Sept. 22, 2008 - Fred Boimistruck

Whether you consider the current iteration of the Leafs to be the most depressing on record is really a question of perspective.  For me, the absolute nadir was 1990-91, when any and all hopes that the bad old days might be over came crashing down in a heap and that young, fast team became a team of Aaron Brotens and Lucien DeBloiseses.  Eses.  (Lucien's name defies pluralization.)  With the benefit of hindsight, it becomes clear that the resurgence under Fletcher was just a year away.  But in context?  WAY worse than today.

Honestly, though, even as I can see this team going maybe 6-7 years between playoff dates, there is just nothing I see today that approaches the wreckage of the 1980s.  That was a freaking disaster.  Yes, it was possible to make the playoffs with 57 points (and the Leafs did), but think about this - from 1980-81 through 1988-89, the Leafs played .379 hockey.  That's a great batting average, but a horrific winning percentage.  On an 82-game schedule, that's 62 points.  For a decade.

Yes, the Leafs drafted a bunch of young players.  Those teams were REAL young.  Many of them, every key player not named Salming was under 25, and many would be under 23.

Defensemen were destroyed with extreme prejudice.  The names of many have become legend, of sorts.  Nylund, lost to two major knee operations before the age of 20.  Benning, from 139 points as a junior to an eventual banishment to Vancouver, McGill, who finally eked out an existence largely as a goon.  Iafrate - the human highlight reel lost again to bad knees.

And Fred Boimistruck - simply lost altogether.

Fred was one of the few NHLers who ever went to my high school.  We had junior B locally, not junior A, so we didn't see too many top-level players.

Fred was part of the experiment in 1981-82 to go with three rookie blueliners at the same time.  Managed to destroy all three of them, though none as badly as Fred.  Fred was basically a good multi-purpose defenseman who simply didn't fight enough - this, of course, was a huge problem on a team that had Jim Korn and Bob McGill, I guess.

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1978-79      Streetsville Derbys      OHA-B                                                       
1979-80     Cornwall Royals     QMJHL     70     12     34     46     99         11     0     8     8     6
1979-80     Cornwall Royals     M-Cup     5     3     2     5     2                        
1980-81     Cornwall Royals     QMJHL     68     22     48     70     158         18     4     11     15     61
1980-81     Canada     WJC-A     5     3     0     3     8                        
1980-81     Cornwall Royals     M-Cup     5     0     3     3     6                        
1981-82     Toronto Maple Leafs     NHL     57     2     11     13     32     +9                    
1982-83     Toronto Maple Leafs     NHL     26     2     3     5     13     -3                    
1982-83     St. Catharines Saints     AHL     50     6     23     29     32                        
1983-84     St. Catharines Saints     AHL     80     2     28     30     68         7     1     0     1     19
1984-85     Fort Wayne Komets     IHL     2     0     1     1     5                        
1984-85     SC Langnau     Swiss     6     1     2     3                            
1985-86     Flint Spirits     IHL     17     3     6     9     15                        
1986-87     Brantford Mott's Clamatos     OHA-Sr.     32     1     8     9     51                        
NHL/Leaf Totals     83     4     14     18     45                        

QMJHL First All-Star Team (1981)



the hhof take on Fred:

Defenseman Fred Boimistruck played two years of major junior hockey with the Cornwall Royals when the club was enjoying the greatest successes in team history. In his rookie year in 1980-81 Boimistruck quickly established himself as one of the top offensive defensemen in the QMJHL on a powerhouse team that included such other notable players such as Dale Hawerchuk and Dan Daoust. The Royals won the Memorial Cup that year and with the majority of the players returning in 1981-82, it looked as if a repeat was a sure thing. In his second year Boimistruck notched 22 goals and 70 points in 68 games as the Royals dominated the QMJHL regular season. They advanced to the Memorial Cup as expected and defeated the OMJHL's Kitchener Rangers in the finals.

Despite having one year of junior eligibility remaining, Boimistruck earned a roster spot with the NHL's Toronto Maple Leafs, who had selected him in the third round of the 1980 NHL Entry Draft, 43rd overall. In retrospect many of the young players such as Jim Benning and Gary Nylund were thrown into a similar situation as Boimistruck where they were expected to immediately improve a disastrous Maple Leafs team. Instead it ruined their careers, with far too much pressure placed on their young shoulders. Although Boimistruck played 57 games that first year, he was limited to just 26 the following season and was relegated to the minors for the rest of the year. He never again reached the NHL, his confidence totally gone. By their own admission many young players from that early 1980's Leafs' team later admitted they were too young to handle the unrealistic expectations placed upon them by team management.

Boimistruck toiled in the minors for several years but was out of competitive hockey by the age of 25.

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