Leaf of the Day

Before Atlanta got the Thrashers, any time that Calgary would go deep into the playoffs the CBC would head to Dixie to look up former fans or players and see what they thought about it. When Atlanta got their new team and Calgary came to visit, they'd do

Kind of odd to see Russ Courtnall wearing number 16, but that's what he was wearing the first time I saw him play.  There are only a handful of images I have in my mind from that game, but one is of this kid streaking down the left

Sometimes in life, you just have to be duct-taped naked to a gurney and left for dead at centre ice. It's a moral imperative.I really wish sometimes that I knew another Rocky Saganiuk story, but unfortunately, I don't. So I'll tell this one

I was having a hard time picking a name for today.  I kept looking for someone that a) I had scanned and b) represented a good moment against Philadelphia and oddly enough, there are precious few of those.  I had Mike Hogan on the radio and he made mention that

Jimmy Jones really wasn't about bringing the offense.  He had a couple of things he did really well - he could take faceoffs and he could kill penalties.  He was a guy who could go out there against the opposition scoring lines and not mess things up.  He

Editor's Note: Relive CuJo's last hurrah against Washington or his biggest save on Alexander Ovechkin. Be sure to check out two of DGB's posts: Mike Foligno's kick to the head and Wendel Moment # 12 - CuJo's decapitation. You can watch

There are a number of benefits to being the guy who writes the historical bits on this site. For example, when there are 20,000 stories and posts out there dealing with Luke Schenn and his second-year troubles, I don't particularly have to respond with one of my

Somewhat lost in the joy and exuberance surrounding the 6-2 loss to Philly was that Tomas Kaberle's point moved him into a tie with Norm Ullman for 11th in Leaf scoring. Norm Ullman is a guy who I've always thought deserved more credit than he got.

I had a feeling that yesterday's game was not going to go well and that I'd probably be pretty ticked about it, so I let my mind wander towards who I'd choose for the LotD if I were in a bad mood.  I hit

I don't think I've ever seen a team makeover as sudden and dramatic as the one Cliff Fletcher pulled off on Jan. 2, 1992.  I heard the news while driving in the car with a bunch of friends and we all started laughing so hard we

Not really feeling the love for this game tonight. Justin Pogge might have been an interesting one for the WJC tie-in, but alas, he's not in the scan pile. When in doubt, go for the nickname - and Joe Klukay had a dandy. For reasons that have never

You'd think I'd have learned by now. Every year, I pick some big name heading into the holidays, hoping his mere presence would inspire the Leafs to some great run of hockey.  Five years running now, they stumble around through the entire break and are middling

If that shot had gone wide, Bill Barilko would have been in a lot of trouble. Here it was, overtime in Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final, and Bill had abandoned his position at the left point to gamble on a loose puck near the faceoff circle.  Worse, he&

About a month ago, when Tom Kurvers was the LotD, the Leafs were still just 3-11-5 and the talk about the Leafs having traded away Taylor Hall was still in full swing.  In comparing this season to 1990-91, I said this: By this time, Doug Carpenter had been fired, John

When the Jeff Jackson/Mark Osborne trade went down, I missed the news.  I had the game on the radio that night from about the second period onwards and couldn't for the life of me believe how this Osborne guy was always in position to intercept passes from

It was a strange new world in the early 1990s as the Russians began to arrive.  What began as a trickle with Sergei Priakin in Calgary turned into a torrent of names we'd only ever seen in Canada Cups, Olympics and world championships. Toronto dipped a toe in

Heading back into Boston tonight, a little attention to defensive detail amongst the forwards might be a useful thing. Larry Jeffrey was pretty good at that.  It's how he carved out his niche in the NHL.  Killing penalties and playing solid defense was also a good way to

John Brophy always liked to have a bunch of tough guys in his lineup, so it really wasn't a surprise that the Leafs picked up Brian Curran near the 1988 deadline.  Curran had put up 350+ minutes with the Islanders a season earlier but hadn't played

You know Stumpy and Rusty and Grabbo and Killer, Tiger and Teeder and Frodo and Giller. But do you recall The most famous nickname of all? Jiri the NSFW had a very famous pose and if you ever saw it, well, it was you and about 10 million other people.

By pure happenstance, today's '84-85 Leaf is John Anderson, coach of tonight's opposition.  Sometimes it just works out. John (and draft-mate Trevor Johansen) is often cited as Exhibit A in the "look who the Leafs took instead of (insert superstar name here" department.

With his 28th point in 1980-81, Borje Salming became the Leafs' all-time scoring leader amongst defensemen, passing the legendary Tim Horton. It took almost 30 years more to move Horton to third. Tomas Kaberle pulled that off in setting up Colton Orr for his first of the season on

Imagine you're the first-ever draft pick of a new expansion team. You stick with them through all the bad seasons, are with them as they start to assemble an awesome collection of talent, have some early playoff success, and just as they're about to go all

One of the early quotes from Brian Burke about building teams was that he liked to add depth at the top of the lineup rather than at the bottom.  This would shove all the talent down one rung and make you stronger throughout the team. This is more or less

(Yes, there actually was a time when the name "Stewie" evoked something other than an evil-minded baby with a football-shaped head, at least for Leaf fans.) Back when Wendesday Leaf games were on CHCH in Hamilton, a young Jim Hughson was doing the call.  For whatever reason, one

One of the things I like to do with a game-night LotD, if there's no pressing news story or historical tie-in I can make, is find someone who played for both the Leafs and the opponent.  For the most part, I want someone whose Leaf time was better