland when it comes to No. 34, writes Dave Feschuk.
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Feschuk → ’re → .
We’re about to begin an inflection-point season in Leafland when it comes to No. 34, writes Dave Feschuk.
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Feschuk → ’re → .
“Guys like Nick Paul have made themselves right at home,” Matthews said.
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Matthews → make → home
“And I think that’s great when you’ve got guys that speak up in the room and like to have fun and keep it light.”
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that → think → it
It’s especially great when those who keep it light show up when the game gets heavy.
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game → ’ → it
“I love pressure hockey,” Paul said.
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Paul → love → hockey
“I love when (a series) comes down to the line, there’s no space, one goal is the difference.”
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goal → love → line
One goal was the difference in that 2022 Game 7, when Paul scored his first two career playoff goals to crush the spirit of the team he grew up loving.
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he → score → team
If things go to plan, his next clutch delivery will send Leafs Nation into a different kind of frenzy.
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delivery → go → frenzy
“When the trade to Toronto became public, I got a lot of messages: ‘I can stop hating you again now,’” Paul said.
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Paul → become → you
…and 1 more, not listed.
The Aporia
