Chris K

A number of years ago I was at a conference for Oracle users. During one of the sessions, the presenter put up a slide with a number of hockey names on it, most of which were then-current NHLers. The exception was the goaltender. "Does anyone know who Bunny Larocque

One of the things that struck me as interesting about the requests that came in for LotD candidates was that a cluster of them are associated with the single most depressing team I have ever seen - the 1990-91 Leafs.  That, of course, was the "did we really trade

A little housekeeping first - the admission that we do, in fact, take requests has raised the total to the completely unprecedented number of three.  Daniel Marois, as is turns out, is ready to come back in the rotation so I'll get to him sometime this year.  Lonny

Normally, if there's a player who hasn't been the Leaf of the Day for more than a year, I'll save him for the regular season. This time, however, I have a request. This is shocking for a couple of reasons. The first is that

With the return of preseason hockey comes the return of the Leaf of the Day. For the uninitiated, the Leaf of the Day (LotD) is a tribute to players who wore the blue and white with distinction - either that or crazy shots of 70s hair. Sometimes the LotD will

Note - as this is not an official Leaf of the Day post I reserve the right to re-use Jim Pappin at a point of my own choosing for whatever nefarious purpose strikes me as a good idea at the time. My baseball reading this past summer was Roger Kahn&

The Blue Jays were fabulous. We told our children to cherish the back-to-back titles in 1992 and 1993* because it might never happen again. They scoffed. The folly of youth. Now they are young adults wondering if they’ll ever see a hockey parade up Bay St.  -- Royson James,

Much ado is being made today about the fact that Paul Henderson's 1972 Team Canada sweater is up for sale.  As of the moment I write this, the auction stands at $131,138 with just under 25.5 days to go.  I think this one gets pricey.  Actually,

Is it possible that the Leafs messed up and missed out on one of the best players in NHL history because of incompetence? Or is there another explanation...

Well, for the fifth time in as many years, I'm finishing the LotD series (maybe - there's still the Brophy to do and I'd like a peek at the young'uns, so we'll see) with a recap that doesn't

I've made the comment before, but no matter what you do in life, never make the mistake of wishing that you had a little bit more to do.  It can only end badly.  I was checking my calendar and I think I can schedule five minutes to myself

After more than a year's absence, tonight marks the return of "lanky" to the Leaf lineup. Lanky, of course, left with Nik Antropov. It returns with the debut of 6'5" Brayden Irwin. He's not Kazakh, but you can't have

This is the last of the players from this postcard set, though there are still the two coaches left to do.  Shows a bit how times have changed that 33 was the highest number on the team that season. 1984 was the first year I really remember paying any kind

Last week, I had no time for anything and this meant that the karma of Dan Daoust had to carry the Leafs through an entire week of games.  Dan, unexpectedly to me, at least, inspired the Leafs to a perfect 3-0 record.  While I toyed with the idea of leaving

To me, Dan Daoust was sort of a proto-Grabovski, minus any strange pinapple association.  He was a smallish, quick-skating playmaking centre with a bit of a nose for trouble and a willingness to stir things up. As it was with Grabovski, Montreal had a more rookies than spots available in

(Note - sorry for the delay, folks.  Who schedules a full day of meetings on a Friday?) The definitive image of Luke Richardson's time in Toronto isn't actually an image of Luke himself. Instead it's Tony Granato of the Rangers - more specifically his

Given that some of the topics of note here of late have included defensemen for whom we have paid too high a price, the absence of first-round picks (and seconds for that matter) and the prospect of having our traded first-rounder become someone really good, Michel Petit kind of fits.

A while ago, back in the days when #3 was worn by Garnet Exelby and the Leafs were staring down the barrel of three games against New Jersey, John Fischer of In Lou We Trust had the following exchange with PPP: Q. You guys are top of your division. Again.

On June 23, 1988, the Jays beat the Orioles 5-2 at home, bringing themselves to just a game under .500 in what had not been a very good season.  Diamond Jim Clancy (4-9) went six for the win and a somewhat portly reliever named David Wells picked up his fourth

The win against Ottawa on Saturday gave the Leafs 20 on the season, matching the entire output of the 1984-85 team.  There were no shootouts in 1984-85, though, nor were there overtime points.  If we were to score this team the way it used to be done, this year'

Time will tell whether the fans at the ACC will start calling "LUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-CA" or not (my guess is that they will - these things don't take a lot of prompting), but today's LotD got a lot of that.  His time here was pretty short,

Bob Rouse was one of the inbound players in the great roster turnover of 1990-91.  He came to the Leafs in January in the trade that also saw Peter Zezel arrive and saw Al Iafrate depart.  While this trade was among the best the Leafs made that season, it still

The Carolina Hurricanes have three officially-retired numbers - #10 (Francis), #2 (Wesley) and #9 (Gordie Howe). #99 is unavailable due to a (mistaken, IMO) league decision and #3 is unassigned ever since the loss of Steve Chaisson. It's number 2 that is of interest today, though, since it&

Ever since I started to think what I would say about Rick Vaive, this has been stuck in my head.  Now, thanks to the power of the internets, it can be stuck in yours, too: The month of January, 1982 was a pretty eventful one in Toronto.  Darryl Sittler'

Amazon link - Chapters link When the time comes to teach a university course on Toronto hockey, Deceptions and Doublecross will be one of the first things on the required reading list. Anyone who followed the history series I did last summer will remember this book because I mentioned it