Icons of the NHL - The Toronto Maple Leafs 4

The Toronto Maple Leafs are probably the most storied franchises within the entire NHL. And since one of many "Original Six" teams, they are also among the list of longest standing teams. The c's has won the next most Stanley Cups of any team in NHL history, with 13. The one team with an increase of is fittingly enough their bitter rival, the Montreal Canadiens. Despite being very well supported, with plenty money at their disposal, the Maple Leafs have struggled these days, cannot rekindle their past glories.History of the Maple LeafsThe Toronto Maple Leafs were originally the Toronto Arenas, owned by way of the Arena Company. They came into existence following a league that preceded the NHL, the nation's Hockey Association, disbanded as a result of disagreement together with the pushy owner of the Toronto Blueshirts organization out of which one league. In the new NHL, the Toronto Arenas soon became a team given that the league decided there could possibly be no NHL without getting a franchise in Toronto. How right they had been with that! The Arenas however were brief. Under new ownership the c's was renamed as the Toronto St. Patricks, as well as had green since their main jersey color.It was not until 1927 that this Toronto Maple Leafs, or officially, the Toronto Maple Leaf Hockey Club, came into existence as you may know them today. Aided by the classic blue and white jerseys, they experienced a a sense dignity and respect right away, that could be justified by handfuls of championships that you follow.The team was actually named after the The first world war regiment known as the Maple Leaf Regiment. There seemed to be an additional baseball team in Toronto entitled the Toronto Maple Leafs for some time prior to the hockey team was termed such. As being the name with the regiment, Maple Leaf, is mostly a proper noun, the thought of Leaf isn't going to plunge to its normal plural of Leaves, hence the spelling, Toronto Maple Leafs.Golden YearsWhen the Golden Years of the Maple Leafs are recalled, people usually with reference to the 1940s, whenever the Leafs won five Stanley Cups. The c's also won four while in the 1960s, marking several years where their archrival the Montreal Canadiens also won four championships. The last of these titles, additionally, the last Stanley Cup how the Maple Leafs won, entered 1967 against guess who, those hated Montreal Canadiens. The Canadiens were heavily favored to win the Stanley Cup that year, however the Leafs pulled versus eachother, including winning a double overtime all-time classic on the third game. The other championships around the 1960s were won consecutively, from 1962-1964.Each of these championships, using another from the 1930s and something more inside 1950s, developed as you move the team was playing at their longtime home, the Maple Leaf Gardens. The Gardens housed the team astonishingly from 1931 until 1999, when the team gone after the environment Canada Centre. The modern arena has all of the amenities of an modern arena and key being a multipurpose sports and entertainment complex. However, it's missing that classic aura of nostalgia and prestige that this Maple Leaf Gardens had.Air Canada Centre is owned by Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment Ltd., the group that owns don't merely the Maple Leafs but the Toronto Raptors of your NBA. The fact is, oxygen Canada Centre was really originally designed mainly for basketball, until MLSE purchased both the Raptors and then the new stadium beginning, in the deal searching for a new home for your Leafs.Most favored Team in the NHLThe Toronto Maple Leafs experience an extremely broad and far reaching group of followers, affectionately called Leafs Nation. This has built them into quite possibly the most valuable NHL franchise, being estimated at nearly share of a billion dollars. It consists of also made the Maple Leafs some of the most despised team within the NHL, akin to which the Manhattan Yankees might possibly be the most loved and hated team in primary League Baseball. From 1946-1999 within the Maple Leaf Gardens arena, the c's had sell outs every home game, a genuinely miraculous feat.This huge and dedicated fan base though has added a constantly increasing pressure for those Maple Leafs to win. They is within an exceedingly long drought in relation to Stanley Cup Championships. It looked just as if the earlier 1990s would be the time once the Maple Leafs finally broke through over again. Stars like franchise scoring leader Mats Sundin, Doug Gilmour, Dave Andreychuk and goalie Felix Potvin led the team close but is not all the way. Inside the first a few years of one's 2000s the c's also made several playoff runs, but always emerged short.This produced they not returning long serving captain and fan favorite Mats Sundin. They has now thought we would concentrate on a youth movement, an injection of fresh faces and good attitudes, with tough nosed and focused play. The Maple Leafs turn out to be coached by Ron Wilson, the most respected coaches over the NHL. Wilson is looking to impart a sense discipline and renewed success for a now long suffering group of followers, who dreams of the glory number of decades past. Wilson is really a former player for the Leafs, being drafted through team in 1975 and playing nearly three seasons with all the club.Recently, the Leafs hired Brian Burke as the new Gm and then the President of the club. Burke was earned to restore the interim GM, Cliff Fletcher, who replaced John Ferguson, Jr. because the Maple Leafs GM. It was actually originally expected that Fletcher would remain given that the GM from the end for the 2008-2009 season. Burke stepped down from is GM post along with the Anaheim Ducks, where he won a Stanley Cup Championship inside the 2006-2007 season just few weeks before accepting his position with Leafs.Burke had spent three seasons considering the Ducks. Earlier than that, Burke have been the GM of the Vancouver Canucks and worked with the NHL's main office. Earlier than those positions, Burke also spent one season because Gm belonging to the old Hartford Whalers, and was for incomes the Director of Hockey Operations while using Canucks under Pat Quinn. They are also the GM for that U.S. men's hockey team for the 2010 Winter Olympics, to generally be held, where else, in Vancouver.Equally as he quickly jumped along the possibility for function as the GM, Burke wasted virtually no time making moves the instant he got his post. Merely takes a simple week after being hired, he placed Dave Nonis while in the Director of Hockey Operations position. This follows the moment both of them spent in the Canucks. The two worked together for six seasons there, with Nonis actually replacing Burke as the GM in 2004.The future is not yet been seen towards the proud Maple Leafs franchise. The team needs to recall the group of followers, which contains waned from the peak, after perceived mistreatment plus a deficiency of success. That passion 's still eternally there though, and the fans just hope that within the new coach and gm, the squad show it as well.