TORONTO (Aug. 1) — The equation is super–simple and need not be complicated in any manner. For the Maple Lesfs to improve on their disastrous 2025–26 season and return to playoff contention, Sergei Bobrovsky and Anthony Stolarz must reclaim their form of two seasons ago, when they were arguably (and for long stretches) the two best goalkeepers in the National Hockey League. For the Leafs to remain a Stanley Cup spectator, Bobrovsky and Stolarz must stay marred in their precipitous plunges from a year ago. The two–time Stanley Cup–winning goalie in Florida saw his average balloon from 2.44 to 3.07; his save–percentage drop from .906 to .877. The Leafs signed the 38–year–old veteran, hoping that last season was an aberration and not the beginning of the end. Stolarz, again, failed to remain healthy for any length of time. He is suffering from a cervical–nerve issue that seems vulnerable to contact at or above the shoulders. Avoiding collisions is nigh impossible for a goalie, which again places Stolarz on the guy wire. Along with injury, Anthony saw his numbers virtually collapse from the previous year: a rise in GAA from a terrific 2.14 to an abysmal 3.28; his SV% dipping from .926 to .893. Touted as the club’s No. 1 stopper, Stolarz saw action in only 26 games. Can he somehow, and finally, remain in one piece?
Goaltending is the crux of every issue encountering the Leafs. More important than the much–anticipated first contributions from Gavin McKenna; how many bombs Darren Raddysh can fire from the point… or in how many ways Auston Matthews and William Nylander will tittilate — and torment — the fan base. I’ll say it again: If Bobrovsky and Stolarz can stay relatively unscathed and complement one another, the Leafs will be credited with landing the jewel of the off–season. Bobrovsky, plainly, knows how to win. Stolarz proved, two seasons back, that he, too, can put up elite numbers, even while toiling behind a marginal blue line and near–constant chaos in the defensive zone. If he can somehow avoid a flare–up of his neck condition, Anthony is plenty young enough (he’ll be 33 in January) to regain top form in the NHL. This, of course, would be manna from heaven for the Leafs.
SERGEI BOBROVSKY (LEFT) AND ANTHONY STOLARZ SHAKE HANDS AFTER FLORIDA ELIMINATED THE LEAFS IN THE 2025 STANLEY CUP TOURNAMENT. NOW, THEY’LL BE TEAMMATES IN TORONTO.
Whenever Bobrovsky first plays, he’ll become the 83rd man to tend goal for the Leafs since May 2, 1967, when the club last won the Stanley Cup. If he and Stolarz regain even 75 percent of their capacities from two years ago, the Leafs will improve significantly. This will be enhanced if veteran Chris Tanev can hold together his fragile frame at age 37. But, caution must prevail after the reliable defender missed 71 games last season with a core–groin issue that required surgery. Chris doesn’t shy from contact and many Leafs fans are assuming he’ll play the bulk of the coming season. Yet, rebounding from a severe leg ailment and shaking off the rust of a lost season will not be simple at Tanev’s age. Enthusiasm must be tempered. Not so, potentially, with Bobrovsky and Stolarz, as goalies can easily maintain elite performance after age 35. Though on the ice for an entire game, netminders put many fewer miles on their bodies than position skaters. The Leafs have twice benefitted from future Hall–of–Fame types, late in their careers. In 1970–71, Jacques Plante was purchased from St. Louis by Jim Gregory so that incumbent Bruce Gamble could shoulder less responsibility. Yet, Plante was 41 and merely expected to allow Gamble a rest now and then. So much for plans. Plante split half the schedule with Gamble — then Bernie Parent after a February 1971 trade that sent Gamble to Philadelphia — and recorded the second–lowest average (1.89) of his brilliant career. Only in 1955–56, while backstopping Montreal to the first of a record five consecutive Stanley Cup titles, did Plante register a smaller number (1.86). His .944 SV% would be a leading figure in any era.
After Curtis Joseph defected to Detroit in July 2002 as a free agent, Pat Quinn quickly secured veteran Ed Belfour from Dallas. Coming over at 37, the Eagle provided the Leafs two more years of elite puck–stopping. In 2002–03, he played in 62 games and posted splits of 2.26 / .922. The following year, in 59 matches, the numbers were 2.13 / .918. Farther back, we had Johnny Bower and Terry Sawchuk playing into their grandfatherly years. Glenn Hall retired from the St. Louis Blues after the 1970–71 season at 39. Dominik Hasek performed most–brilliantly (for Buffalo) in his mid–30’s, winning the Hart Trophy as league MVP in consecutive years (1996–97 / 1997–98). Tim Thomas was 37 when he helped Boston win the 2011 NHL championship over Vancouver. So age, itself, should not be an overriding issue for Bobrovsky or Stolarz. Staying healthy and regaining full confidence are paramount.
Should both prevail, the Leafs will return to the playoff hunt.
BLUE JAYS COLLAPSE NOT SO HISTORIC
Put your hand up if you’ve seen this movie before. In living color. It may not be an all–time box office behemoth, but a pair of re–runs has aired since the original release, in 1946. To wit: the Toronto Blue Jays, this season, will become only the third team in the modern history of Toronto professional sport* to finish last in their Division after playing for the league championship. The Jays, of course, shocked all of baseball in the second half of last season, catching the brightest, loudest lightning–bolt–in–a–bottle of all time. Toronto never left first place in the American League East after July 3; compiled a 68–40 record, then knocked off the New York Yankees and Seattle to match up against the Los Angeles Dodgers in the World Series. It’s possible that no club has lost a league championship as cruelly as the Blue Jays, who twice were inches from prevailing in the ninth inning of Game 7.
*For the purpose of this blog, I will focus on the city’s “Big 3” sports teams: the Leafs, Blue Jays and Raptors.
But, a close force–out at the plate by Will Smith and a remarkable, once–in–a–career catch at the Rogers Centre wall by Andy Pages prevented the home side from snatching a title that no person felt conceivable in mid–May.
With all the excitement spilling over, the 2026 campaign teetered on disaster at 39–39 until June 23, when the Blue Jays officially boarded their 18–wheeler (thanks again, Burkie). An 11–20 plummet has withdrawn the club from serious post–season dialogue and all–but assured it will finish in the A.L. East cellar, behind Tampa Bay, the Yankees, Boston and Baltimore. In other words, first to worst. A blight shared by only one team* in the 50–season history of the franchise. Why the asterisk? Because Toronto technically maintained its championship posture for three years when the 1994 season fell to labor strife in mid–August, wiping out the playoffs and World Series (the Blue Jays had won it all in ’92 and ’93). When play resumed in 1995 (on Apr. 26) with an abbreviated, 144–game schedule, the Jays plummeted from champion to a tie with Minnesota for dead–last in the Major Leagues (both clubs finishing 56–88). Not until this season has Toronto duplicated the team–wide collapse of 31 years ago.
The Raptors followed up their 2019 National Basketball Association title (the only time the club has played in the Finals) with another first–place finish (53–19) in 2019–20, but fell to Boston in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference semifinals. No first to worst scenario there. Which brings us to the Maple Leafs, who twice failed to make the playoffs after winning the Stanley Cup in the early years of the franchise: 1919 and 1923. In modern times, it has also happened twice; most–recently, yes, after the 1967 Cup triumph. Having upset Chicago and Montreal, with mostly superb goaltending from Johnny Bower and Terry Sawchuk, the Leafs lost key personnel to the six incoming expansion teams (California, Los Angeles, Minnesota, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, St. Louis), including Sawchuk (to continue playing in L.A.) and defenceman Red Kelly (to coach the Kings). Veteran blueliner Bob Baun was chosen by the California Seals. George Armstrong and Allan Stanley returned, but not happily, after being left unprotected for the draft to stock the entries. The popular Eddie Shack went to Boston in a straight–up swap for Murray Oliver.
When the expansion season of 1967–68 began, the ancient Bower and new partner Bruce Gamble couldn’t provide the same assurance between the pipes. The club became grievously old — such players as Bower, Armstrong, Stanley, Marcel Pronovost, Tim Horton and Bob Pulford losing a step, or a reflex. How that contributed to Toronto becoming the lone established team to record a sub–.500 record (10–11–3) against the expansionist newbies remains an enigma, all these years later. But, it cost Punch Imlach’s team a playoff spot as the Leafs finished with 76 points, four fewer than fourth–place Chicago in the new East Division. Definitely from first to worst.
In 1944–45, the Maple Leafs began their dynasty under Conn Smythe and Hap Day, winning the Stanley Cup for the second time in the decade (after the historic, four–game comeback against Detroit in 1942). It was quite an upset as Toronto finished a distant third in the NHL standings, 15 points behind second–place Detroit and 28 points in back of first–place Montreal. After a gargantuan, six–game triumph over the Canadiens in the semifinals, the Leafs jumped out to a 3–0 series lead against Detroit, only to have the Red Wings turn the table from three years earlier and win a trio of matches to deadlock the championship round. Rather than complete the comeback at Olympia Stadium, however, the Red Wings lost 2–1 on Babe Pratt’s powerplay goal at 12:14 of the third period.
Why did the Leafs miss the playoffs in 1945–46? Goaltending.
Frank McCool had been spectacular during the spring of ’45, establishing a franchise playoff record with of four shutouts in 13 games (2.23 goals–against average), which included a Stanley Cup–tying mark of three in succession. But, McCool withheld his services to start the following season and Smythe — cunning, yet stubborn — went with the tandem of Baz Bastien and Gordie Bell. McCool later returned for 22 games, but the Leafs could not overcome a sickly 4–12–1 start in his absence. From first and league champion to almost–worst (fifth place).
When Andy Pages made that impossible catch at Rogers Centre last Nov. 1, no person would have imagined another first–to–worst scenario. But, here we are. For only the second time in the half–century of Blue Jays baseball.
30 YEARS AGO… AND I WAS THERE
Among the unquestioned highlights of my 23–year career in radio was being in the Atlanta Olympic Stadium when Donovan Bailey of Canada won the signature event — the 100–meter dash — in a world–record time of 9.84 seconds. Here’s how the story appeared in the Toronto newspapers the following day. I should not have been anywhere near the stands at the future Turner Field, let alone above the 80–meter mark of the backstretch. The FAN–590 did not share broadcasting rights to the Games, precluding me from attending the big events in person. But, a very kind soul in the Canadian media office, who somehow enjoyed my coverage of the Leafs, offered me a pass for the event. It was July 27, 1996, beginning the final week of the Olympics.
An incident the previous night resulted from a domestic terrorist bombing at Centennial Olympic Park in downtown Atlanta, killing two people and injuring 111 others. I remember seeing the blood.
Bailey won his medal in the long shadow of that tragedy. But, what a memory it remains.
AT THE HOCKEY HALL OF FAME
More images from my trusky NIKON upon visiting the Hall in July:
Ted Kennedy of the Maple Leafs and Maurice (Rocket) Richard of the Canadiens were intense rivals in the 1940’s when Toronto won five Stanley Cup titles (1942–45–47–48–49) and Montreal a pair (1944–46). Here are sweaters they wore during that time.
The Memorial Cup, awarded since 1924 to the Junior hockey champion of North America.
Early masks belonging to the legendary Jacques Plante; on the left, the item he donned on Nov. 1, 1959 after being struck in the nose by a shot from Andy Bathgate of the Rangers at Madison Square Garden. Following a lengthy delay for stitches, Plante told Montreal coach Toe Blake he would return to the match only if wearing his mask. Blake had no other option and reluctantly agreed. The goalie embarked on an 18–game unbeaten streak and Blake forgot about the mask. At right, is the item Plante wore in 1968–69 and 1969–70 as a member of the St. Louis Blues.
The iconic mask of Glenn (Chico) Resch in the early years of the New York Islanders.
Jersey worm by the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) Flyers while winning a gold medal at the 1948 Winter Olympics in St. Moritz, Switzerland. Back then, Canada sent amateur teams to international competitions (Olympics, World Championships).
Replica jerseys (left) that belonged to Jean Beliveau (4) and Bernie Geoffrion (5) in the remake of the Montreal Canadiens’ dressing room at the old Forum. And, no Canadian needs an explanation of the image at right: Sep. 28, 1972 in Moscow. Including the actual stick that Paul Henderson deployed to score the series–winning goal against Vladislav Tretiak and the Russians.
The jersey worn at home by Wayne Gretzky in 1979–80, his first NHL season.
Shoulder patches of Montreal (left) and Colorado in the 1989 and 1996 Stanley Cup finals.
The Colorado Avalanche won two Stanley Cups with Patrick Roy in net; the New York Islanders four consecutive Stanley Cups with perennial all star Mike Bossy on right wing.
Original turnstile from Maple Leaf Gardens when the building opened on Nov. 12, 1931.
The jersey worn by veteran Leonard (Red) Kelly while the Leafs won the 1967 Stanley Cup.
The current Stanley Cup is star of the show, located on the second level in the ESSO Great Hall.
