James Mirtle

Toronto

Senior Managing Editor and Columnist, NHL at The Athletic

Senior Writer @TheAthletic @TheAthleticNHL • Podcasting with @LeafReport and @JDBunkis • Newsletter 🚨 https://t.co/3x5A4NWxPz

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Articles

Canada's 32-year Stanley Cup drought is now embarrassing. Can the Oilers end it?

3 days ago | nytimes.com | James Mirtle

If you took a DeLorean back to June 9, 1993, and tried to explain to those gathered at the Montreal Forum what was taking place in the NHL today, in 2025, no one would believe you. That day, the Montreal Canadiens wiped the floor with an overmatched Wayne Gretzky-led Los Angeles Kings team in Game 5. The Habs hoisted their record 24th Stanley Cup, 18 of which they had won over the previous 40 years, and planned their usual parade down Rue Sainte-Catherine.
Follow these players amid NHL combine rumors

4 days ago | nytimes.com | James Mirtle

Red Light newsletter 🏒 | This is The Athletic's hockey newsletter. Sign up here to receive Red Light directly in your inbox. Good morning! It's June, so that means it's time for the Stanley Cup Final. Plus some trade and free agency chatter, too, as silly season heats up ... More Like Cup Final-lyLet's get this thing going already. A five-day break between Round 3 and the Final certainly feels longer given the conference finals were a double dud. Even more troubling?
Ranking all 32 potential landing spots

4 days ago | nytimes.com | James Mirtle

The calendar has flipped to June, which means we're into NHL free agency talk in a big way for the next four weeks. And in a shallow year for UFAs, Mitch Marner is going to be the big fish that most of the league pursues on July 1. By my count, as many as 15 teams make sense at the moment for a Marner bid, and that may be a conservative number.
The NHL's Sun Belt 'problem' has no easy solution. But does it need one?

1 week ago | nytimes.com | James Mirtle

For years - even decades, you could argue - the NHL's Sun Belt franchises in the United States were mere cannon fodder for the league's established franchises. It started with expansion into California in the late 1960s, but the Los Angeles Kings and Oakland Seals held winning records in just five of their first 30 seasons combined until Wayne Gretzky's arrival in L.A. in 1988.
Panthers punch ticket to Stanley Cup Final

1 week ago | nytimes.com | James Mirtle

Red Light newsletter 🏒 | This is The Athletic's hockey newsletter. Sign up here to receive Red Light directly in your inbox. Happy Thursday! Today marks Day 41 of the NHL playoffs, and the Stanley Cup Final will (likely) start Wednesday. It's sure looking like we're in for a rare rematch, too ... Panthers wagon rolls onThe Carolina Hurricanes looked like they might make things interesting after winning Game 4 3-0 and then putting up an early 2-0 lead in Game 5 last night.
Leave a Maple Leafs question for James Mirtle's next mailbag

1 week ago | nytimes.com | James Mirtle

Well, there's certainly no shortage of things going on in Toronto these days with the Maple Leafs. Brendan Shanahan is out. Mitch Marner may be about to join him. And there are plenty of key holes for GM Brad Treliving to try and fill with the resulting salary cap space. With free agency exactly five weeks from today, I wanted to open the floor to you for your questions. Fire away with whatever is on your mind and I'll do my best to answer as many of them as I can in the coming days and weeks.
The Maple Leafs should be looking for a new president. Here's what they need

1 week ago | nytimes.com | James Mirtle

When Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment hired Keith Pelley to be the organization's new CEO and president last year, he had a big decision on his plate with the group's flagship team. The Toronto Maple Leafs were about to have yet another postseason disappointment - a first-round loss to the Boston Bruins - and the fan base was clearly getting restless.
How can the Maple Leafs get better while losing a star player (or 2) this offseason?

1 week ago | nytimes.com | James Mirtle

It's hard to believe, but today marks almost five weeks until NHL free agency opens on July 1. For the Toronto Maple Leafs, that's five weeks to prepare for the end of their Core Four era. Five weeks until Mitch Marner (highly, highly likely) and John Tavares (far less likely) become free agents who can sign with the highest bidder.
Why the Maple Leafs had to finally end the Shanaplan

2 weeks ago | nytimes.com | James Mirtle

In the end, the legacy Brendan Shanahan leaves after 11 years as the Toronto Maple Leafs president is a complicated one. When he was hired in the spring of 2014, there's no question the organization had fallen to laughingstock status, having missed the playoffs in eight of nine seasons and alienated fans and alumni alike.
Updated Conn Smythe rankings

2 weeks ago | nytimes.com | James Mirtle

Red Light newsletter 🏒 | This is The Athletic's hockey newsletter. Sign up here to receive Red Light directly in your inbox. Good morning! Today marks Day 34 of the NHL playoffs, and we're under a month from the Stanley Cup being hoisted. But we're going to start with something different, as there's a team on fire in my backyard again... Remaking the Maple LeafsThe fallout from Toronto's ugly Game 7 loss last weekend is playing out already with some "Game of Thrones"-level intrigue.