'It Is A Coaching Decision, It Was Puzzling,' Joe Bowen Discusses His Retirement, Gavin McKenna's Benching And The Current State Of The Maple Leafs

If anyone thought Joe Bowen would stop watching Toronto Maple Leafs games after retiring, you’d be way off the mark.

After 44 years of working as a broadcaster for the Maple Leafs, Bowen still has plenty of love for the team and thoroughly enjoys turning on the television to watch the Buds. He may not subconsciously call the play-by-play or scream “Holy Mackinaw,” but he still throws on a Johnny Bower jersey and watches road games with his son. 

He may not work in the hockey media world anymore, but he is still very much a part of the Maple Leafs community.

“Last night I voiced off a tribute to Cliff Fletcher, who passed away and was a dear friend and just a marvelous hockey personality,” Bowen started. “My first ten years with the Leafs was spent with Harold Ballard, and ownership really has no interest in being the best. It was more about him, about making money and various other things. There wasn’t the opportunity for better coaching, or better support staff, or better scouting, or anything else. But the passing and changing of ownership and the arrival of Cliff really turned the corner.”

The Maple Leafs are off to a decent start to the season. Offensively, they’re humming, averaging 3.5 goals per game, ranking ninth in the NHL. Auston Matthews looks like his Hart Trophy self; William Nylander and John Tavares continue to produce consistently, Kirill Marchenko appears to be settling in and on pace for a career year, and youngsters Gavin McKenna and Easton Cowan are off to strong starts.

But major things still need attention. Goaltending has been inconsistent, the defense has been shaky at best, and last night coach Jim Hiller made his first big error by benching rookie and 2026 first overall pick McKenna for the second half of the Maple Leafs’ 5-4 overtime loss to the Buffalo Sabres. 

“It is a coaching decision; I don’t know what else played into it; it was puzzling,” Bowen began. “But what a wonderful situation for this young man to fall into. He’s not the face of the franchise; he’s not the guy that everyone has to talk to. He’s being brought along at a slower pace than what certainly would be on a team that didn’t have Nylander and Matthews and Tavares and all of this other firepower up front.

“So I think this was also a learning period too. He has to learn to play better without the puck, and every young player that comes into the National Hockey League, that’s the first thing coaches are concerned about and the first thing they harp on. You don’t have it all the time the way you had it in junior or college.

“It’s not following you all the time; you have responsibilities elsewhere, and those are the things I think becomes a bit of a fine line with the coach and with him to make sure that he is doing that. Better to do that now, have that lesson taught now, then it would be to let it fester through the rest of it and kind of have it explode at another time.”

McKenna finished the game with just 6:36 of ice time and didn’t touch the ice once in the final 30 minutes of the game. This came after McKenna recorded points in four straight games, tallying two goals and five points. 

While there isn’t a fanbase across the NHL that enjoys seeing their young, skilled player benched, it is common, and it’s even more common for the situation to escalate because it happened in Toronto. That’s the price that comes with arguably the largest fanbase in the NHL and for a team that hasn’t won a Stanley Cup since 1967. 

It’s truly been a long time since the Maple Leafs won the Stanley Cup, but Bowen isn’t too flustered by it.

“I know they haven’t won; we all know that, and every Leafs fan is angst about that, but it hasn’t been for the lack of money, hasn’t been for the lack of pursuing the best coaches, the best support staff, or trying to make trades for the best players,” said the 75-year-old. “It doesn’t work; it’s not a forgone conclusion.”

With all that, Bowen enjoys the laid-back nature and cherishes the chance to spend more time with his children. 

“I’m a fan, I’m back to being a fan,” Bowen said when asked about the 2026-27 Maple Leafs. “I’m a huge fan of the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame, and I own the Green Bay Packers. I’ve got four boys who I’ve brainwashed into that as well. I’m getting together with them to watch, and that’s fun. We all sit there and moan and say, ‘oh what a bad penalty, why is ah.’ You just become a fan again, and I’m really enjoying that. They’ve made a lot of changes with this team; it’s going to take some time for them to gel. I think the Chris Tanev injury is huge.”

Like Bowen, the Maple Leafs are enduring several changes and acclimating to them. The Maple Leafs are dealing with turbulence from a poor defensive game and now injuries to Tanev and Tavares. The question is how they bounce back, but one thing is certain: Bowen will watch and cheer them on every step of the way.

See more of The Hockey News on Google and save us as a preferred source. Get the latest news and trending stories by subscribing to our newsletter here. And share your thoughts by commenting below the article on THN.com or creating your own post in our community forum.