Clark talks Matthews, time with Maple Leafs in Q&A with NHL.com

In NHL.com’s Q&A feature called “Sitting Down with …” we talk to key figures in the game, gaining insight into their lives on and off the ice. Today, we feature Toronto Maple Leafs icon Wendel Clark, the former captain and a current team ambassador who remains one of the most popular players in franchise history nearly 24 years after his final NHL game.

It’s been mostly a pleasant five-hour return drive this season for Wendel Clark between his home in Muskoka, Ontario, and Scotiabank Arena in downtown Toronto. The miles seem fewer and the traffic lighter when the Maple Leafs are playing well, the team sitting third in the Atlantic Division heading into the final quarter of the schedule, a blistering 10-4-0 since the 2024 All-Star break.

“In and out four times a week,” Clark said with a laugh of his 135-mile drive from cottage country north of Toronto to Maple Leafs home games and other activities in which he participates as an energetic alumnus.

“I’ll drive home after the games, and the weather doesn’t matter. If it’s bad weather, even better — nobody’s on the road… until you get into the city.”

The 57-year-old native of Kelvington, Saskatchewan, is a magnet for Leafs Nation faithful, one of 14 former players immortalized in bronze statues on Legends Row at the arena’s doors.

Clark played 608 of his 793 regular-season games for the Maple Leafs, seeing more action along the way with the Quebec Nordiques, New York Islanders, Tampa Bay Lightning, Detroit Red Wings and Chicago Blackhawks.