The Beast of the West

TORONTO (Jan. 18) — Undoubtedly, this blog will be considered sacrilege by fans of the Toronto Maple Leafs… and by the horde of mainstream media that covers the team as a publicity branch of ownership. Both factions keep hands off… Read More

Hey Leafs: Look Out From Behind!

TORONTO (Jan. 14) — It is quite the paradox. Though the Toronto Maple Leafs have the best record in modern franchise history after 35 games (23–9–3 for 49 points), there’s a chance the club may need to qualify for the… Read More

Leafs Are In A World of Cap Hurt

TORONTO (Jan. 11) — I keep reading how the “tightly bonded” dressing room of the Toronto Maple Leafs cannot be disrupted by such a miscreant as Evander Kane. At the same time, I remind myself that the Leafs, amid doting… Read More

Leafs Still Need Blue Line Help

TORONTO (Jan. 10) — Statistically, these could be the best–ever Toronto Maple Leafs. And while it is difficult to be unduly critical of a team with a 22–8–3 record in the National Hockey League, a red flag did arise on… Read More

The Dubious Leafs/COVID Charade

TORONTO (Jan. 6) — Does anyone out there have an answer? Better yet, is any person holding a National Hockey League media credential willing to ask a simple question? To wit: Why are some games in Canadian cities being postponed… Read More

No Mystery with Leafs… or Oilers

TORONTO (Jan. 4) — How circumstances have changed amid a pair of Canadian teams, two time zones apart, in the National Hockey League. Early in the now–fractured 2021–22 season, the Toronto Maple Leafs appeared disoriented, indifferent and on the cusp… Read More

COVID Fatigue Will Get You Nowhere

TORONTO (Dec. 30) — Honestly, what reason would the Toronto Maple Leafs have to play their home game against Ottawa on Saturday night? After Ontario reported 13,807 new COVID infections on Thursday — obliterating the single–day pandemic record — the… Read More

The Crazy Ballard Media Years

TORONTO (Dec. 28) — It is still, in my view, the best book ever written about the Toronto Maple Leafs. In particular, the absurdity and madness that prevailed around Maple Leaf Gardens in the final years of the Harold Ballard… Read More

Dubas Needs Work On His Math

***UPDATE DEC. 27 3:15 a.m. — This blog was written and posted just after midnight. A few hours later, the NHL, as predicted, postponed the Pittsburgh at Toronto game, slated for Wednesday night. The Maple Leafs are next scheduled to … Read More

Expect the NHL to Pause Until 2022

TORONTO (Dec. 25) — It isn’t likely the merriest Christmas amid the tall thinkers in the National Hockey League, who are spending this holy day forming a rescue plan for the 2021–22 season. Despite vaccination that was hopeful of eradicating… Read More

The NHL and Omicron, Moving Forward

TORONTO (Dec. 22) — Welcome to the 2021 Christmas break, where people that normally travel to exotic destinations are staying put and the main roads here in Toronto are typically snarled from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. I suspect it’s… Read More

NHL Season in Grave Peril

TORONTO (Dec. 19) — Through no fault of its own, and with rapid suddenness, the National Hockey League is watching its 2021–22 season go down the drain. Or, at least form a huge vortex near the drain. Until the final… Read More

What is the NHL Waiting For?

***UPDATE Dec. 18 10:55 p.m. Eastern — The COVID protocol list of the Toronto Maple Leafs now includes coach Sheldon Keefe and seven players: Jason Spezza, John Tavares, Alex Kerfoot, Jack Campbell, T.J. Brodie, Travis Dermott and Wayne Simmonds. All… Read More

Pause Now or Pay Later

*** UPDATE Dec. 18 — It became official just after 2 p.m. Eastern. The National Hockey League confirmed that the Maple Leafs road games tonight in Vancouver and tomorrow in Seattle have been postoned as a result of COVID–19.*** *** … Read More

Forget About NHL at the Olympics

TORONTO (Dec. 14) — It is alarming and confounding to witness the effect that COVID–19 is having on the apparently vaccinated National Hockey League. The virus protocol lists are expanding by the day… as are games requiring postponement. On Monday,… Read More

Inner–Sanctum Chaos With The Argos

TORONTO (Dec. 11) — It’s a venerable, timeworn bromide that rings as accurately today as whenever it first appeared: “You reap what you sow.” As such, the Toronto Argonauts of the Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment era have fully warranted… Read More

Maybe It’s Time For Quebec City

TORONTO (Dec. 9) — The National Hockey League routinely discredits the annual value–ranking of its teams by Forbes Magazine, suggesting that no outside entity can provide an accurate appraisal. For the moment, however, let’s assume that Forbes was in the… Read More

A Truly Magical Morning

TORONTO (Dec. 8) — I can close my eyes and still capture the scene from 52 years ago last month: a dark, rainy afternoon at CNE Stadium on Nov. 2, 1969. It was my second live Canadian Football League game… Read More