If you follow McIndoe on Twitter or you’ve read him at his professional stops since the original blog, you pretty much know what you’re getting here: quality hockey writing with jokes. However, if you’ve followed him since the blog you’ve likely heard some of this before. And if you’ve ready books about hockey (or read …
Tag: Hockey
A Toronto Maple Leaf Has Won a Major NHL Award
Auston Matthews has won the Rocket Richard Trophy. It is the first time since the trophy’s creation that a Leaf has won the Richard Trophy. It is the first time since 1947 that a Maple Leaf has led the NHL in goal scoring. That is 74 years. Nearly a three quarters of a century. Matthews …
Riley’s Newsletter for August 25, 2020
Note: I’ve decided to publish my monthly newsletter on my site because it serves as a useful Table of Contents for what I’ve been up to lately. Also, I realized that I am sharing the list of articles I’m reading on social media and by email but not on my website. So here it is:
The Game (1983) by Ken Dryden
I grew up in a baseball family, my dad was concerned with teaching us how to play baseball, we watched baseball and we heard about old baseball players. I collected baseball cards, including those of players who had retired or died before I was born.
Don Cherry
Many years ago I got in an argument with some family members about whether or not Canadian NHL players “wanted it” (the Stanley Cup) more than other (i.e. European) players. (Funnily enough, “other” didn’t seem to include Americans…)
The Day My Leafs Fandom Died
As you know, the Toronto Maple Leafs have signed John Tavares and have the strongest group of young forwards they’ve had in a very long time. If you put aside age, it’s probably safe to say it’s been 25 years or so since the last time the Leafs had this much talent in their Top …
50 Years of Misawarding the Conn Smythe
The awarding of the Conn Smythe in 2015 to Duncan Keith felt like a dose of sanity, he was well deserving of it. Unfortunately, since the award’s introduction in the mid ’60s, it hasn’t always been so obvious and oftentimes the writers responsible for voting for the award have picked odd, sometimes even terrible winners. …
The Nihilist Hockey League
I have been a fan of the hockey comedian/commentator Down Goes Brown for some time. I don’t remember when I became aware of him, but it was before he started writing for Grantland. I have appreciated both his comedic takes on what is a very silly league and also his perspective, which often seems to …
Memorial May Madness
My fellow Canadians regularly ask me why I watch March Madness. Usually, I tell them, “It’s the greatest sports tournament in the world” and then I spend a while qualifying that by telling them what I think of the NCAA. (I regret to say, by watching this year’s March Madness on cable, I am indirectly …
The NHL: 100 Years (2017)
This, the official documentary history of the NHL, is an adequate history of the NHL if you don’t watch hockey and didn’t grow up watching hockey OR you like having the old hockey myths repeated to you by different people than the people who usually told you these myths. As an actual history of the …
Am I Still a Leafs Fan?
As I find myself wrapped up in the success of The Blue Jays so far this playoff, and eagerly awaiting the NBA season, I wonder to myself if I still care about the Maple Leafs, this at a time when there is more legitimate optimism around the team than perhaps there ever has been before …
Conn Smythe Watch 2016
I am watching more playoff hockey this spring than I have probably since the last time the Leafs were in the playoffs. That’s still not as much as I used to watch, but it’s a lot more than than I was watching more recently. And so, for the hell of it, I wanted to see …
2015-16 NHL Awards
For the second time in as many years, I watched barely any hockey. But that won’t stop me from deciding who was good! I can’t decide whether I am doing this as some kind of self-parody, or just because, really, I want to know who was good, so that I can do better on Sporcle …
The Annual Hockey Hall of Fame Complaint for 2015
First of all, congratulations to the deserving inductees. The problem is, as always, that the Hall of Fame inducted players who both deserve to be in it, and players who do not (or, in this case, not yet). So congratulations to Nicklas Lidstrom, a player who, I have argued elsewhere, might be the 2nd best …
The Phil Kessel Trade
I never believed the Leafs would get the return for Kessel that the Bruins got for him from the Maple Leafs. But I hoped it would be something. When the Leafs traded for Kessel, I was upset. I was upset for the following reasons. On the side of what the Leafs gave up: It was …
Your 2014-15 Toronto Maple Leafs
I watched as little of the Leafs this year as I have since I was 16, more than half my life ago. I did this because Burke and then Nonis killed my passion for the team after JFJ made me more passionate, albeit passionate as to wanting him fired. I’m sort of kidding. I was …
2014-15 NHL Awards
I watched as little hockey this season as I have since I was 16 (i.e. half a lifetime ago) in part because Nonis was still in charge of the Maple Leafs until very recently and in part because basketball is slowly winning the battle of allegiances in my heart. So I’m not making any post-season …
Is Alex Ovechkin the Greatest Pure Goal Scorer of All Time?
A few weeks ago, Alex Ovechkin joined some elite company, he became only the fifth player in NHL history to score 30 goals per season in his first 10 seasons. More recently, he joined even more elite company, he became only the sixth player in NHL history to score 50 goals six times. Now while …
The Campaign to Fire Dave Nonis: Casey Bailey
The Leafs are continuing to sign amateur / international pro prospects to dry and find a diamond in the rough.
Campaign to Fire Dave Nonis: The Clarkson Trade
YaaaaaaaaaaaHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!
The Campaign to Fire Dave Nonis: The Winnik Trade
Pittsburgh Penguins get: Daniel Winnik, 29, LW/C: UFA 7G, 18A for 25P, +15; 16:50 ATOI in 58 games with the Leafs 82-game average: 8G, 18A for 26P, +3; 15:20 ATOI Toronto Maple Leafs Leafs get: Zach Sill, 26, C: UFA 1G, 2A for 3P, -7; 8:18 ATOI in 42 games with the Pens 33, …
The Campaign to Fire Dave Nonis: The Second Franson Trade
After not having any idea what to do with him for most of his tenure, the Maple Leafs have moved Cody Franson back to his original team. Let’s look at the trade.
The Campaign to Fire Dave Nonis: Ashton and Broll
It has been literally ages since I wrote one of these posts, in part because it’s so hard to fucking care any more and in part because, frankly, nothing has been done in some time. I mean, with the exception of firing Carlyle – the benefits of which have been documented well elsewhere – Nonis …
Alexander Ovechkin is God, Stop Denying It
Alexander Ovechkin became the fifth player in NHL history to score at least 30 goals in his first 10 seasons in the league. Those other players:
2014-2015 NHL 1/2 Season Awards
The Maple Leafs played their 41st game of the season on Saturday – a loss, unsurprisingly, as it’s that time of year – and so I guess it’s time for a little report on the NHL Awards Arms Race. I don’t know the last time I’ve done one of these, both because of personal issues …
The Campaign to Fire Dave Nonis: Jake Gardiner
I think it’s safe to say that Toronto Maple Leafs’ GM Dave Nonis has had a pretty mediocre summer. No, he didn’t break the bank on any underwhelming free agents, like he did in 2013. But he also didn’t demonstrably improve the Leafs in any significant way – if anything they are shallower than they …
The Campaign to Fire Dave Nonis: Bodie, Kontiola, Santorelli
I’ve been busy lately and didn’t have time to comment on the Leafs signings of last week. Well, now’s the time:
The Campaign to Fire Dave Nonis: Leo Komarov
After doing absolutely nothing on the first day of free agency – which is alright by me – Nonis signed ex-Leaf Leo Komarov to a 4 year, $11.8 mil deal. To which I say, I liked Komarov, but why exactly is he getting nearly $3 million per season?
The Campaign to Fire Dave Nonis: The Maple Leafs’ 2014 Draft
The Leafs missed the playoffs for the 8th time in the last 9 seasons and, as a result of that failure to improve in any tangible way over the last decade, the Leafs were handed their 3rd Top 10 pick since 2008. (Though it should have been their 5th Top 10 pick, but that’s another …
Did Justin Williams Deserve the Conn Smythe Trophy?
The Professional Hockey Writers Association’s members love clutch goals. At least recently, that appears to be the driving force in so many of the Conn Smythe winners’ resumes, whenever those players are not goalies. So Justin Williams has been given the award this year. Did he deserve it?