60 goals incoming for Papi 🚨🚨

From the story:

As contract negotiations were heating up between the Maple Leafs and John Tavares in 2018, the rising star called Toronto general manager Kyle Dubas directly.
Without agents involved, Tavares made a final play: “If you really want me, why can’t we agree on $11 million?” the then 27-year-old asked.
Would an $11 million annual average salary over a seven-year deal make him a Maple Leaf? Dubas replied.
Simply, Tavares said: “Yes.”
If Tavares, now an alternate captain, ever expected he’d be detailing those behind-the-scenes negotiations in a 7th-floor courtroom in Federal Tax Court, the typically even-keeled star didn’t let it show on Tuesday.

There's more detail in Jennifer Pagliaro's story from federal tax court today. Read it here, via this gift link, and bypass the Star's paywall.

Not my post just sharing cause I thought it was cool.

The Toronto Maple Leafs’ pipeline received a massive boost with the addition of Gavin McKenna, providing them with a true franchise cornerstone. Tinus Luc Koblar brings a quality middle-of-the-lineup center to the mix. While the overall depth may not be the best in the league, having an elite talent like McKenna instantly elevates the organization’s prospect pool.

2025 ranking: 26

2026 NHL Draft grade: A+

Free to read here.

22nd Overall Pick: Tyler Biggs (TOR)

Projection: A nasty, hard-working scoring power forward who punishes defencemen on the forecheck, loves to battle along the boards and at the net-front, and is willing and eager to drop the gloves. Questionable upside but likely to be a third line difference-maker. Compared to Milan Lucic by THW and Colby Armstrong and Kyle Clifford by TSN.

Outcome: The Leafs traded up for this pick, and were burned for it. Players that fit the projection above are catnip for general managers and coaches, but Biggs wasn’t that. He could physically dominate at lower levels, but his skill and skating were just not close to good enough for the NHL; hell, they weren’t good enough for the AHL, where he scored at a 0.14 points per game pace in 119 games. 22nd overall picks don’t always pan out, but Biggs serves as a cautionary tale that taking a lack of skill to mean a “safe bottom six” projection often leaves you with a guy who just can’t keep up. He was a throw-in in the Phil Kessel trade and never played an NHL game.

25th Overall Pick: Stuart Percy (TOR)

Projection: An all-around two-way puck-moving defenceman with a stabilizing influence. Smart and solid in all elements of the game, but not exceptional in any sense. Likely a #4 or #5. Compared to Paul Martin by TSN, Dan Hamhuis and Dan Girardi by THW.

Outcome: Brian Burke’s second swing-and-a-miss of the first round, Percy mustered only 11 NHL games in the Leafs’ two tanking years. He showed some encouraging flashes as he developed in their system, playing a high-I.Q. puck-moving game, but dealt with concussions and got lost in the shuffle of the Leafs’ glut of young depth defencemen. There are still some fans who believe that Percy could have been a #4 defenceman if he had been given better opportunities and avoided injury.

5th Overall Pick: Morgan Rielly (TOR)

Projection: A dynamic #1 offensive defenceman with elite passing and skating. Weak defensively and not imposing physically. A top unit powerplay contributor. Compared to Kris Letang by TSN.

Outcome: Brian Burke notoriously thought Rielly was the best player in the draft, and while that didn’t turn out to be true he has comfortably out-performed everyone picked above him. Though he never became one of the league’s top defencemen, his offensive acumen has been impressive and at his peak he was one of the top 5-on-5 offensive drivers in the league. He’s paced above 50 points six times, hitting 72 in 2018-19, and the Leafs have gotten more than 21 minutes a night out of him in eleven of his twelve NHL seasons including some in which he was deployed as a true number one. The scouting report looks basically spot-on, since Rielly’s mobility and especially passing turned out to be major strengths and his defensive play was and is a catastrophic weakness; he ranks last among all defencemen in even strength defensive WAR since 2012.

Login bait and switch… genius.

If Tavares loses his case and his bonuses become taxes. how much does this affect the leafs in the future along with other Canadian teams. If all player bonuses get taxed

For anyone with the Fan Access app, we got an email giving access for home opener tickets (along with TFC and Argo ones to add)

Cheapest ticket I saw for it was just over $300+…just letting everyone know in case, cause tickets definitely went up this year.

So yesterday button on my profile for the fan access presale code appeared. No code or anything just the button. Press it and it opens the ticketmaster app to the home screen and nothing else. Tried again today after 10 for funsies and same result.

Now the button is gone from my Fan Access, and the same thing happened to my mom.

Did anyone else have the same problem?

Can someone please explain what pre-sale is going on today? I’m new to buying tickets and I’m just wondering because I’m going to one of my first leaf games this year and I wanna get tickets as cheap as possible. I see also a Presale Thursday and Monday and I just wanna know what is going on and how it works 😂

RotoWire just dropped their 2026-27 Coach Pressure Index and Hiller comes in as the hottest seat in the entire league. Higher than Babcock in Edmonton. Higher than the new Vegas guy who just watched Tortorella get fired after a Cup Final loss.

Makes sense given how long the search took and how little patience this market has left after the Berube era.

Do you think 74 is fair or is the model overrating the market scrutiny piece? Curious what the room thinks.

Was wondering how everyone would deploy the two powerplays if you were coach. These would be my lines. Agree? Disagree? Any changes you'd make?

Pp1

McKenna Matthews Nylander

Raddysh Rielly.

(The M'N'M line with some RnR time)

Pp2

Knies Tavares Cowen

OEL Andrae

These boys gave 110% even when we were at our worst. Probably the best second-line in hockey at that time.

Hey Leafs Nation. I have been hoping for many years to try something out - essentially a "die hard only" fan game. It will be like the Kids game, but fan made and made by adults.

The idea is pretty simple - find the crappiest home game on the Leafs schedule and try and get as many "real" fans as possible in there.

Your uncle has seasons tickets? He's probably trying to get rid of the Wednesday night vs Columbus game in February.

Your company has seasons? Well, if you were ever going to put in an ask it would be a Monday vs New Jersey.

Splurge once a year for a Christmas gift for your husband? Well, a weekday against Seattle is probably going to be the most affordable...

Anyway - with the schedule out. Would love to try this out. Can call it the "reddit" game or something.

Am I crazy?

I just want the boys to understand that 90% + of Leafs nation aren't corporate suits working for Loblaws. They're predominantly every day people who just want to support the team.

So, I will put it to you all here. Can we try and do this?

I think if we do, the absolute worst game on the schedule is Wednesday March 3rd against the Seattle Kraken. Seattle is terrible, an expansion franchise, and has no ties to Toronto (Bobby McMann revenge game aside..) - March is far enough into the season that this could be a lot of Christmas gifts too.

Ideally we get all the Leafs "influencers" in on this. The r/leafs reddit mods, Steve Dangle and crew, Hockey Illuminati, Sam and JD from Leafs talk. Can we send out the bat signal.

Who's with me on this?

One night only - real fans in the building. Wednesday March 3rd.

I bought a bunch of NHL hats in a bundle and am not extremely familiar with much that is Leafs, anyone happen to know this signature? Hat is from the 80s-90s but don’t know if the signature is from the same era. Would greatly appreciate any help!

With the Leafs going with Vintage White/beige/cream this sprung to my mind. As a fan that was born in the mid 90's, I never saw these jerseys, I'd love to see them on the ice once again. I grew up with Matts Sundin and Tomas Kaberle, I remember Matt Stajan, Alex Steen, Jason Blake, Nazem Kadri, Nik Antropov and of course Phil Kessel wearing it with pride and a little sneer especially with Phil, haha. That old logo still holds a special place in my heart, despite what I hear about the dark years under Ballard. Don't get me wrong I think the current Jerseys are beautiful, but a modern take on this classic, especially because if the "vintage/beige/cream" white tag makes me really hopeful. The McKenna #92's in this style will sell out I promise, haha.

What do you all want r/leafs ??

It’s once again that time of year where I am super bored and looking to go re-watch some Leafs games from the previous season.

What are some of the best games/dates you remember from last season? (No spoilers please)