2022

The Noise Could End — Quickly

TORONTO (Oct. 7) — The brave talk… the anticipation… the media cheerleading. It all could be over. Seemingly before it begins. Such is the nature of the Major League Baseball playoffs. And, dare we say, professional sport here in the… Read More

Bowen’s 40–Year Odyssey Incomplete

TORONTO (Oct. 6) — Believe it or not, I still have two vivid memories of 40 years ago tonight, when I sat down in my boyhood home to watch the Maple Leafs opening game of the 1982–83 National Hockey League… Read More

Beware Of Pre–Season Results

TORONTO (Oct. 4) — Here we are in the first week of October. Amid Leafs Land, Nick Robertson is scoring at a Wayne Gretzky pace. Matt Murray is stopping pucks like Patrick Roy never did. And, fleet–a–foot Mitch Marner could… Read More

Leaf Spin–Doctors Out in Force

TORONTO (Sep. 30) — Unsurprisingly, it required only three exhibition games for the lap–dogs in the Toronto media universe to pile into the hockey club’s corner. Led, as always, by flag–waver Luke Fox of Sportsnet — and happily joined by… Read More

Leafs Defense A Looming Disaster

TORONTO (Sep. 27) — Here’s an easy prediction: neither Jake Muzzin nor Mark Giordano will last the entire season on defense for the Toronto Maple Leafs. One is slow and dreadfully injury prone; the other, also slow, in his 40’s… Read More

Is Shanahan Beyond Reproach?

TORONTO (Sep. 23) — Interesting, this week, how Brendan Shanahan, president of the Toronto Maple Leafs, promised no security after the coming season to his hand–picked general manager, Kyle Dubas, who later met with reporters and took the bullet like… Read More

The Leafs Are… The Leafs

TORONTO (Sep. 17) — For the first time since launching this website in June 2011, I’ve gone a full month without writing a blog. There is, to my knowledge, nothing wrong with me; neither have I been particularly busy, other… Read More

Money Cannot Save John Derringer

TORONTO (Aug. 14) — Oddly, yet predictably, it required more than 2½ months for those on the receiving end of verbal harassment from radio host John Derringer to gain a measure of justice. Even if my former FAN–590 colleague, Jacqui… Read More

Argos Are Bordering on Comical

TORONTO (Aug. 1) — Ryan Dinwiddie may not be the worst coach in my 53 years watching the Toronto Argonauts (he’s close). McLeod Bethel–Thompson may not be the worst quarterback during that time (he’s close). Jointly, however, they form the… Read More

Why The Leafs Need A Different GM

TORONTO (July 20) — God save the Core–4. It has to be the motto of the Toronto Maple Leafs as they head toward a seventh opportunity to emerge from the opening round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. With the same… Read More

Bizarre Admission By The Leafs

TORONTO (July 15) — It cannot possibly have been the message the Maple Leafs wished to impart. Yet, there it was — in bold and black — atop Kevin McGran’s hockey missive (below) in Thursday’s Toronto Star: Leafs general manager… Read More

Root Problem Still Unresolved

TORONTO (July 13) — Given reaction to the trade for Matt Murray, the Maple Leafs went from soup to nuts. Or, in this case, from Jack Campbell to the Funny Farm for general manager Kyle Dubas, who has not been… Read More

Murray a Good Option For Leafs

TORONTO (July 11) — Yes, the career of two–time Stanley Cup winner Matt Murray can be resurrected at age 28; still young for a National Hockey League goalie. Even if behind a club in defensive disarray for half–a–century. I maintain… Read More

Nylander For Chychrun Is Too Easy

TORONTO (July 9) — It almost makes too much sense. The Arizona Coyotes, who couldn’t score in a brothel last season and are swimming in cap space ($29,994,166), acquire a fairly prolific shooter with two years remaining on his contract.… Read More

Leafs Are “Right There” — But Where?

TORONTO (July 6) — It was a seminal moment for the Maple Leafs, this week, when they promoted Canadian hockey legend Haley Wickenheiser to assistant general manager. Diversity and gender equality are a hallmark of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment.… Read More

Maple Leafs In Rarified Air

TORONTO (July 2) — The color bar (below) from the past 52 years of Stanley Cup winners may appear complicated at first glance, but it really isn’t. Without question, the seasons designated with LIGHT PURPLE are the most rare… and,… Read More

Is Kuemper Next Man Up For Leafs?

TORONTO (June 27) — With every indication that Jack Campbell will not return to the Maple Leafs, might general manager Kyle Dubas pursue Stanley Cup–winning goalie Darcy Kuemper as an unrestricted free agent? Such whispers have been in the air… Read More

The Maple Leafs and Consolation

TORONTO (June 23) — There is no way to minimize a 60–goal performance in the National Hockey League. Auston Matthews, this season, emerged as the most–prolific shooter in the long and once–storied history of the Toronto Maple Leafs. No gifted… Read More