Good morning Toronto Maple Leafs fans!
It's Wednesday, so I thought we would continue our look back at Maple Leafs I randomly searched.
After Robbie Earl and Colin Greening kicked us off, I thought we would go with someone who made a bigger impact on the Leafs and myself: Dmitri Yushkevich.
I wasn't a big hockey fan before, and really latched onto the Leafs when I started getting into hockey more, and that aligned with the early 2000's Leafs and their many playoff runs. Which set me off on a lifetime of unrealistic expectations.
So, why Yushkevich? Probably because his name was fun to say, I don't know I was 17 and that was....a fair number of years ago.
Dmitri Yushkevich was a defender who played for Yaroslavl Torpedo and Moscow Dynmow in the Russian Super League before he was drafted by the Philadelphia Flyers in 1991.
He jumped straight from Russia to the NHL, playing three seasons with the Flyers. In the 1995 off-season, he was traded to the Maple Leafs along with a 1996 second round pick (Francis Larivee) in exchange for a 1996 first round pick (Dainius Zubrus), a 1996 fourth round pick (to LA - Mikael Simons), and a 1997 second round pick (Jean-Marc Pelletier).
He wasn't an offensive defender, but kept his blueline nice and clean, and was a reliable player for the Leafs during his time here. He worked well with Head coach / General Manager Pat Quinn during their time in Toronto together and was often paired with Danny Markov - most notably in the playoffs against the Pittsburgh Penguins where they were successful in keeping Jaromir Jagr at bay.
So where'd he go?
Yushkevich as diagnosed with a blood clot disorder in the 2001-02 season, and he missed the final half of the season. He wanted to play and comeback, but the Leafs medical team wouldn't clear him.
In 2002, with one year left on his contract, he was traded to the Florida Panthers after the Leafs successfully convinced Robert Svehla to come out of retirement. Yes, the Leafs decided they would rather have a player who wanted to retire than keep an expiring UFA. To be fair, Svehla wanted out of Florida and retired when he wasn't moved.
Yushkevich wasn't happy and was quoted saying
"The most honest person in the (Leafs) organization is Carlton the Bear because he never says anything."
Ouch.
After leaving Toronto he would bounce around the NHL, playing for four teams (Panthers, Kings, Flyers, Capitals) in two seasons before leaving the NHL and heading back to Russia.
After six seasons in Russia, and one in Liiga, he would retire after the 2009-10 season as a player and jump into coaching, beginning his new career as an assistant coach with Sibir Novosibirsk that fall. He has been an assistant with several teams in the KHL since, as well as with the national team, and has most recently been with Lokomotiv Yaroslavl since 2022.
Yushkevich has made amends with the team since he was traded away, and participates in alumni events when he can.
That's this week's wondering where a Leaf went.
Now, some news.
What's the deal with Morgan Rielly? He's like airline peanuts!
Also, where'd Anthony Stolarz go?
I would like Luke Kunin on the Leafs, but is he what we need right now? No. Would I care about that if we got him? Also no.
It's approaching trade deadline season. Let's get speculative!
Alex Pietrangelo is out for Team Canada at the Four Nations Face Off. Who will replace him?
The 2028 World Cup of Hockey is still going to happen, and the IIHF can bugger off for all the NHL & PA care.
The NHL and NHLPA have advised the IIHF they intend on moving forward, at least for now, without IIHF involvement in the 2028 World Cup of Hockey. The NHL and PA are hoping to make an announcement on the 2028 WCH in some form at the upcoming Four Nations Faceoff.
— Darren Dreger (@DarrenDreger) January 27, 2025
Speaking of these fake world cups, if a player decides to stay home they won't be suspended like at the All-Star Game.
The NHL and NHLPA have advised the IIHF they intend on moving forward, at least for now, without IIHF involvement in the 2028 World Cup of Hockey. The NHL and PA are hoping to make an announcement on the 2028 WCH in some form at the upcoming Four Nations Faceoff.
— Darren Dreger (@DarrenDreger) January 27, 2025
It's important to have someone well trained in first aid at hockey games, incidents like this highlight the need.
Finally, the last time there was a hockey TV show set in Hamilton was Power Play. An NHL team in Hamilton with Gordon Pinsent playing a crazy owner who lives in the arena rafters. I liked it, it had a banger of an opening theme song, and it gave me my favourite TV trivia fact: It had the lowest posted rating on American broadcast TV EVER when it premiered on UPN. Only 10,000 households tuned in. Out of a couple hundred million. amazing.
Anyway, there's a new one coming!
Enjoy your day!
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