Canada Maple Leafs

Are they the Toronto Maple Leafs? Or are they the Canada Maple Leafs? This is an article from 2002
Where lies the primary obligation of the Leafs? Is it to the hockey fans in Toronto, or is it the hockey fans across Canada? Actually, there's no need to ask those questions. The clear answer is that they are the Canada Maple Leafs. The question that should be asked is whether this ought to be the case. Leafs president Ken Dryden makes no secret of the fact that he considers the Leafs to be Canada's team, one with a dual responsibility. It is his aim not only to make the Leafs a winning team, as befits their tradition, but also to ensure that the other Canadian teams are allowed to contribute to the nation's proud and ingrained hockey heritage. That's why the Leafs will not pursue Canadian-based Group 2 free agents, even though the situation as it exists in the National Hockey League gives them a clear advantage. First, let's look at that situation. The NHL has endorsed what it calls the Canadian Assistance program by which it tries to level the playing field for Canadian small-market teams. If an American team takes a liking to a Canadian Group 2 free agent and makes him a contract offer, the Canadian small-market team gets a break. It can match the contract -- which any NHL team in that situation has the right to do -- but it pays in Canadian dollars what the American team has offered in US dollars. So, if Jarome Iginla, for instance, were to receive a three-year $30-million US offer from the New York Rangers, the Calgary Flames could keep him for $30 million Cdn and the Canadian Assistance Program would pay the difference. But the loophole is this: If a Canadian team were to make such an offer, the Flames would be on their own. Surely, Iginla would be an excellent addition to the Leafs roster. He led the league in scoring last year, was a star for Team Canada at the Olympics, lost the Hart Trophy on a tie-breaker and reasonably can expect to perform at a high level for a decade. Granted, if the Leafs were to make an offer that the Flames couldn't -- or wouldn't -- match, Toronto would lose five first-round draft choices. But so what? We all saw what happened at the draft on the weekend. It's at best a crap shoot and some years the talent base is simply not there. The Leafs presumably intend to stay in the top third of the league, so unless the other teams do something stupid, their first draft pick is never going to be one of the top 20 juniors available. Isn't Jarome Iginla worth five bottom-end draft picks? Of course he is. Then that leads to the next question. If Iginla is worth it, then what about Jose Theodore? He too is a Group 2 free agent and he's the guy who won that Hart Trophy tie-breaker. Whatever Iginla could do for your team -- and he could do a prodigious amount -- Theodore could do more. He's younger than Iginla and he's a goalie. So while Iginla can be expected to play at an elite level for 10 years, Theodore should do it for 15 years. He represents a chance for the Leafs to get the best young goalie in the game. In fact, according to the voting, the best player in the game at any position and lock him up for 15 years. For that, you would have to give up five first-rounders which, if you look it another way, averages out to one late pick every three years during the course of Theodore's career. The rules say that the Leafs couldn't go after both those free agents at once, but if they made an offer to one of them that was matched, they could then take a run at the other. IMPOSSIBLE TO MATCH And with the kind of resources the Leafs have at their command, they could put forth an offer that would be all but impossible for either Calgary or Montreal to match. But they won't do it. They won't go after either one of them because they know that by doing so, even though they probably would be successful, they would antagonize a lot of their fans. Those fans wouldn't be in Toronto. The rabid local Leafs fans would love it. But as far as the Leafs are concerned, they are Canada's team. They are the Canada Maple Leafs and as such, they don't want to upset a large portion of their constituency.
If tradition holds, a considerable number of fans attending tonight's game between the Colorado Avalanche and Toronto Maple Leafs will be clad in blue-and-white jerseys.
Yes, the game is being played at the Pepsi Center (7, Altitude).
"The Leafs carry a mystique about them throughout the league," said Avalanche defenseman Rob Blake, who was a Maple Leafs fan growing up in Simcoe, Ontario, a two-hour drive from Toronto. "Wherever they go, they're always going to generate a buzz. For the most part, they are Canada's team. People out West debate that all the time, but the Leafs and Montreal Canadiens are huge teams, and Toronto carries a lot of weight."
Avalanche fans are getting a rare treat this season.
The Canadiens, who have won a record 24 Stanley Cups, played Wednesday in Denver for only the second time in five seasons.
The Maple Leafs, second on the Stanley Cup list with 11 championships - 13 counting predecessors the Toronto Arenas and St. Patricks - are making their first appearance in Colorado since playing at McNichols Sports Arena on Dec. 15, 1997.
Because of an NHL schedule that emphasizes divisional play - there also is a perception around the league Toronto carries enough pull to avoid having to travel to Western outposts with much frequency - the Maple Leafs never have set foot in the Pepsi Center.
"That makes it even more special to play them," Blake said. "It's nice that they're coming. I think the people around here and anybody that is from Canada originally and moved out here, the Leafs carry a lot of weight with them."
How renowned is the franchise? Sixty-one of its members have been enshrined in the Hockey Hall of Fame - also located in Toronto - including three who have had NHL trophies named after them: Jack Adams (coach of the year), Conn Smythe (Most Valuable Player of the playoffs) and Frank Selke (best defensive forward).
Even a partial list of Maple Leafs players, coaches and owners reads like a who's who of hockey: Adams, Syl Apps, Ace Bailey, Andy Bathgate, Johnny Bower, Turk Broda, King Clancy, Hap Day, Tim Horton, Punch Imlach, Dick Irvin, Red Kelly, Dave Keon, Frank Mahovlich, Lanny McDonald, Jacques Plante, Borje Salming, Terry Sawchuk, Selke, Darryl Sittler, Smythe and Norm Ullman.
The Maple Leafs have advanced to the Stanley Cup Finals 21 times and played host to eight NHL All-Star Games, most recently in 2000.
"With their history and tradition, they've got a big following throughout Canada," said Avalanche coach Joel Quenneville, who got his start in the Toronto organization.
A second-round pick (21st overall) of the Maple Leafs in the 1978 NHL entry draft, Quenneville played parts of two seasons with team before he was traded to the Colorado Rockies midway through the 1979-80 season.
Quenneville was a player/assistant coach with Toronto's American Hockey League affiliate, the St. John's Maple Leafs, in 1991-92 and an assistant with the team the next season.
"Being in Newfoundland with the organization there, the Leafs were huge," he said. "I was fortunate enough to be drafted by them and I got an opportunity to start in the coaching business with them.
"When I came in as a rookie player, I was around some great players - Lanny McDonald and Darryl Sittler - and Roger Neilson was the coach."
Quenneville proceeded to rattle off several other people involved with the franchise who helped him along the way: Pat Burns, Marc Crawford, Mike Murphy, Mike Kitchen, Dick Duff, Tom Watt and Cliff Fletcher.
One of the NHL's "Original Six" teams - Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Montreal and the New York Rangers are the others - the Maple Leafs are in their 89th season, though the franchise has been known by many other names.
Called the Blueshirts, Shamrocks, Marlboros, Arenas and St. Patricks, the team came to be known as the Maple Leafs in 1927 when it was purchased by a group headed by the legendary Conn Smythe.
Born in Toronto in 1895, Smythe served in World War I, graduated from the University of Toronto and gained prominence in hockey as a center. He later formed the Varsity Grads team that won an Olympic gold medal in 1928.
Hired by the Rangers when the team was granted an NHL franchise in 1926, Smythe assembled a talented roster that won the Stanley Cup in 1928. But because of a disagreement with Madison Square Garden management, Smythe left the Rangers before they played a game.
It was then he bought the Toronto St. Patricks and chose the Maple Leaf for the team name and crest. Out of respect for the previous organization, Smythe kept the green and white colors for one season before changing them to blue and white (the same colors as his beloved University of Toronto Blues).
The team moved from the Mutual Street Arena to Maple Leaf Gardens on Carlton and Church streets for the 1931-32 season. One of the great arenas for sports and entertainment - the Beatles played there three times - the Gardens was constructed in five months at a cost of $1.5 million and became a Canadian institution.
The building originally seated about 12,000 fans, but capacity was increased to nearly 16,000 by the time the Maple Leafs left for the 18,819-seat Air Canada Centre (cost: $265 million) after the 1998-99 season.
Balconies and luxury suites eventually were added to the Gardens, as the gondola from which Foster Hewitt broadcast games across Canada and a large portrait of Queen Elizabeth II were removed to make room.
The Maple Leafs are so popular, it might not have mattered how many seats were added. They have sold out every home game since 1947 and usually are the feature attraction on Hockey Night in Canada, a television staple for years.
"Because we're in the West, we play Edmonton and Calgary and Vancouver a lot and there's always a lot of media around in those cities," Blake said. "But when we go to Toronto, the media is doubled."
Some of Blake's fondest hockey memories are of playing at Maple Leaf Gardens when he skated for the Los Angeles Kings, in part because he never got to watch a game there as a fan.
Quenneville agreed the Gardens was a "special" place to play but said the Maple Leafs tradition will continue regardless of the team's home.
"They have very passionate fans," he said. "In that city with that environment, that's what makes it so special."

So lets here from you! Leaf fans can you please tell me why are the Toronto Maple Leafs considered to be Canadas Team?

They haven't won the Stanley Cup since 1967. In fact, they haven't even made it back to the championship series since that last title match.
But the Toronto Maple Leafs are Canada's team, just as the NFL's Dallas Cowboys are America's team.
Before the angry letters, phone calls and e-mails begin pouring in, the Calgary Flames, Edmonton Oilers, Vancouver Canucks and Ottawa Senators aren't eligible, despite their superior records this season.
Neither are the defunct franchises from Winnipeg and Quebec, for obvious reasons.
This isn't about being the best team in Canada, or the Leafs would be at the back of the pack.
The contest comes down to two teams -- The Montreal Canadiens and Toronto Maple Leafs -- Canada's only members of the Original Six. Their deep-rooted fan bases are what makes them the sole contenders and while the Flames, Canucks, Oilers and Sens may one day, in the distant future, be able to claim it as their own, the title of the nation's team belongs to the Leafs.
By now, unless you're one of the many Leafs fans who reside in the Stampede City, you are no doubt seething mad and about ready to stop reading.
Thanks for proving the point. There is no neutral feeling when it comes to the Leafs: You either love them or hate them. That fact, at first glance, may seem to support Montreal but in fact gives the Leafs an edge over the Canadiens.
For example: Should every other Canadian team but the Habs and Leafs be eliminated from playoff contention, fans of the others would probably support the Habs and still be outnumbered by the number of Toronto supporters.
That's the depth of the club's roots and the reason for all the ill will toward the team.
Want more proof? Look no further than the Saddledome crowds to decide the winner.
When the Leafs were in town earlier this month, flocks of their fans came to every open practice in search of autographs or a glimpse of their heroes. Ages varied from longtime fanatics to third or fourth generation enthusiasts who will continue to pass their love of the Leafs down to most of their children.
At the game itself, there were times chants of 'Go Flames Go' were overpowered -- or at least muddled -- by those of 'Go Leafs Go.' There were many Blue and White jerseys in the crowd, as you'll see when the team travels to any Canadian city and most of those in the U.S., too. And when the Flames came away with a 1-0 decision, the hometown faithful seemed to cheer with a little more enthusiasm than usual.
Beating the nation's team is a moral victory, after all.
Two years ago, before the Flames' playoff run and the nightly sellouts that have followed, the Leafs and Canadiens played here back to back.
The Leafs drew a sellout crowd of 17,509 people Nov. 18, 2003, while the Habs game was watched by more than a thousand fewer (16,139).
The difference? Toronto fans snatched up any remaining ducats.
The reason the Leafs own the title of Canada's team has nothing to do with tradition, although Toronto's runs deep.
It's not about legendary players like Tim Horton, Johnny Bower, King Clancy, Syl Apps. Or Darryl Sittler's record 10 points in a game (6 goals and 4 assists, Feb. 7, 1976).
It's not about their nine Stanley Cup titles since the 1942-43 season when the NHL was truly born. The Canadiens have more than double.
It is a numbers game. And the Leafs have always had the numbers when it comes to fans.