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1 week ago | 
thespec.com | Gord Stellick |Kevin McGran |Hayden Godfrey |Nathan Denette
After the Leafs took an early series lead on Monday, Toronto and Florida meet for Game 2 at Scotiabank Arena tonight at 7 p.m. ET. Follow the Star’s updates throughout the day, plus real-time commentary during the game from columnist Bruce Arthur.
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Jan 13, 2025 | 
thespec.com | Gord Stellick
While the Maple Leafs are putting together another strong regular season, they haven’t won anything yet. Well, at least officially. But what’s clear as we look around the NHL is that the Leafs appear to have won the last off-season with the value they have extracted from their three main free-agent signings. The Predators were declared the early winners of free agency before the puck dropped this season.
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Dec 2, 2024 | 
thespec.com | Gord Stellick |Nick Kypreos
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Nov 8, 2024 | 
thestar.com | Gord Stellick
The honeymoon stage is over. After a smooth start to the season, a recent three-game losing skid by the Maple Leafs gave general manager Brad Treliving and coach Craig Berube their first real test. It’s the difficult times that challenge the relationship between a GM and a head coach. It’s very much like a marriage, except it will inevitably end in divorce and, when it does, there is no 50-50 split. It’s almost always the coach who has to leave and start anew.
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Oct 9, 2024 | 
thestar.com | Gord Stellick
I’ve come to find that a phrase attached to the words “it’s nothing personal” is usually, well, quite personal. Though the Jeremy Swayman contract standoff finally concluded with an eight-year, $66-million (U.S.) deal, it’s obvious things got personal between the Boston Bruins and their goaltender.
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Jun 29, 2024 | 
thestar.com | Gord Stellick
The 32 general managers at the NHL draft in Las Vegas this weekend would love to be in the position I was in with the Maple Leafs at the annual event back in 1989. That year we had three first-round picks — our own at No. 3, plus two others (No. 12 and 21, the last pick of the opening round) thanks to the trade deadline deal we made that sent goaltender Ken Wregget to the Philadelphia Flyers.
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Jun 17, 2024 | 
thestar.com | Gord Stellick
The first time Craig Berube was introduced as a member of the Maple Leafs was vastly different than when he recently became head coach. This time, he was the big story. But back on Jan. 2, 1992, Berube was a smaller piece of a big trade with the Edmonton Oilers that included Grant Fuhr and Glenn Anderson, while Vincent Damphousse, Luke Richardson and others went the other direction. Already a Subscriber?
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May 11, 2024 | 
thestar.com | Gord Stellick
I remember enjoying hosting a panel with Maple Leafs president Brendan Shanahan before a large crowd at a corporate event in 2020, just a few weeks before the COVID pandemic shut down the NHL and everything else. One audience member asked what Shanahan’s plan was if the Leafs failed to advance in the playoffs (again) that season. Already a Subscriber?
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Apr 26, 2024 | 
thestar.com | Gord Stellick
The passionate emotions that the Stanley Cup playoffs can bring to Canadian hockey fans hit a sudden thud Thursday morning with the sobering news that Hockey Night in Canada play-by-play legend Bob Cole had died at the age of 90. It reminded me of the June 1, 1997 news of the death of Rose Cherry. Her husband, Don Cherry, bowed out of the rest Hockey Night in Canada’s playoff coverage.
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Apr 19, 2024 | 
thestar.com | Gord Stellick
The 1987-88 season was another trying one for the Maple Leafs, but having a large playoff pool and being in the weak Norris Division made every game count right until the end. One last win over the visiting Detroit Red Wings combined with a Minnesota North Stars loss against the Calgary Flames the next night would give the Leafs the final playoff spot. Already a Subscriber?
