Frederik Andersen

Wild Card–2 Best For The Leafs

TORONTO (Jan. 19) — If you’re a distressed follower of the Maple Leafs, try not to worry yourself into malaise over the 3–6–0 tailspin since Dec. 29. Or, the 1–5–0 recession on home ice. For a couple of important reasons:… Read More

Lock The Doors, Larry

TORONTO (Jan. 15) — As the largest individual shareholder at Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, it is incumbent upon Larry Tanenbaum to bar the entrance of Scotiabank Arena on all future game nights. Send fans away. Issue full ticket–refunds. Instruct… Read More

Is Simmonds Worth Nylander?

TORONTO (Jan. 11) — The best teams in the National Hockey League can often rely on skill to achieve a particular level… and there may be no better example, right now, than the Toronto Maple Leafs. On occasion, however, a… Read More

Leafs Won’t Mortgage at Deadline

TORONTO (Jan. 9) — Isn’t it rather amazing how three losses in four games can alter a team’s posture in the parity–stricken National Hockey League? Throughout the first half of the 2018–19 schedule, the Toronto Maple Leafs lingered second in… Read More

Andersen Situation Double–Edged

TORONTO (Jan. 6) — Pending the outcome, it could be a blessing or a curse that largely impacts the Maple Leafs this season. By tomorrow night (Monday), Frederik Andersen will have accrued 15 consecutive days of rest in the middle… Read More

Leafs, Today, Are NHL’s Best

TORONTO (Dec. 25) — Yes, the standings suggest otherwise — if only slightly — and the good folks on the Gulf side of Florida may vehemently disagree. But, I say to you, on Christmas Night 2018, that the Toronto Maple… Read More

Leafs “Can” Do Whatever They Wish

TORONTO (Dec. 4) — If I saw it once, I saw it 100 times in emails and Twitter replies: “Yes, the Leafs can keep all of William Nylander, Mitch Marner and Auston Matthews under the salary cap.” Often followed by… Read More

Nylander Contract Fair (and Movable)

TORONTO (Dec. 1) — Unlike the fruitless labor crusades of recent ilk in these parts, involving staff at York University and letter carriers at Canada Post, William Nylander did exceptionally well in withholding his services from the Toronto Maple Leafs.… Read More

Leafs Record Great… And Bizarre

TORONTO (Nov. 29) — After 26 games of the 2018–19 National Hockey League schedule, the Maple Leafs have a record more visually–conducive to baseball. Toronto is 18–8… with a big, fat “zero” in the column reserved for overtime or shootout… Read More

Dubas Needs To Act Fairly Soon

TORONTO (Nov. 22) — If I remember correctly, this was going to be the year the Maple Leafs not only overwhelmed rival clubs with their firepower, but also learned how to limit opportunities in the defensive zone. Not surprisingly, the… Read More

The Leafs Cannot Relax

TORONTO (Nov. 19) — Yes, we all understood, by the quarter–mark of the National Hockey League schedule, that the Maple Leafs would likely be in a points dogfight with Tampa Bay and Boston near the top of the Atlantic Division.… Read More

Could Matthews Ever Go Home?

TORONTO (Nov. 13) — This is a blog I did not plan on writing. It stems from a brief debate I had earlier today on Facebook with a life–long friend, Steve Blustein, who is thoroughly convinced the Arizona Coyotes will… Read More

Of Course Nylander Will Be Dealt

TORONTO (Nov. 12) — How many times can we put a different spin on the same likelihood? Let us count. 1 Toronto’s three–player nucleus beyond the coming season will be Tavares, Matthews and Marner. 2 The Nylander contract stalemate… is… Read More

Leafs Will Be Fine, Unless…

A much–more interesting study will, of course, abound if the Maple Leafs do not match or exceed their lofty expectations. Can you envision the national outcry when the Leafs unavoidably lapse into a four or five–game skid, as will every … Read More

The Leafs’ Staggering Numbers (So Far)

TORONTO (Oct. 12) — After the first five games of the National Hockey League season, players on the Toronto Maple Leafs have been compared, in local print, to Wayne Gretzky, Bobby Orr and Mario Lemieux. Merely the most–gifted trio in… Read More

Enjoy These Leafs (While You Can)

“We’re here for a good time, not a long time… So have a good time, the sun can’t shine every day.” — Trooper, 1977 TORONTO (Sep. 30) — Note to fans of the Maple Leafs: As the song goes, be… Read More

Is There an Indispensable Leaf?

TORONTO (Sep. 22) — In the current National Hockey League — with a condensed schedule of six months spanning three time zones of travel in Canada and the United States; with players skating on the same ice dimensions as their… Read More

Leafs Still Living Dangerously

TORONTO (Sep. 15) — And, so, the wait(s) continue. Plural. Fifty–one years and counting for a Stanley Cup. Forty years and counting for a Norris Trophy–caliber defenseman. Any person that believes the two aren’t related with respect to the championship… Read More