Nitzy's Hockey Den

Here's two nice covers from the late 1970's featuring "The King" Borje Salming. The first one is an Action Sports Hockey magazine issued in February 1978 while Salming was in the midst of his fourth of six consecutive All-Star seasons. The previous year, 76/77 he was named to the First All-Star team after producing 66 assists and 78 games. Salming finished second to Larry Robinson for the Norris Trophy by a vote of 186 to 157. The King's season was so good that he even finished fourth in Hart Trophy voting (the highest defenceman) and also placed fifth in voting for the Lady Byng Trophy. The second magazine is another Action Sports Hockey dated March 1979 again with Salming on the cover. This season, Salming put up 73 points in 78 games and was again named a Second Team All-Star. He also finished seventh in Hart Trophy voting, the second and final time he received votes as Most Valuable Player in the league. Inside this issue there is also an article on ...

I've always quite liked the illustration of Eddie Shack attacking a Montreal Canadien on the front of this 1965 Hockey Illustrated magazine, probably because it's from the pen of Jack Davis. Davis was a re-knowned illustrator in the second half of the 20th century, perhaps best know for his work in Mad Magazine. The 1965/66 season proved to be one of the best in Shack's career as he posted 26 goals after scoring only 5 the previous season. Inside the magazine, there is an article titled "Big League Hitters Are Baun...Not Made" about the bodychecking prowess of Leaf defender Bobby Baun. He was in the midst of his tenth NHL season but would play only 44 games in 65/66 with no goals and a mere six helpers. In February 1966 Hockey Illustrated once again featured the Leafs, picturing Johnny Bower and Bobby Hull on the cover. Bower posted a career high Save Percentage in 65/66 with a .930 mark. This was the fifth time in seven years that Bower topped the NHL in...

Here are two beautiful magazines with Toronto Maple Leaf covers from 1964. The first is a December 1964 Hockey Illustrated featuring a terrific shot of Johnny Bower stretching to make a save against Red Wing Marcel Pronovost. The Leafs had won the previous three Stanley Cups, but would slip to fourth place in the 1964/65 season and lose to Montreal in the Semifinal. Toronto had claimed goalie Terry Sawchuk in the Intra-League Draft in June 1964 in order to help the now 40-year old Bower in the Leaf nets. Bower, who played 51 games in 63/64 in front of back-up Don Simmons, had his workload cut to 34 games in 64/65. The duo of Sawchuk and Bower proved successful enough to garner the Vezina Trophy as Toronto allowed the least number of goals against.  The article headline inside the magazine declares "The Leafs will be stronger than ever!", alas The Big M was a bit off in his assessment. Mahovlich himself was voted to the Second All-Star squad alongside teammate Carl Brew...

Time for some more Toronto Maple Leafs magazine covers! Here's a beautiful Dick Duff cover of Hockey Blueline magazine from January 1959. I have this entire season bound together in a nice ring binding. I think it was done for issue to the media, not sure how many survive bound together as the whole season.  The cover of the bound 1958/59 Blueline magazines Here's a great December 1967 cover of Hockey World picturing mostly New York Rangers, but amidst all the white shirts is Maple Leaf Pete Stemkowski. He was in the midst of a season in which he he was traded to Detroit among others in the Paul Henderson trade. The previous spring, Stemmer helped lead the Leafs to the Stanley Cup by tallying 12 points in 12 games while playing on a line with Jim Pappin and Bob Pulford.  Perhaps the greatest part of this magazine is a full page, full colour photo of Bobby Orr, your Rookie of the Year from 1966/67.

Hockey Pictorial was a monthly publication that was issued from 1955 through 1980. The editors obviously knew what hockey fans wanted, as it seemed every second issue featured a Maple Leaf player on the cover. OK, maybe the Leafs weren't featured that frequently, but why put Bruin Doug Mohns on the cover when you can put Frank Mahovlich? It's a no-brainer. Anyway, here are four Hockey Pictorial issues from my collection ranging from October 1958 to October 1961. As the Leafs prepared for the 1958/59 campaign, they were coming off a last place finish in which the bright spot was Mahovlich winning the Calder Trophy. The Big M bested Bobby Hull as top rookie even though Hull out pointed him 47 to 36 on the strength of his potting 20 goals to Hull's 13. The Leafs would sneak past the Rangers to make the playoffs on the final day of the 58/59 season to begin their rise to their dynasty of the 1960's. The October 1961 cover featured another Leaf coming off a Calder ...

Here's two early 1960's Maple Leafs magazine covers, the first a Quebecois issue from June 1960. It's called "Sport Revue, Le Magazine Sportif des Canadiens-Francais". The magazine is entirely in French, so I don't understand  much of it. The headline of the Bower article, "Johnny Bower devrait etre avec Toronto depuis onze ans" translates to "Johnny Bower should be with Toronto for eleven years". This is a very bold statement as he had just completed only his 2nd season in the Leaf net. It's also an amazingly accurate statement as Bower was indeed Toronto's goaltender for eleven seasons.  The next magazine is the "Official National Hockey Annual of 1961" with a great cover painting of a Maple Leaf getting dumped by Chicago's Pierre Pilote as the puck finds it's way behind Glenn Hall. Inside is a terrific article on Maple Leaf captain George Armstrong in addition to numerous articles on the stars of the N...

John Tavares has potted 29 goals in 43  games for the Maple Leafs this year, on his way to a career best total. This pace ranks Tavares as the second fastest to 29 goals in the last thirty years. The thing is, the Leafs top goal scoring seasons were put up, among others, by Rick Vaive in the early 1980's when Game Logs are tougher to find. This is when we head to the google newspaper archives and delve into the files of the Montreal Gazette. I checked all the other top goal scoring seasons in Leaf history and where each player stood after 43 team games. When I could, I included the players' actual number of games to that point if it differed from the team total. 1931/32 43 Team Games, Charlie Conacher 29 Goals 1933/34 43 Team Game, Charlie Conacher 31 Goals 1934/35 43 Team Games, Charlie Conacher 27 Goals 1960/61 43 Team Games, Frank Mahovlich 43gp 37Goals 1976/77 43 Team Games, Lanny McDonald 43gp  28Goals 1977/78 43 Team Games, Lanny McDonald 27Goals...