Good morning Toronto Maple Leafs fans!

It’s March 8th, 2021, and I have the daily chat and news post for you. What I don’t have is anything interesting to say (whether this is new or old information for you is debatable). So, what I will do is go through the posts I’ve already made about the number eight.

Why? I don’t know.

Starting off, is the actual number eight.

Maple Leafs by the Numbers: #8 Sid Smith

Sid Smith was an amazing player and no one else who has worn number eight for the Leafs has come very close to matching his status. Four Stanley Cups, 369 points, former captain. Currently Jake Muzzin wears the number eight, and he may be the best player to wear it since Smith.

You younger readers may not know the draft was once longer than seven rounds. Heck it used to go to thirteen rounds and once upon a time I actually went through each and every draft pick.

Toronto Maple Leafs and the NHL Draft: Rounds 6-13

Round eight boiled down to two things:

  1. Tomas Kaberle, one of the greatest Maple Leafs of all time
  2. A whole bunch of nothing.

The Maple Leafs have also made six trades on March eighth:

March 8th, 1977
Maple Leafs acquire: Tracy Pratt (D)
Colorado Rockies acquire: 1977 3rd round pick

The Leafs got 11 games out of Pratt and then he retired. He was the son of prolific original NHLer and former Maple Leaf Babe Pratt. The Rockies used the pick on Randy Pierce, who would play a couple season for them then bounce around the minor leagues.

March 8th, 1982
Maple Leafs acquire: Jim Korn
Detroit Red Wings acquire: 1982 4th round pick, 1983 5th round pick

Maple Leafs acquire: Phil Drouillard, Walt Poddubny
Edmonton Oilers acquire: Laurie Boschman

Jim Korn played three seasons for the Maple Leafs after this deadline deal, putting up plenty of penalty minutes. He did not play in 85-86 but made a comeback with the Sabres and Devils, and Flames before retiring in 1990.

Phil Drouillard was in the OHL at the time of the trade, and his career never left junior.

Walt Poddubny stayed with the Leafs until 1986, and then he played for the Rangers, Nordiques, and Devils. After retiring he served as head coach of the Anchorage Aces in the WCHL for six seasons.

The Red Wings used the 4th round pick on Craig Coxe, who had a long minor league career before heading to coaching in the minors and high school. The 5th round pick was Joey Kocur, who wound up back with the Maple Leafs in played over 800 NHL games and won three Stanley Cups with the Rangers and Red Wings.

Laurie Boschman was a former Leafs first round pick who was three seasons into his career before the trade. After a long career with the Winnipeg Jets, he would retire after one season as the Ottawa Senators first ever captain.

March 8th, 1988
Maple Leafs acquire: Brian Curran
New York Islanders acquire: 1988 6th round pick

Curran played in the Leafs organization until 1990 when he’d be traded to the Buffalo Sabres. Up until a couple years ago he was GM/Head Coach of the Drumheller Dragons in the Alberta Junior Hockey League.

The 6th round pick became Pavel Gross who would spend his career in Germany.

March 8th, 2006
Maple Leafs acquire: Luke Richardson
Columbus Blue Jackets acquire: 2006 5th round pick

Maple Leafs acquire: Aleksander Suglobov
New Jersey Devils acquire: Ken Klee

The final trades made on this date happened on the first salary cap trade deadline. The Leafs did not do much. Richardson was the Blue Jackets captain at the time, and the former Leafs 7th overall pick only played out the season for the Leafs before moving on to the Lightning and Senators.

Suglobov split time between the Leafs and Marlies until the 07-08 season when he left for the KHL.

Columbus picked Nick Sucharski with that 5th rounder, and played out his career at Michigan State until he graduated in 2010. He got in two seasons in Poland and retired to work in Medical Sales in the GTA.

Ken Klee went from the Devils to the Avalanche to the Thrashers to the Ducks and the Coyotes before retiring three seasons after this trade. Klee would go onto coaching with the US Women’s team and the Syracuse Crunch.

That’s it for my eights, if you have anything else related drop it in the comments.

Now, some news.

Back to Excited is back and still seldo-less for your enjoyment.

Back to Excited Episode 134 - Highs and Lows

The Buffalo Sabres: Still bad

Sabres drop seventh straight in loss to Islanders

The Leafs are getting along?

Toronto Maple Leafs: A Band of Brothers

The only North Division game last night was between the Flames and Senators, where those sicko Sens took the Flames to a shootout, trying to get another coach fired. It wouldn’t happen as the Senators won the game on a Drake Batherson goal.

That was it really, all the good stuff happened on Saturday, and everyone else took the day off to watch the NBA All-Star Game, wrestling with explosions, and some dirt being dished on the Royal family.

Enjoy your day everyone!

From The Branches