Toronto Maple Leafs

May 8, 2013; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; A general view of the Air Canada Centre during the Toronto Maple Leafs game against the Boston Bruins during game four of the first round of the 2013 Stanley Cup playoffs at the Air Canada Centre. The Bruins beat the Leafs 4-3 in overtime. Mandatory Credit: Tom Szczerbowski-USA TODAY Sports Hockey Canada has a news conference planned for Thursday where it is expected they will announce that Toronto and Montreal will share the hosting duties for the 2015 and 2017 World Junior Hockey Championships. Bob McKenzie of TSN is reporting that the 2015 tournament will see Montreal host the preliminary round and Toronto host the medal round. In 2017 the roles will be reversed and Toronto will get the preliminary round, while Montreal will host the medal round. Although no location has been announced about where the contests will be played, games will likely take place at the Air Canada Centre and the Bell Centre, where the Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadiens play respectively.

Anybody who takes rumours at this time of year at face value is either new to hockey or still reading Hockeybuzz. I’m neither of those. These Jonathan Bernier to Toronto rumours seem like nonsense, and I don’t want to believe them. I really don’t. Other bloggers have addressed this already, so I won’t retread the [more…]

May 24, 2013; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; NHL referee Dan O National Hockey League General Managers have approved the introduction of hybrid icing, mandatory visors, shallower nets, and video review on four-minute high-sticking penalties. All items still need approval from the NHL’s Board of Governors before becoming official. Visors will be grandfathered in for next year, which means anyone currently in the league still has a choice on whether or not to wear one, but players entering the NHL from junior, college or Europe will be now required to put one on. Hybrid icing is going to get a trial run during the 2013-14 pre-season, but shallower nets will come into play for the entire campaign. This should create a little more room for players behind the goal. Using video review on high-sticks should hopefully eliminate many debates of whether or not a player was actually clipped.

BOSTON -- The National Hockey League general managers endorsed all of the recommendations made by the NHL Competition Committee during a meeting Wednesday, according to NHLPA Special Assistant to the Executive Director Mathieu Schneider.   The C...

The Boston Bruins are starting to look unstoppable. After shutting down the Chicago Blackhawks on Monday night, they hold a 2-1 series lead in the Stanley Cup final heading into Game 4 at home tonight. They’re two wins away from a championship that would cap off one of the most impressive playoff runs in recent history.A quick recap: In the first round, the Bruins beat the Toronto Maple Leafs. Since then, they’ve found themselves facing the New York Rangers, Pittsburgh Penguins, and now the Blackhawks. Or, to put those matchups in some perspective: last year’s top seed in the East, this year’s top seed in the East, and this year’s top seed overall.Heading into tonight’s action, here’s how those teams have fared against Boston: The Maple Leafs Everyone Else Combined Games played 7 12 Goals scored 18 17 Wins 3 2 Regulation wins 3 0 Without putting too fine a point on it, those numbers don’t make any sense. How could the Bruins be rolling over three of the best teams in the NHL so easily, when they needed a historic Game 7 comeback just to survive against a very average Toronto team?Or, to rephrase the question in a more intriguing way: Is it possible that the Leafs knew something that everyone else has missed?The good news is that, as a Maple Leafs fan, I watched that first-round series closely. The bad news is that, as a Maple Leafs fan, my therapist has ordered me never to discuss it again. So if he asks, the next few thousand words never happened.I floated a version of the question — What the hell happened in that Leafs series? — on Twitter a few nights ago. Here are some of the most common theories I got back in response, and my thoughts on whether there could be some truth to them.>> Read the full post on Grantland

Links 2013 Player Review: Joffrey Lupul Arm gets a C-. Can You Name This Leaf? Vintage Leafs would love to know. Collecting Vintage When You Cheer for an Expansion Team Neat piece by 1967ers. Bickell: "Mario Kart Helps us Focus" Meatheads trying to say they'd be better off playing Super Smash Brothers. Bourne's 10 Takeaways from Game 3 Good call on Chicago being intimidated by Rask. How the Hawks and Bruins Spent Their Money Sweet breakdown on BHS. NHL Coaches Dissect Chicago's Dormant Powerplay In my opinion, they're trying to be too perfect.

It’s been awhile. How do these work again? Seriously. Despite Tweeting up a storm during the playoffs, I haven’t written anything since January. Call it a combination of hell the lockout sucking the passion out of me and Burke‘s firing amounting to a platinum-knuckled gut punch at the time. But new posts are coming, and [more…]

Hats off to Leafs goaltender Ben Scrivens, who once again is in the news for serving his community.  This latest venture is to join the march in the upcoming Pride parade. A couple weeks ago, Scrivens was a part of a Special Olympics fundraiser. Prior to this year, former GM Brian Burke marched in the

Next up on the player review list is Joffrey Lupul. It was a whirlwind season for the man who has rejuvenated his career in Toronto. Lupul signed a 5-year deal worth 26.25M, got hurt twice, suspended once, and still potted 18 points in only 16 games before notching four more points in seven playoff games. [more…]

Owen Sound Attack teammates Zach Nastasiuk and Chris Bigras aren't brothers, but it certainly seems like it considering the bond they've established on and off the ice over the past eight years. The two began moving up the ranks together while ...