Is Anyone Safe At Sportsnet?

TORONTO (Aug. 8) — Just more than three years ago (in July 2023), I wrote a blog in this space entitled ONLY ELLIOTTE FRIEDMAN IS SAFE. It foretold significant change among those that present the intermissions on Hockey Night In … Read More

For Leafs, It’s All Between The Pipes

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… Read More

Will One Bowensy Follow Another?

TORONTO (July 18) — Are you ready for Holy Mackinaw! the Sequel? There is no hard information here in mid–summer, generally the lone quiet portion of the National Hockey League off–season, but whispers continue that David Bowen could replace his… Read More

The Pain That Rogers Ignites

TORONTO (July 10) — I was casually scrolling through Facebook the other day when I came upon a terribly distraught woman — her face etched in sorrow; tears welling in her eyes. Out of morbid curiosity, I clicked on the… Read More

Time to Reunite Keon and Mahovlich

TORONTO (June 28) — Pardon me while I inject some schmaltz into the euphoria of Leafs Nation over Gavin McKenna officially coming aboard in the draft. Events did occur for the hockey club and its followers prior to Friday. And,… Read More

Smiling Chayka Shuts ‘Em Up

TORONTO (June 26) — What the fu** was that headline, today, in the Toronto Star? Can you imagine the relief for John Chayka, general manager of the Maple Leafs, knowing that Canada’s largest newspaper had swallowed “information” intended to shush… Read More

Suddenly, Chayka’s Not Such An Idiot

***THERE IS GROWING SPECULATION THAT STANLEY CUP–WINNING GOALIE SERGEI BOBROVSKY WILL BE TARGETED BY THE MAPLE LEAFS IN FREE AGENCY NEXT WEEK… PROVIDING, OF COURSE, HE DOESN’T RE–SIGN WITH FLORIDA*** TORONTO (June 22) — What’s happened to the uproar? The… Read More

blasé Newspapers Have Abdicated

TORONTO (June 12) — I suppose it was inevitable, given the utter destruction (by the World Wide Web) of the newspaper industry. And that we live in a country where an alleged competition bureau allows for professional sports teams and… Read More

Memorable Times With The Silver Fox

TORONTO (June 6) — It was Jan. 30, 2008 and I wandered into the lobby of the Embassy Suites hotel off Interstate–40, near Raleigh–Durham International Airport. I had arrived 90 minutes earlier on a late–afternoon flight from Toronto; the Maple… Read More

Big Win For TSN’s Chris Johnston

TORONTO (June 5) — There was a time during my radio career when reporters would gather around televisions in the press box at Maple Leaf Gardens, then Air Canada Centre, to “cover” Coach’s Corner on Hockey Night In Canada. It’s… Read More

My Heroes Departing Too Frequently

TORONTO (May 31) — Today is an appropriate and coincidental anniversary for this solemn blog. It was 56 years ago tonight that I lost my first hockey hero. Terry Sawchuk captured my fancy before anyone. I would watch on black–and–white… Read More

The Love and Sweetness in Leafs Land

TORONTO (May 29) — Isn’t it a nice off season? We have the committed, determined captain, evidently during a Reagan–Gorbachev–type summit (only via Zoom), vowing that he wants to “win” here in Toronto. After a decade of proving otherwise. There’s… Read More