For the series to continue after tonight, the Maple Leafs will need more than a large uptick in performance. The Panthers will, simultaneously, have to remove their feet from the pedal in an elimination game at home.
— my blog… Read More
TORONTO (May 16) — Only once in my years around the Maple Leafs do I recall the club being so universally written off toward the end of a playoff series — prior to Game 7 of the 1993 opening–round clash… Read More
TORONTO (May 15) — Here’s what we know, for certain, about the Toronto Maple Leafs: Unless they triumph at Florida on Friday night, Brendan Shanahan and Mitch Marner will have enjoyed their final hours in blue and white.
Auston Matthews?… Read More
TORONTO (May 12) — The Maple Leafs had better win the Stanley Cup this year.
Only a championship, for the first time in 58 springs, could justify one of the most–egregious decisions in modern franchise history: Ripping the captain’s ‘C’… Read More
TORONTO (May 10) — So long as the Toronto Maple Leafs were winning, there was no concern over Auston Matthews being the highest–paid “defensive center” in the Stanley Cup playoffs. As noted, Friday, on the always friendly Hockey Night In … Read More
TORONTO (May 8) — What an exhilarating moment to be a fan of the Toronto Maple Leafs. Especially a fan less than 30 years of age, with perhaps hazy recollection of his or her favorite team posing a Stanley Cup… Read More
TORONTO (May 6) — And, precisely who should the Florida Panthers be concerned about, as it relates to vengeance, on the Maple Leafs? You could search the DNA database of the entire Toronto club without detecting a single portent of… Read More
TORONTO (May 4) — If they weren’t so damned polished and professional. Those two grizzled broadcasting icons that date to my time covering the Maple Leafs for The FAN–590. Back in the days before the Internet, and deranged car manufacturers… Read More
TORONTO (May 3) — It was 32 years ago, at Maple Leaf Gardens, that Doug Gilmour scored his legendary overtime goal against St. Louis. May 3, 1993. You’ve probably seen it a hundred times — the diminutive Gilmour with the… Read More
Should the Senators rout the Leafs on Tuesday (say, 5–1, which has happened repeatedly to good teams early in the playoffs), all hell will break loose. — my blog after Game 4
TORONTO (Apr. 30) — I had the precise… Read More
TORONTO (Apr. 28) — At no point, and deservedly so, in the Core–4 era have the Maple Leafs been granted a full playoff mulligan. Until Saturday night, that is, when a defeat in overtime at the Canadian Tire Centre in… Read More
TORONTO (Apr. 24) — I suppose the cheapskates at Rogers and Bell did not learn their lesson two years ago, when Joe Bowen mistakenly credited a series–winning overtime goal in Tampa to Morgan Rielly. The long–time Leafs broadcaster was watching… Read More
TORONTO (Apr. 23) — Brad Treliving will not win general manager–of–the–year in the National Hockey League (the nod likely going to Kevin Cheveldayoff of Winnipeg or Chris Patrick of Washington). Were there an award, however, for best acquisition–of–the–year, Toronto’s… Read More
TORONTO (Apr. 19) — It’s a question that no person in the Leafs-owned media will ask aloud (or in print). What happens amid the Doomsday scenario: another first–round playoff defeat in the Core–4 era? This time against an opponent that… Read More
TORONTO (Apr. 16) — After a 21–year hiatus, the Battle of Ontario will resume when it matters most. And, the Toronto Maple Leafs, performing as they are, should not be acutely threatened by the upstart and improving Ottawa Senators, even… Read More
TORONTO (Apr. 12) — A Maple Leafs anniversary passed on Friday without acknowledgement or fanfare: Brendan Shanahan marked 11 years as president of the hockey club. You’ll excuse local scribes and pundits if they didn’t laud the occasion as intended,… Read More
TORONTO (Apr. 5) — In the “credit where credit is due” category, the Maple Leafs are rather fortunate they outlasted the Florida Panthers on Wednesday night at Scotiabank Arena. While there was joyous media celebration over the narrow and equivocal… Read More
TORONTO (Apr. 1) — What the MAGA man wants, the MAGA man gets.
In this case, the monolith of Toronto professional sport. Soon to be the domain of Edward Rogers, the Donald Trump zealot and Mar–a–Lago frequenter that owns 100… Read More