Toronto Maple Leafs Tickets Information

Toronto Maple Leafs
The Toronto Maple Leafs is a professional ice hockey team from Toronto, Canada. The team is a member of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League (NHL). The club is one of the original six members of the NHL, and their organization is officially known as the Toronto Maple Leaf Hockey Club, owned by Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment Ltd. (MLSE). The club plays its matches at the Air Canada Centre (ACC) and is well known for its long & bitter rivalry with the Montreal Canadians. The club has won thirteen Stanley Cups. Eleven of these have been won as the Maple Leafs, one as the Toronto St. Patricks and one as the Toronto Arenas.

Franchise History
The National Hockey League was formed in Montreal, Quebec in 1917 by the teams formerly belonging to the National Hockey Association. After a dispute with one of the NHA team owners, Eddie Livingstone, owner of the Toronto Blueshirts, the rest of the team's decided to form a new league without him, rather than have him expelled from the NHA.

Since Quebec was not playing, the league wanted a team from Toronto and so granted a temporary franchise in Toronto to the owners of Arena Gardens, using players from the Blueshirts while the legal dispute between Livingstone remained unresolved. The team was managed by Charlie Querrie and coached by Dick Carroll and ended up winning the Stanley Cup in the NHL's inaugural season. By the next season, the Toronto Arena Hockey Club had formed. Financial pressure due to the legal dispute forced the Arenas to sell most of their star players. This resulted in a horrendous performance by the team with a winning percentage that is still the lowest in franchise history.

The Conn Smythe era
Eventually, manager of the team Querrie lost the lawsuit against Livingstone and was forced to put the team up for sale. Although he received a bid of $200,000 from a Philadelphia group, Querrie rejected the bid and sold the team for $160,000 to a Toronto group set up by Toronto Varsity Graduates coach Conn Smythe. The 1930s saw the opening of the new stadium Maple Leaf Gardens. The team, having had four poor performing seasons, three of which were under Smythe's leadership, made their debut in the new Maple Leaf Gardens arena on November 12, 1931. However, the team lost to the Chicago Blackhawks 2 - 1.

In their first season at their new arena, the Maple Leafs, led by the "Kid Line" (Busher Jackson, Joe Primeau and Charlie Conacher) and coach Dick Irvin, won their third Stanley Cup. They beat the Montreal Maroons in the first round, the Boston Bruins in the semi finals and finally arch rival, the New York Rangers. Smythe had a personal interest in defeating the Rangers as he had previously been hired as the Rangers' first general manager and coach in the 1926-27 season, but was fired after a dispute with the Madison Square Garden management before the season even started.

1940s: Another Decade of Success
The entire decade of the 1940s was a success for the Maple Leafs and one season in particular that stood out was 1942. That year, the Maple Leaf's were down three games to none in a best-of-seven final against Detroit. However, things turned around when fourth-line forward Don Metz salvaged the team by scoring a hat trick in game four and the game-winning goal in game five, helping the Leafs win the 4th and 5th games. In game six, goalie Turk Broda helped defeat the Wings and Sweeney Schriner scored two goals in the third period to win the seventh game 3-1.

1970s and 80s: The Ballard era
After the death of Smythe in the 1970s, Harold Ballard bought his shares to take over the team. The team's captain in the late 70s was star player Darryl Sittler, an all-time leading scorer in franchise history. However, Ballard's term as owner of the team was overshadowed by a number of disputes with prominent players, including David Keon, Lanny McDonald and Darryl Sittler. Overall during his ownership the team showed a poor win/loss records and no Stanley Cup wins.

Come back in 90s Ballard died in 1990 and a year later, supermarket tycoon and long time friend of Ballard, Steve Stavro, bought the team in partnership with the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan. Stavro had a completely different style than Ballard, preferring to stay out of the limelight and rarely interfering in the team's play. Instead he hired experienced hockey professionals to manage the team, such as ex-Calgary Flames GM Cliff Fletcher after 1991-92.

Fletcher revamped the team with a series of trades and player acquisitions, turning the Maple Leafs into a highly competitive contender starting from the 1992-93 season. His strategy and management proved successful and outstanding performances from Doug Gilmour, Dave Andreychuk and Felix Potvin led the Leafs to achieve a franchise-record of 99 points, third place in the Norris Division and the eighth-best team overall. The Leafs defeated the Detroit Red Wings in the first round, then won against the St. Louis Blues in the Division finals.

2006 onwards

The 2005-06 season was a struggle for the Maple Leafs and despite a late-season turn around led by third-string goaltender Jean-Sebastien Aubin, the Leafs got eliminated from playoff contention for the first time since 1998. This was also the first time that the team had missed the playoffs under coach Pat Quinn. As a result, Quinn was fired shortly after the season and Paul Maurice was announced as his replacement. Maurice was an experienced NHL coach who had coached the Leafs' American Hockey League affiliate, the Toronto Marlies, in their inaugural season. On June 30, 2006, the Maple Leafs bought out the contract of long-time fan favourite, Tie Domi. The Maple Leafs also decided not to pick up the option year on the contract of goaltender Ed Belfour. Both Domi and Belfour became free agents on July 1, 2006, and so ended their tenures with the Toronto Maple Leafs.

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