Nitzy's Hockey Den

WHA Competition Raises NHL Salaries "The average salary increase in the NHL in the 1971/72 season was 15 percent. But because of competition from the WHA, the average increase in the NHL for the 1972/73 season may reach 35 percent. "Alan Eagleson Executive Director NHLPA, Aug. 17, 1972 Globe and Mail He continued, "The players who played for $15,000 last season have negotiated 100 percent increases." He guessed that the WHA has cost the NHL "about $5-million additional salaries." The average NHL payroll in the NHL last season, he again guessed, was $620,000. "Next season I believe payrolls per club will be up to $900,000 or $1-million." Smythe Says No to Hull  "I don't think contract breakers should represent Canada." Conn Smythe, Aug. 16, 1972 Globe and Mail. Smythe is referring to Bobby Hull who recently jumped to the WHA from the NHL's Chicago Black Hawks. "As for Hull being the greatest left-winger in the game, not many...

Fifty years ago this month, the upstart World Hockey Association was finalizing plans to go up against he long-established National Hockey League. What follows are a few news-making items from August of 1972. Clarence Campbell, WHA Won't Last a Year. "This is an economic battle, and we are being wounded very seriously." Clarence Campbell, Aug. 14, 1972, Globe and Mail. Despite the fact that Campbell believes the WHA-NHL bidding feud could have been far worse. "In fact, I'm glad that they are starting their operation this season. Another year of talking before they got rolling would have been more expensive. And if this is an economic confrontation, the surest way for them to fail is to get started. My personal opinion is that the WHA won't last a year."Campbell figured that the addition of Nick Miletti's Cleveland (Crusaders) franchise was a major plus for th e new league. Miletti turned to the WHA after his application for an NHL franchise was turne...

  Forty years ago, this past weekend. I remember it like yesterday. My hockey hero, Wayne Gretzky was making his fifth career appearance at Maple Leaf Gardens and it was only the third time he'd be in the spotlight of a Hockey Night in Canada game in Toronto. He had recently set the amazing record of scoring his 50th goal in the 39th game of the season, and his Oilers were riding high in first place in the entire NHL. 10 year-old me was so excited fo the game that I cut out from the newspaper the rosters with current stats and added it to a scrapbook (actual clip below). I would add the boxscore the following day. And what a boxscore it was for a young Maple Leafs/Wayne Gretzky fan. On the Friday before the game, Gretzky put on a mini game on the Gardens ice surface with himself, his brothers Brent (12) and Glen (9) against Oilers Dave Semenko, Curt Brackenbury and coach Billy Harris. They played a game of shinny with nets placed at the blue lines. Glen even got into a fake tussle ...

  As a lifelong fan of the Toronto Maple Leafs, I often wondered about the fact that the team changed their uniform just in time for the 1967 playoffs which of course would turn out to be their last Stanley Cup triumph (pending). I recently picked up a really nice Game Program (pictured below) from the 1967 playoffs, issued April 18, 1967 for Game Six of the Semi-finals against Chicago. Within, there is an article by Paul Dulmage about the recent Leafs uniform switch. "It was a decision of management," stated Leafs equipment manager Bobby Haggert, "They decided it would be part of their Centennial project. The new sweaters will be here in time for the playoffs." Dulmage informed the reader, Centennial Year (1967 was the 100th anniversary of Canadian Confederation) has come, and Canada has a new Maple Leaf on her flag, and the Toronto Maple Leafs open this year's Stanley Cup playoffs with a new leaf on their sweaters, Canada's 11-point leaf. The Maple Leaf sw...

Opening night at Maple Leaf Gardens was always a special evening but this one was even more memorable as it was also the 50 th  anniversary of the historic building. My dad and I sat in the end gold seats, Box 38, Row C Seats 1 and 2, 3 rows up from ice level. I was ten years old, and this was my first ever Leaf game. One of my more prominent memories of the night happened before the game even started. The 48 th  Highlanders Pipe and Drum Band marched across the ice playing as they had since the Gardens had opened in 1931. Major Conn Smythe, the architect of the Leafs in those days and builder of this grand yellow bricked edifice had served in the Great War. Having The Highlanders open each Maple Leaf season was one of his ways of bringing to the ordinary masses the majesty and honour of serving for one’s country.  This being the 50 th  season opener at the Gardens, the feeling of ceremony and tradition was extra thick in the air. As any ten-year old would do in my s...

     Forty years ago yesterday was the Final Game of the 1981 Canada Cup tournament. I remember watching the game as an avid 10 year-old hockey nut and being very disappointed with the outcome. The Soviets, led by goaltender Vladislav Tretiak and a young KLM line thoroughly embarrassed the Canadians by a score of 8-1. I re-watched the game on youtube and my favourite part was seeing all the old commercials on the broadcast. That sad fact alone pretty much sums up the game for me.     Soviet coach, Victor Tikhonov said after the match, "We didn't expect to win by such a score. We expected the game would be very difficult. If we played them again tomorrow or the day after, I would not forecast the result."  The first period of the game was as the coach expected as Canada outshot his team 12-4 with Tretiak  making three or four big saves in close. "Tretiak did what he had to do as he always does, but there was a lot more to their win than him," state...

William Nylander potted his fourth goal in as many games to open the 2021 NHL Playoffs. This fact brought up many comparables of similar runs by Maple Leaf scorers from the past. Nylander is one away from the longest playoff goal streak in Maple Leafs franchise history: 1993, Dave Andreychuk scored in five consecutive games in the second round against St. Louis. This was all good and well, but unfortunately he would go on to be held scoreless in the Semifinal against Los Angeles. Perhaps even a single goal or two may have made a difference in that 7-game loss. 1951, Sid Smith scored in five straight games including the first four of the Stanley Cup Final against Montreal. He failed to score in the fifth game of the Final, the game that won the Leafs the Cup on Bill Barilko's OT winner. 1939, Gord Drillon scored in five straight to open the playoffs against New York Americans and Detroit Red Wings. Nylander has equalled the playoff-opening run in 1986 of rookie Wendel Clark who scor...