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

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

Home Lethargy Still Hard to Fathom

TORONTO (Oct. 30) — It was like watching the re–run of an old Honeymooners episode, minus the comedy. I’ve seen the Classic 39 installments from 1954 so often, I can mouth the gut–splitting dialogue between Jackie Gleason and Art Carney.… Read More

Too Early For Injury–Prone Label

TORONTO (Oct. 28) — The shoulder ailment that could sideline Auston Matthews for an appreciable term may prompt fans of the Toronto Maple Leafs to wonder if a career pattern has beset their best player. After all, Matthews sat out… Read More

Kadri In A Tough Spot

TORONTO (Oct. 20) — Nazem Kadri is not only a reliable goal–scorer and one of the National Hockey League’s most–personable young men, but he ranks among the truly important figures in Toronto Maple Leafs history. Given the multicultural city in… Read More

Nylander to Nashville Makes Sense

TORONTO (Oct. 16) — Whether it happens this season or next summer, I maintain the Leafs will have to trade one of their Big 3 draft gems of 2014–16. And, it ain’t gonna be Mitch Marner or Auston Matthews. By… 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

The Leafs Have Two Captains

TORONTO (Oct. 9) — I have long felt that the word “leadership” is misused in professional sport; the connotation invariably centering on a player that can rally the troops with provocative chatter. In fact, no one — a sports figure… 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

Babcock/Andersen Will Shape Leafs

TORONTO (Aug. 16) — When the Maple Leafs begin training camp at the Gale Centre in Niagara Falls, Ont. less than a month from now (Sep. 14), most eyes will be on John Tavares, the Toronto boy that signed a… Read More

Rogers Needs to Sell the Blue Jays

TORONTO (Aug. 9) — Through much of the 1980’s, a haunting refrain could be heard with respect to the pitiable Toronto Maple Leafs: The club would never win anything of consequence until Harold Ballard died. Once that event occurred —… Read More

The Silence Is Deafening

TORONTO (Aug. 4) — This will not be the worst season, by record, in the 42 years since the Toronto Blue Jays joined Major League Baseball — a distinction that belongs to the 1979 club, which compiled a mark of… Read More

Are Leafs, Blues Talking?

TORONTO (July 29) — It is merely a whisper at this point and has a number of moving parts. But, a source tells me the Toronto Maple Leafs, interminably looking for a big–time defenseman, and the St. Louis Blues, in… Read More

Fun (and Nostalgia) With The Leafs

TORONTO (July 22) — One day in March of 2014, I was feeling silly. Or, for today’s blog: narish. I began to think about my late mother, Sandee, and how she would launch into Yiddish on the telephone (with another… Read More

Will The Leafs Be Next?

TORONTO (June 16) — A cynic would contend it is thoroughly emblematic of this city that our three “least–fashionable” sports teams have won championships in the past 6½ months. No disrespect to the Argonauts, Toronto F.C. or the Marlies, but… Read More

The Funeral of Hope

TORONTO (May 27) — It was 25 years ago tonight. Really. May 27, 1993 in Inglewood, California. On the Berger calendar, it ranks as the most compelling game involving the Maple Leafs that yours truly has attended — as a… Read More

Smoke and Mirrors Around Here

TORONTO (May 8) — Perhaps never in the professional sports annals of this city has a pair of clubs — 12 nights apart — rendered the six–month–long regular season so thoroughly pointless. The Toronto Maple Leafs and Toronto Raptors, after… Read More

Laine or Auston? What About Lou?

TORONTO (May 2) — It’s that date again. For the 51st time. The end of the six–team era in the National Hockey League. The beginning of the longest–ever Stanley Cup famine. Yes, there was pandemonium, Toronto style, 51 years ago… Read More
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