'The Epitome Of A Great Teammate': How Kyle Clifford Has Created A Lasting Impact Inside The Maple Leafs' Organization

As the Toronto Marlies exit the ice after most games at Coca-Cola Coliseum, a young boy dressed in the team’s gear wheels a cart crammed with water bottles to the dressing room.

That’s Brody, Kyle Clifford’s eldest son.

Brody has been helping out with the Marlies when the team has played at home throughout the last few seasons. He’ll sometimes assist the equipment staff in preparing the bench before a game and helps clean up after it.

Clifford’s wife, Paige, will also bring their three boys, Brody, Ryker, and Cooper, to Marlies practice, where they will sometimes skate with their father and some of his teammates.

“Every time Cliffy has the chance to bring them around, they’re super nice kids and sometimes it’s fun for me to stay out for them because it makes me forget about all the other stuff,” Maple Leafs prospect William Villeneuve said. 

“I just go out there and I see them having fun, and sometimes I remember and it gives me perspective that hockey’s a fun sport and we get to do this, so it’s been awesome having them around.”

There isn’t a word more significant to Clifford than family. His wife and three sons are everything to him. And in the summer of 2024, when Clifford was mulling over what was next in his hockey career, it was family that came up time and time again.

After 13 years on an NHL contract, which included two Stanley Cups with the Los Angeles Kings, a short tenure with the St. Louis Blues, and returning home to play for the Toronto Maple Leafs, Clifford signed his first-ever AHL deal in July 2024.

Before that, he had already spent two seasons with the Marlies; however, this move—to return to the Marlies on an AHL contract—was different.

“I think that just shows you where his priorities are. Family is really important to him,” one of his Marlies teammates, Marshall Rifai, said. “He makes every decision with his family in mind.”

Ahead of the 2024-25 season, Rifai was deciding where he’d live in Toronto. That’s when Clifford, who already had three young boys running around, offered the 27-year-old a spot in his home.

If you’ve watched Clifford play hockey with any team, you know he wears his heart on his sleeve every night. There aren’t many players around the game who put the passion on display quite like he does.

“I think he’s really good at kind of giving you a kick in the ass when you need it,” Rifai added, “and then also pumping you up when maybe things aren’t going as well.”

Living with Clifford, though, has given Rifai a different perspective on the veteran forward.

“I think it’s really cool to see him away from the rink and how he deals with his kids. The way he is at home, I think, he’s definitely a different person. He loves his kids and he’ll do anything for them,” Rifai said.

“In a lot of ways, the way he mentors his kids is the way he will mentor some of the guys on our team. And I think that’s really cool to see.”

Family, to Clifford, isn’t reserved to those who share his blood. It branches out to his friends and teammates who battle alongside him throughout every game. He’ll defend them, too. Clifford even pushes those he plays alongside when necessary. 

Most importantly, though, is that he’s there for them whenever it’s needed most.

An injury delayed Alex Steeves’ start to his professional hockey career with the Marlies in 2021. That same season, Clifford started the year with the Maple Leafs before being sent to the AHL in mid-November.

At opposite points in their career, Steeves and Clifford started that year on the same line with the Marlies. The two were also on the Maple Leafs when Steeves registered his first NHL point.

“I just remember right away that he was just himself in the locker room. He’s obviously very serious at times, but he’s also got a funny side to him,” Steeves said, reminiscing on when he first met the veteran forward. 

“I think when he came down and was just like that right away, it really rubbed guys the right way. And then his leadership takes over from there.”

Steeves’ tenure in the Maple Leafs’ organization has been filled with ups and downs. He’s broken several records with the Marlies, yet hasn’t been able to establish himself in an NHL role.

It’s led to him learning a lot about himself as a person and a player. Since arriving in 2021, Steeves has transformed several aspects of his game, both on and off the ice. Clifford probably wouldn’t admit it if you asked him, but parts of Steeves’ adaptation came from him.

“He’s always just been a good friend to me,” Steeves said.

“But also what I appreciate about him is he’s not afraid to sit you down and have those hard conversations with you if there’s room for improvement in your game or as a person. That’s what I respect about him, is just his accountability that he holds people to.”

“He’s like an extension of [the coaching staff]. We’re very fortunate to have him on the team,” added Marlies head coach John Gruden. 

As Rifai mentioned, Clifford isn’t afraid to tell you if your game has dipped. That can even happen during a game, when emotions are at their highest.

“There’s been times over my four years with him that he’s snapped on me on the bench during a game, like really shredded me. But I know where it’s coming from,” Steeves said. 

“It’s because he cares about me and wants me to be better. And we talk about it after and we’re grabbing a beer after the game and stuff like that. I think his accountability really stands out.”

During Steeves’ most recent call-up to the Maple Leafs in February, arguably his last opportunity to showcase himself to the team’s coaching staff, I asked the forward: Who’s been the most crucial player to your development with the Marlies?

He mentioned Marlies captain Logan Shaw, assistant captain Joseph Blandisi—whom Steeves said could be the best man at his wedding—and Clifford, one of his closest teammates.

“Cliffy was my first linemate in the NHL, and he’s become one of my best friends,” Steeves said, benevolently. 

“He’s someone I think any guy should talk to who has aspirations of playing in the NHL. To play as long as he did as a fourth liner is really tough. He’s helped me out a lot and I know he advocates for me as well. And he’s a good friend.”

Steeves and Rifai aren’t the only players Clifford has stuck a helping hand out to. In speaking with several of the forward’s teammates, specifically first or second-year pro players, they’ve said Clifford has even gone as far as sitting down with them and going over film.

“He’ll watch every game and he’ll be like, ‘I wanna show you a couple of clips,’” Marlies forward and Maple Leafs prospect Jacob Quillan said. “Whatever he has to say, you have to take in because he knows the game well.”

“He’s a beast,” lauded Fraser Minten, now with the Boston Bruins organization after being traded at the 2024 deadline. “A great guy and very nice to everybody, regardless of their age situation coming in. He’s there any time you want to talk, and throws some good jabs around humor-wise too. He’s an awesome guy in the locker room.”

“He’s been a major impact on my short time here,” added Cade Webber, citing Clifford has helped off the ice, too.

Even 30-year-old Blandisi, who is nearing a similar position in his career as Clifford, has witnessed first-hand how invested the two-time Stanley Cup winner is in helping the younger players.

“I think he’s amazing for the young guys. Just the little habits he teaches you. Things off the ice, things on the ice. You’re not going to get a leader like that in this league too often.”

As the regular season comes to a close, the pace of play and intensity usually ramp up, especially for teams with playoff aspirations. The Marlies were no different in April 2023.

The team made it to the postseason but won only two of seven games in the month and were outscored 19-28. In Toronto’s final game of the regular season—a 7-2 win over the rival Belleville Senators—Clifford received a five-minute major and a game misconduct for charging.

Four days later, on April 20, 2023, the team prepared for a first-round series against the Utica Comets. This practice, however, was filled with emotion, which some say is good to have at that time of year.

“We had those two weeks off, it was playoff time,” Blandisi recalled of the practice. “We were trying to ramp ourselves up at the time, staying in game shape.”

As the skate—which featured a lot of chipiness—concluded, Clifford and Blandisi got into a scuffle. Clifford punched Blandisi, and the two wrestled before their teammates stepped in to break it up.

“I just remember being shocked and like, ‘Holy smokes, I should probably go break this up before Cliffy kills him,’” smiled Steeves, looking back on the moment. 

“Cliffy’s such a competitor and seeing how serious he can get. Even in games, like, when he’s seeing red, or, we call it, ‘The wires getting crossed,’ he’s an animal. That’s what he built his career on, right? Like it’s really hard to be in the league that long as that type of player, but he did it, and he did it really well. And at the highest level in the playoffs. 

“I just remember, I already thought he was an ultra competitor, and then when I saw that, I was like, ‘Oh yeah, this guy’s for real, don’t piss him off.’”

The moment was nothing more than two teammates showing their commitment and care at a time when it mattered most.

“It’s like brothers. Anyone that has a brother knows you’re going to fight from time to time and the next day everything’s good,”  former Marlies head coach Greg Moore said after that practice.

“I think that was part of the example he set that, this is this time of year it doesn’t matter who we’re playing against, and then everyone else on the team is like, ‘Wow, he f***ing means business,’” Blandisi recalled.

“Just little things like that. People notice that. Young guys notice that. They take things like that in, and if you weren’t ready for playoffs that year, all of a sudden after that practice, you were…

“But I still know that he’s one of my best friends on the team. So, just little things like that go a long way.”

However, that wasn’t the only moment Clifford’s leadership was on display. He’s done it countless other times, including in the Marlies’ dressing room and on the ice, when he’s standing up for his teammates.

“Three years ago, we got pretty close, with his family too. And he kind of took me under his wing and showed me the way, what it is to be a pro hockey player,” Villeneuve, 23, said.

“Cliffy’s going to be straight up with you, and even sometimes when it’s something you don’t really want to hear, but you need to hear. He’s done that to me in the past and he’s still doing it this year. We have a great relationship, we talk a lot about hockey, but life too.”

Shaw added that he and Clifford, two-thirds of the Marlies’ leadership group, which also includes Blandisi, share a “good cop, bad cop” mentality when dealing with team issues.

“I’d say he’s a little bit more stern than I am, and that’s kind of just how we roll. That’s how we connect so well as a group,” Shaw said. 

“He’s an intimidating guy for sure when he gets angry. That’s the way he leads. He leads by example, and through the way he plays and his physicality and the way he pushes everyone to play harder and play better and play smarter. He’s been a great teammate and a great friend for three years.”

Rifai recalled when Clifford addressed the entire room about the team’s struggles during the back-half of the 2023-24 season: “He’s not someone who always screams all the time, but he came in and he was pretty vocal about how the intensity needs to be picked up, and frankly, a lot of guys in this room want to be in the NHL, and if compete’s not there, then it’s going to be the next guy up. 

“And he made that very clear to the group. When the message is coming from him, everyone listens.”

In a game against Belleville on Jan. 12, 2024, which Toronto won 8-0, Senators’ forward Boko Imama speared Marlies goaltender Dennis Hildeby as both teams exited the ice following the second period.

Clifford, who was already up the stairs and headed to the Marlies’ dressing room, saw what Imama did, turned around, came back down and went onto the ice to go after Imama. That was the moment, along with their scuffle, where Blandisi knew Clifford was a true leader.

“I knew nobody liked that, but there was one guy that was going to take care of that, and it was him. He came out of his way and out of the pile. I think one of those moments stuck with me.”

Fifteen years ago, Clifford was finishing his junior career with the OHL’s Barrie Colts, not knowing what was next in his hockey career. Turning pro isn’t always easy for players, especially when they go from the top of the food chain with their junior team back to the bottom in the NHL.

But playing in Barrie helped shape Clifford into the player he is now, and was with Los Angeles during their Stanley Cup runs.

And that’s why on Feb. 27, the Colts retired the forward’s number 13. It was a memorable moment for him, his family, and the fans in Barrie. Even his Marlies teammates made the trip to the Sadlon Arena to watch Clifford’s jersey get raised to the rafters.

“I think we had around 22 (players), plus a lot of staff came,” Villeneuve said.

“Cliffy’s not a guy that likes all the attention and all that, but it just shows the kind of person that he is and the player that he was in Barrie. He has a big impact in the locker room and it’s fun to see what he did in Barrie and all that. I think it was important for us to be there for him and we had a great night.”

The Colts had Clifford in the dressing room to read the starting lineup before the game. Before his jersey was lifted to the rafters, he read a speech thanking the organization, its fans, and his family, who stood by him at centre ice during the ceremony.

“I think Kyle has one of the greatest skills you can have in a team sport, and that’s character,” Colts general manager and head coach Marty Williamson said during the ceremony. “You want this guy on your team. You win with this guy on your team.”

It’s unknown what Clifford will do after this season. There’s always a chance he returns for another year, but with how much hockey he’s played, plus the physical side of his game, it’s possible he steps away from his playing career.

This wouldn’t be the end in hockey for Clifford, though. His love for the game will never subside, and he’ll likely continue to work in hockey for years following his retirement. Although that all remains in the air, one aspect is certain: He’ll forever be remembered for how much he supports his team.

“He’s the epitome of a great teammate. It doesn’t matter if he plays 10 minutes, 20 minutes, power play, penalty kill, no power play, no penalty kill, he’s going to play the same way every night. And that’s as a team player,” Shaw said.

“He’s going to stand up for you. He’ll always do what’s asked. But he always has your back and he’ll always play hard, he’ll always finish his hits, he’ll always be a factor on the ice no matter what, and that’s through his physicality and through his vocals and the way he drives the bus by playing hard every day. 

“It doesn’t matter if he has three injuries, two injuries, no injuries, he’s still going to play the same way, and that says a lot about a person, that can push through that stuff and it’s nice for our young guys to see that, and have that on our team.”

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