Introducing The Leafs Nation Return to Play Lineup

Back at the beginning of March I was handed the reins to this site as the managing editor. I was thrilled. I had big plans. I couldn’t wait to put my own stamp on a site that has hosted Hockey Operations folks like Cam Charron and many of the top hockey writers we read every day like Dom Luszczyszyn, Cat Silverman, and Ian Tullouch, all of whom have had bylines on this site. A site that I hope that can continue to be a launching pad for young writers and hockey folks. That was March 1st. By March 11th hockey was done indefinitely and we began a holding pattern in the hockey world, both anxiously waiting for it’s return and hoping the league would not be reckless in its actions to bring us back the sport we love.

By mid-June it became apparent that hockey would be returning, in some capacity, or at the very least the NHL and NHLPA were going to exhaust every resource in trying to bring a conclusion to the 2019-20 season. It was around that time we began restocking our roster with some of the most talented writers we could find on the internet. Now as training camps close and the players begin reporting to their Hub Cities, I’d like to introduce you to some of The Leafs Nation team and a couple of interesting things about us, including our predictions for the qualifying round against the Blue Jackets.

Twitter Handle: @MNorman87
All-time favourite Leaf: Mats Sundin (legacy) / Auston Matthews (current)
Playoff Prediction: Leafs in 5
Something interesting about me: I’ve been co-running a huge Linkin Park fan site (LPAssociation) for the last 18 years.

Twitter Handle: @MerOutLoud
All-time favourite Leaf: Doug Gilmour
Playoff Prediction: Leafs in 5 (if I must, I’m superstitious and hate jinxing)
Something interesting about me: I had open heart surgery when I was 4

Twitter Handle: @scotmaxw
All-time favourite Leaf: Mats Sundin
Playoff Prediction: Leafs in 4
Something interesting about me: I once self-made and produced a really bad EP that exists somewhere, but I’m currently in the process of trying to create a much better album

Twitter Handle: @_NickRichard
All-time favourite Leaf: Mats Sundin
Playoff Prediction: Leafs in 4
Something interesting about me: I captain a lobster boat in Nova Scotia.

Twitter handle: @briancrd
All-time favorite Leaf: Mats Sundin or Tomas Kaberle
Playoff prediction: Leafs in 4
Something interesting about me: I’ve seen Iron Maiden more times in the past decade than I’ve seen myself clean shaven.

Twitter Handle: @filipedimas
All-time favourite Leaf: Darcy Tucker
Playoff Prediction: Leafs in 5
Something interesting about me: I’m a comedian, editor for The Beaverton, and former competitive Pokemon player.

Twitter Handle: @NickDeSouza_
All-time favourite Leaf: Alexander Mogilny
Playoff Prediction: Leafs in 5
Something interesting about me: I have “Dubas” on the back of my Leafs jersey.

Twitter Handle: @leafscerberus
All-time favourite leaf: Nazem Kadri/Rick Vaive
Playoff Prediction: Leafs in 4
Something interesting about me: I got my first computer and email address at 3yrs old  I’m a huge tech nerd

Twitter Handle: @EarlSchwartz27
All-Time Favourite Leaf: Mats Sundin of course
Playoff Prediction: Leafs in 3
Something interesting about me: I played 2 years of junior hockey!

Twitter Handle: @jonsteitzer
All-time favourite Leaf: Dave Andreychuk
Playoff Prediction: Leafs in 3
Something interesting about me: TBD

In addition to the writers listed above, we have some other long time contributors and fresh faces appearing on this site, and my hope is that you’ll be excited about what we bring you this year. I can’t guarantee you’ll like everything on this site, but I think we’ve pulled enough heads together that there should be something for everyone on this site, and that you’ll see a regular flood of content on TLN on a daily basis.

I’ll leave you with some famous last words, and those are “my DMs are open.” If you have any comments or concerns, or better yet, praise for TLN, I encourage you to reach out to me @jonsteitzer or through my email at puckcontent (at) gmail dot com.

Thanks for reading and Go Leafs!