Toronto Maple Leafs: Joffrey Lupul reflects on ending with team on Spittin Chiclets

After a less than ideal ending to his time with the Toronto Maple Leafs, Joffrey Lupul opened up on the Spittin Chiclets podcast about his career in a rare candid interview.

It has been a while since Toronto Maple Leafs fans have heard Joffrey Lupul‘s name in the media and there’s obviously a reason why.

The last time he made headlines was back on Feb. 8, 2018, when he appeared on the Member-Guest Podcast. That interview just touched on his desire to one day get back on the ice but that he wasn’t considering a comeback to the NHL so it just got swept under the rug.

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Then on Wednesday, Spitting Chiclets released their latest podcast with the former Leafs winger as their guest and it certainly got people’s attention. For anyone who hasn’t listened to past episodes of the podcast, Paul Bissonnette, Ryan Whitney, Rear Admiral (also known as RA) are known for their candid interviews with former players and getting stories that traditional media usually struggle to get.

Getting Lupul to come on probably wasn’t too difficult considering the reputation the podcast has but considering how Lupul has been laying low it is a bit surprising because you’d think he wouldn’t want the spotlight on him.

Some might remember back in 2017 when the Leafs announced Lupul failed his physical to which he called out the team (in a post that was later deleted) for cheating the system. He then proceeded to apologize for the post which ironically is the last thing he tweeted from his Twitter account.

When asked about his split with the Leafs, Lupul said it wasn’t as other’s may have expected considering the reputation the team had with putting players on LTIR or better known as “Robidas Island” for years.

"“Nothing’s really that crazy,” Lupul said in a transcript via Luke Fox of Sportsnet.“My contract was, at that point, exceeding my production on the ice. I was hurt a lot. It was always something — my back, then my groin. I couldn’t keep myself healthy. I had lost the confidence, not in my ability or skill-set, but the confidence in like, ‘Am I going to make it through this game?’ I feel like s––– today. Is there a chance I’m going to blow out my back or something?“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’ve put up a big fight and been like, ‘Hey, I don’t want to do this.’“I thought the situation, from my end, could’ve been handled a lot differently. It could’ve been sitting across the table from each other chatting about it.”"

The injuries Lupul went through during his tenure with the Leafs weren’t exactly minor and a big reason why it was cut short. This is why people didn’t exactly question the decision by the Leafs to move on from him.

Lupul also made it clear he isn’t exactly 100 per cent even though he hasn’t been playing hockey in years.

Anybody who follows Lupul on Instagram has probably seen the pictures of him travelling the globe and snowboarding. Other than that he’s been pretty quiet, almost like he’s enjoying retirement.

There were other highlights from the interview that Fox touches on including his former linemate Phil Kessel and how he didn’t appreciate the way the media treated him. He also gave props to Morgan Rielly saying that he knew the Leafs had a No. 1 defenceman in him.

Safe to say the Spittin Chiclets got another quality interview and maybe this opens up more opportunities for people to reach out to Lupul down the road.