TORONTO

The word came out quietly, not surprisingly, that Chris Pronger won’t play again in the National Hockey League.

But a moment of reflection, celebration and appreciation is necessary.

In the 18 seasons Pronger played, no one in his time changed teams the way he did, making them better by simply being on them, all but destroying them when departing.

He was that dramatic of a difference-maker: Only a handful of players over the past 30 years have his had close to similar impact.

He won a Stanley Cup in Anaheim, two Olympic gold medals for Canada, but it was his play in other places that truly set him apart. He left St. Louis as a 91-point team: The Blues next season played as a 57-point team. In his one season in Edmonton, the Oilers shockingly made their way to the Stanley Cup final. The following season, without him, last place. In his first season in Philadelphia, just like Edmonton, just like Anaheim, his team played for the Cup.

Who else went to three different teams and wound up playing for the Cup in the very first season?

The Ducks won. The Flyers, with a goaltender, would have won. In his second season in Philadelphia, he got hurt and concussions brought his career to an end. Without, the Flyers have been dreadful.

You can make the argument that in his time in the NHL, Pronger was the most impactful player in the game.

THIS AND THAT

Tim Leiweke’s quirky honesty has taken a pounding in his first few months on the job as CEO of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment. He promised an exclusive to the Toronto Star and burned them on it and recently lied to a Toronto Sun columnist on the night Dave Nonis was taken to hospital. I may not have cared much for his predecessor, Richard Peddie, but I don’t remember him fudging the truth to anyone at any time ... Questions are being asked internally and externally about the Staal brothers in Carolina and why they aren’t producing more regularly ... The Metropolitan Division: Not just the worst name in hockey, the worst division in hockey ... Nonis said he hasn’t considered trading Jake Gardiner and doesn’t believe in trading young defencemen. “How many teams have made mistakes trading a young defencemen too soon?” Nonis also said he has no interest in trading James Reimer at this time and wants the goaltending competition to fully play its way out ... But if the time does come that he wants to deal Reimer and the Edmonton Oilers still don’t have a goaltender of note, it seems the perfect fit: Reimer becoming Oilers goalie of the present and future. One of the young Edmonton stars becoming a Leaf ... As of Saturday, Mason Raymond had more goals than the Sedin brothers, combined. That won’t last. But for today, he’ll take it.

HEAR AND THERE

The recently passed Bum Phillips had just about my favourite quote about the greatness of fellow football coach, Don Shula. Folksy Phillips said: “He can take his’n and beat your’n and (then) take your’n and beat his’n.” Phillips was 90 ... The easy Sunday question: Who would you rather have on your team: Dave Bolland or Mikhail Grabovski? ... Grabovski, by the way, began the season on Washington’s second line and first power play. He has since moved to a third line where he centres Jason Chimera and Joel Ward: The three combined for 20 goals last season ... Every year some guy comes around that you have to Google to figure out who he is and where he comes from: This season’s winner: Mark Arcobello of the Oilers ... One year after the Alexander Ovechkin what-position-does-he-play-mess, nhl.com still has issues. The league website lists Phil Kessel on its statistical section as a centre. Figuring out what wing Joffrey Lupul plays is difficult, when he plays both. But being wrong on Kessel? How many other players are they wrong on? Claude Giroux and Tomas Hertl to name two more ... From the department of sometimes statistics lie: Kevin Glenn is the 10th leading passer in CFL history. How is that possible?

SCENE AND HEARD

Fascinating to watch playoff teams far superior to the Blue Jays come apart in the post-season. The Dodgers imploded. The Tigers don’t look right. The Rays tightened up terribly. The Red Sox have hardly hit. And you wonder: If the Blue Jays are way behind those teams, and they’re nowhere close, just how far away from being real contenders are they? ... And one thing I’ll never do again: Underestimate the St. Louis Cardinals. It doesn’t seem to matter who is wearing the uniform. They find a way. This is their fourth World Series trip since 2004. And this team has 19 different players from the championship team of 2011. Which is a tribute to terrific management ... If John Candy was alive he would tell you that Clayton Kershaw blew up real good ... Is it just me or does Carl Gunnarsson need to play with more urgency? ... It’s not a good week for the NHL when three defenceman, all of them of quality, are taken off on stretchers, even if the circumstances of each are quite different ... The pro-fighting types will tell you that hockey needs to police itself. Isn’t it quite evident, that with or without fighting, hockey can’t police itself. That’s for the on-ice officials and league headquarters, neither of which is doing enough to make the game safer and more sensible.

AND ANOTHER THING

Almost a million people watched Monday’s Argo-Ticats game, which brings up the old line about the CFL being the sporting equivalent to pornography. People will watch it in their own homes. They just don’t want to tell anyone about it ... In the past 30 Bruins games, legends Jaromir Jagr (last season) and Jarome Iginla (this season) have not scored a single goal for Boston ... Before Saturday night’s game in Winnipeg, the Argos had been outscored 25-2 in the first quarter of their past three games. So you wonder: Why doesn’t Scott Milanovich have his team ready to start games? ... Never mind if it was hybrid icing or not — and can anyone give an explanation of the rule in less than 10 words? — but that embarrassing goal on Jonathan Bernier was scored because he tuned out for that second. Don’t think that will happen again ... What happens first for the Buffalo Sabres: A big trade, a coach firing, a general manager firing, or nothing? The bet here is nothing ... If not for Peyton Manning there is no giant stadium in Indianapolis, no Super Bowl in Indy, no football identity for a place known for basketball. On Sunday, the crowd should stand for Manning and probably keep standing for the entire game. He was that important to that city, that market, that team ... The Argos lost coach Orlondo Steinauer to the Ticats in the off-season and the first-year Hamilton defensive coordinator has given them fits the past two weeks ... Happy birthday to Scott Hall (55), Juan Marichal (76), Willis McGahee (32) Garry Monahan (67), Guy Chouinard (57) and Keith Hernandez (60) ...And hey, whatever became of Wilf Paiement?

STATS SOMETIMES LIE

An enlightened NHL general manager went to a presentation recently made by a group trying to sell an analytics and advanced statistics package to the team. The GM was impressed with what he saw, was ready to make a deal, when he asked the question:

“If I hire you to do our team and every other team in the league, how will I know the compilation of statistics won’t vary from market to market?”

The answer was that they couldn’t guarantee that. So no deal was made.

I thought of that yesterday reading statistics on nhl.com where the Maple Leafs lead the NHL in giveaways with 133 and the Columbus Blue Jackets have 37. Those numbers cannot be comparable, they are market sensitive. What’s a giveaway in Toronto isn’t a giveaway in Columbus or New York, for example. What’s a hit in one market isn’t a hit in another.

“We compile our own statistics with our own people,” the GM told me. “That way we can trust the data and the information.” There is far too much inaccuracy in the numbers — from giveaways to takeaways,to hits to shots on goal — all them gathered by NHL statisticians in individual markets.

FEW CFLERS MAKE A GOOD JUMP TO NFL

I have been watching the CFL and NFL most of my life, but what’s astounding is how few CFL stars over the years have made any kind of impact in the NFL.

Started thinking about this watching Brandon Browner with the Seattle Seahawks the other night. Browner was a terrific, punishing Calgary Stampeder defensive back, now doing similar things in Seattle.

But how many players, of those who began in the CFL, became difference-makers in both leagues? The best CFL-to-NFL graduate has clearly been Hall of Fame quarterback, Warren Moon. Second best may be Miami Dolphins pass rusher, Cameron Wake.

But after that, who? The quarterbacks: Joe Theismann. Joe Kapp and Jeff Garcia. The receivers: Mervyn Fernandez and Rocket Ismail. There is Jerrell Freeman making things happen with the Indianapolis Colts. And years earlier, Noah Jackson blocked for Walter Payton, Jake Scott was a terrific safety with the Miami Dolphins and Mike Vanderjagt kicked field goals.

I left Doug Flutie off this list because he started games at quarterback in the NFL before coming to the CFL. I’m sure I’m missing somebody: But over past 45 years, no more than 20 CFL stars made any impact on NFL rosters — and the low number surprises me.

WILL CALVILLO COME BACK?

Anthony Calvillo will turn 42 next summer and if you were him, would you come back to play quarterback for the Montreal Alouettes?

Would you want to play for another new head coach?

On a diminishing team? With concussions now on your mind? Your health at risk? And maybe a future in coaching ahead of you?

I wouldn’t — but I can’t pretend to know what’s in Calvillo’s mind. The most successful passer in CFL history has a choice to make and neither one may be that appealing.

He can call it a career, with his time coming to an end with him on the injured list, his season an artistic and medical disappointment. Hardly the picture-perfect ending.

Or he can choose to come back, try and end it on his own terms, believing he can still play the positional well.

Ideally, athletes want to end their careers on their terms, their call, not somebody else’s. Either way, this will be Calvillo’s call. And not an easy one to make.