Former Maple Leaf Joffrey Lupul opens up about his Toronto departure
Lupul played 701 games in the league, tallying 420 points. Lupul now spends his time golfing twice a week, he's rediscovered his love for snowboarding, and he's invested in Due West, a trendy wine bar in New York's West Village. Lupul currently resides in southern California, and ever since his controversial exit from Toronto, fans have been wondering what actually happened.
Lupul didn't hold anything back as he admitted he would wake up having no clue if he was going to be able to play, or last the day with his back in the condition it was in:
My mindset had changed completely. I went from driving to the game pumping Nirvana, to listening to talk radio pulling my car into the garage saying ' please god, get me back here in 6 hours. My contract at that point was exceeding my production on the ice. I was hurt a lot, it was always something.
It was my back, and then my groin. I couldn't keep myself healthy. Also, I had lost the confidence. Not in my ability or skillset, just the confidence in 'am I going to make it through this game? They didn't necessarily want me back on the team that year, and they made that pretty clear. But if I had full confidence in my body I'm sure I would have put up a big fight and been like 'hey I don't want to do this,', but to be honest, I wasn't sure.
At that age, you start getting more thoughts in your head about 'I don't want to F*** myself up for life going forward'. I want to have kids and stuff one day. As soon as that stuff's in your head and you're trying to play hockey, with injuries that linger on, when stuff gets in your head, you're not going to be successful, and that's kind of where I was at.When asked about current Maple Leafs HC, Mike Babcock who Lupul played for in his first tenure with the Ducks:
He's a good coach. He's a smart guy. He's an extremely hard worker, noticeably more than other coaches I've had. Like, watching him in there doing video and practice plans. He's a tough guy to play for. He's demanding.
My criticism with him, I feel sometimes even watching their team this year: He won't necessarily jump on the grenade for the team sometimes. 'My defence isn't good enough.' 'My goalie didn't stop the puck.' Well he's one of the best goalies in the league, that's my only criticism I have with him. This guy could easily bail some people out here and take some of the blame. He knows what he's doing, and he'll make adjustments too. He's good that way.And when asked about playing with Phil Kessel:
Phil's great. He's so awesome. Everyone loves him, except the media in Toronto hated him because he wouldn't give them what they wanted. But that's his personality. He wants to play hockey, and that's it. He doesn't necessarily want to work out; he wants to play ping pong. Can you blame him for that?Some people believed after trading Kessel, the Maple Leafs would actually be better, Lupul shared his thoughts:
Are you f***ing nuts? The guy gets 40 goals every year. Wait 'til we're trailing by one in the third and have a power play. We're certainly going to miss the guy.Lupul is posted up in California and looking to start a family soon. All the best in retirement- Freedom 35.
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