Wendel Clark wants to be part of downtown Hamilton's comeback

Talking to Toronto Maple Leafs icon Wendel Clark about the restaurant business is a lot like talking to him in the dressing room.

He can't help but retread the usual sports interview answers about teamwork, a good effort and common goals.

"The restaurant business is no different. It's the same sort of format as getting everybody on the same page and going for a common goal," Clark said, hours before his Wendel Clark's Classic Bar and Grill in downtown Hamilton is set to have its grand opening. The doors open at 2 p.m. Tuesday, with a ribbon cutting at 6 p.m.

We want to be a part of the downtown and trying to help bring life back to the city and help get people downtown.- Wendel Clark

"The biggest skill is getting across the teamwork effort in the restaurant business. Most businesses you're in you need all parties going in the same direction."

Even though his answers might sound almost interchangeable from a post-game interview against the '93 Devils, the 48-year-old former first-round draft pick says he's excited to be part of downtown Hamilton's resurgence.

"We want to be a part of the downtown and trying to help bring life back to the city and help get people downtown," he said.

"You want to keep life going and people down there. It enhances the city, and hopefully we can help be a big part of that."

A second try for the Lister Block space

Clark's new restaurant is one of the linchpins of the restored Lister Block, long seen as a symbol of downtown Hamilton's turnaround.

The first restaurant that moved into the city owned space the beleaguered 28 Lister Chophouse Grill flamed out spectacularly just a few months after opening. Clark said he wasn't aware of the previous tenant, but is focusing on making the new restaurant a place people want to go on a regular basis.

"I'm just part of the group that wants to make the current situation work," he said.

Though he played with six different NHL teams, most people will forever associate Clark with the Toronto Maple Leafs, a team he captained and returned to on three separate occasions.

He was long the kind of player Maple Leafs fans idolized and idealized a blue collar underdog who stuck up for his teammates and also had the skills to dazzle on the ice.

A long rebuild ahead for Leafs fans

Clark is still involved with the team as a community ambassador, and has been watching closely as it embarks on what seems to be a full scale teardown and rebuild, having just traded its most prolific scorer, Phil Kessel.

"[Brendan] Shanahan is getting people in and doing what he wants, and hiring Mike [Babcock] will get some real structure and guidelines in for how they want the team to act and play and make it a 24/7 job and not just a summer job," Clark said.

"By looking at some of the moves you know they're building for the future and not as much for right now, but they're trying to get the core of the team playing the same way."

That means Leafs fans will have to soldier through some sluggish rebuilding seasons over the next couple of years but at least they'll be doing it with another option to watch the team (with a beer in hand to ease the pain) in downtown Hamilton next season.

adam.carter@cbc.ca | @AdamCarterCBC