The Stanley Cup will be presented no later than Wednesday, September 30th which means the NHL’s silly season (a.k.a Free Agency) will soon be upon us come October 9th. With that comes increased chatter and rumour-mongering on social media as the intrigue of “where will they go?” builds into a fury of speculation. Free Agency…
Welcome to Pietrangeloctober If you haven’t heard, there’s a top-pairing right-handed defenceman with Stanley Cup-winning pedigree from just north of Toronto who seems destined to hit the open market 15 days from now. His name is Alex Pietrangelo, and he’s a wanted man around these parts. Make no mistakes about it, Leafs GM Kyle Dubas…
The 2020 NHL Entry Draft has been scheduled for October 6th and 7th, which means it’s finally that time of the season where we can all pretend we watched hundreds of hours of Saginaw Spirit games and are acutely aware of their third-pairing defender’s strengths and weaknesses. Don’t have the time to research this year’s…
It felt like a match made in heaven. The Leafs then-Assistant GM Mark Hunter walked up to the podium at the 2015 NHL Entry Draft and clumsily said “I’m proud to announce, from the London Knights, Mitch Marner.” To many the pick was no surprise, both due to Hunter’s familiarity with Marner from his time…
Leafs fans found themselves repeatedly asking the same question after many games this season: who are these guys? On paper the Leafs have an immensely talented roster, which made the results we saw this season all the more alarming and bewildering. It is one thing to be able to chalk up your struggles to a…
After one of their most dominating and complete performances of the entire season, the Maple Leafs were looking to push Columbus to the brink of elimination on Thursday night. First Period In an encouraging trend, the Maple Leafs came ready to play from first puck drop. Most noticeable at the start was Auston Matthews, who…
It was a simpler time when the Leafs acquired bruising forward Kyle Clifford and Chief Cheerfulness Officer Jack Campbell on February 5th, 2020. The deal, which sent the large-posteriored Trevor Moore and two third-round draft picks (one conditional, we’ll get to that) to the Los Angeles Kings, was made just moments after another disastrous performance…
John Tavares came to the Toronto Maple Leafs on July 1, 2018 fully knowing the weight of the franchise was going to be placed on his shoulders the moment he signed a 7-year, $77 million contract to come home. Giddiness was in abundance in Leafs Land as the team had added, for nothing more than…
When it comes to goaltending and predicting the future, two words spring to mind: “Who knows?” The prevailing thought for years about goaltending has been that it is (a) voodoo and (b) very hard to predict year over year. We’ve seen it happen so many times, where a journeyman goaltender goes on a tear or…
Well, “creation of Canada”, you had a solid 151-year run as the main reason to celebrate July 1st but I’m afraid all good things must come to an end and be replaced by better things. Today we celebrate the two-year anniversary of John Tavares coming home. Tavares leaving the Islanders to sign with the Leafs…
Welcome to a new segment, where we collect bad takes, dismantle arguments and dispel myths being circulated in sports publications and social media about the Toronto Maple Leafs. #3. ‘The fix is in! The draft lottery is definitely rigged for Toronto.’ The outcome of the NHL’s draft lottery was chaotic hilarity or unmitigated disaster depending…
Remember the good old days, when everyone was marvelling at how consistently healthy the Leafs were? It wouldn’t be unreasonable for some to believe the ever-competitive Leafs GM Kyle Dubas exploited another market inefficiency and invested in the NHL’s first Team Shaman, but in reality the Leafs’ injury fortunes were likely the result of a…
