Читать книгу Hope and Heartbreak in Toronto. Life as a Maple Leafs Fan онлайн

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Muni, of course, wasn’t good enough to play for the Leafs in the 1980s, a time when they were one of the NHL’s worst teams. They let him go to Edmonton for nothing.

And what did the Leafs get in return for dealing Murphy, Macoun, and Gill many years later? Alex Ponikarovsky is the only prospect or draft pick that even played for the team.

International Wallflowers

It’s doubtful that many Toronto Maple Leafs fans gave either of the two separate events of Tuesday, December 14, 2010, a second thought. That night the Leafs beat the Edmonton Oilers on the road to record their second consecutive victory and twenty-eighth point of the season. It left the team with a 12–14–4 record, or roughly the same winning percentage the club could be expected to have during much of their prolonged walk through the wilderness in the post-lockout era.

But there was a significant event that did happen to two Leafs prospects earlier that day. It was symbolic of a malaise that has plagued the club for ages. Jesse Blacker and Brad Ross, both Leafs draft picks, were sent packing from the final evaluation camp of the Canadian world junior team. Blacker, a defenceman then playing for the Owen Sound Attack, and Ross, a pesky Portland Winterhawks forward, received the dreaded early-morning phone call in their hotel room that comes along with being cut. They were sent home during the first round of cuts after a few days of practices and intrasquad games at MasterCard Centre of Excellence, a west Toronto rink that, of all things, is also the Maple Leafs practice venue.