Toronto Maple Leafs

The best and funniest moments from NHL Team Media Days

The National Hockey League is so about to be back, y’all.

A majority of teams around the league held their Media Day on Wednesday as they prepare to kick off their respective training camps and preseasons. The teams and their media partners took videos and photos for future game broadcasts, promotional content, and in-game entertainment.

And, of course, players got up to some of their usual hijinks. Here are some of the best posts.

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By Chris Cerullo 5 days ago

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Ryan Reaves responds to Radko Gudas’ famous playoff celebration: ‘I hope he tries that. I doubt there’s going to be any of that here.’

NHL enforcer Ryan Reaves signed a three-year, $4.05 million contract with the Toronto Maple Leafs this offseason. The Leafs are seeking to become a harder team to play against in the playoffs, so they picked up Reaves, who famously sat in the press box and watched his Vegas Golden Knights team lose the 2018 Stanley Cup Final to the Washington Capitals.

The Leafs were eliminated in the second round of last year’s postseason in five games by the Florida Panthers. In their final loss, Nick Cousins beat netminder Joseph Woll, who was being screened by Radko Gudas, to send Florida to the Eastern Conference Finals.

Gudas famously celebrated directly in Woll’s face after the puck went in. Reaves responded to that celebration and in typical Reaves form, lightly threatened Gudas in the process.

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By Chris Cerullo 1 week ago

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Auston Matthews’ contract extension with Maple Leafs makes him NHL’s highest-paid player

The Toronto Maple Leafs now have their best player under contract through 2027-28.

The Leafs announced that they signed star center Auston Matthews on Wednesday to a four-year, $53 million extension that pays $13.25 annually.

The contract will kick-in during the 2024-25 season. Matthews has one year remaining on his five-year, $58.195 deal that he signed on February 5, 2019.

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By Ian Oland 1 month ago

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Ilya Samsonov and Toronto Maple Leafs can’t agree on contract, will head into arbitration

Former Washington Capitals goaltender Ilya Samsonov and the Toronto Maple Leafs were not able to come to a contract resolution before Samsonov’s scheduled arbitration hearing on Friday. Now, a neutral ruling arbitrator will decide how much Samsonov will make during the 2023-24 campaign.

The Leafs had up until the second the hearing started to be able to come to an outside agreement with the Russian netminder but now that the hearing has begun the NHL’s CBA makes that no longer possible. And, because Samsonov is one year away from unrestricted free agency, the term for his new deal can only be a maximum of one year.

The Hockey News’ David Alter was first on the reporting.

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By Chris Cerullo 2 months ago

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Power struggles within Toronto Maple Leafs reportedly led to sudden firing of GM Kyle Dubas: ‘It’s like Game of Thrones’

The Toronto Maple Leafs fired general manager Kyle Dubas on Friday, just a week after the team’s five-game elimination to the Florida Panthers in the second round. Despite the questions that had surrounded Dubas’ status all year, Leafs president and alternate governor Brendan Shanahan indicated that his decision was made in the span of around four days and that the team had intended to bring Dubas back until after his end-of-season press conference.

NHL Insiders have been digging to try and figure out what happened to cause Shanahan’s about-face. It seems like a power struggle between Dubas and Shanahan was at least partially to blame for the split, and Dubas’ departure has created larger uncertainty within the organization.

“I texted somebody I know at MLSE on Sunday morning,” Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman said on his 32 Thoughts Podcast. “I said, ‘How’s it going there?’ and he said, ‘It’s like Game of Thrones.'”

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By Katie Adler 4 months ago

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Toronto Maple Leafs part ways with general manager Kyle Dubas

The Toronto Maple Leafs announced Friday that general manager Kyle Dubas will not return for the 2023-24 season. The announcement comes one week after the Leafs were eliminated by the Florida Panthers in Game Five of the second round.

Dubas has been the Leafs’ GM since 2018, having previously served four years as an assistant general manager with the organization. His contract will expire on June 30th.

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By Katie Adler 4 months ago

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Wayne Gretzky chirps Maple Leafs star players on national TV: ‘You’ve got guys in Toronto on milk cartons’

The NHL on TNT panel was in rare form on Thursday night as they had plenty of time to take jabs at one another during the sixth-longest game in NHL history between the Florida Panthers and Carolina Hurricanes. Game One of the Eastern Conference Finals produced six separate intermissions and several gold exchanges between the star-studded crew.

One of those exchanges came between Edmonton Oilers legend Wayne Gretzky and noted Toronto Maple Leafs sympathizer Paul Bissonnette. Biz Nasty sparked the conversation by first taking a dig at the Oilers’ top-heavy roster construction.

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By Chris Cerullo 4 months ago

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Ilya Samsonov reveals he injured neck in Game Three, hopes to re-sign with Toronto Maple Leafs

Ilya Samsonov wasn’t in net for the Toronto Maple Leafs when they were eliminated by the Florida Panthers in Game Five on Friday. He wasn’t even playing backup, instead watching from above after an injury took him out of Game Three.

At the Leafs’ end-of-season media availability on Monday, Samsonov revealed he had suffered a neck injury on that play. He also spoke on his future plans as his one-year contract with the Leafs nears expiration.

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By Katie Adler 4 months ago

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How a series of plays from Radko Gudas eliminated the Toronto Maple Leafs from the playoffs

The Florida Panthers finished off the Toronto Maple Leafs in Game Five of their second-round series on Friday night. The Panthers got an overtime-winning goal from forward Nick Cousins to send the Leafs packing in front of 20,000 very sad Torontonians.

Cousins may have gotten the final glory as the scorer of the eliminating goal, but it was a series of plays from defenseman Radko Gudas that created the opportunity. And, no, it didn’t involve The Cheese Wheel sitting on anyone.

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By Chris Cerullo 5 months ago

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Mitch Marner laughs after getting punched directly in the face by Matthew Tkachuk: I ‘don’t really give a flying f’

The Toronto Maple Leafs avoided being swept by the Florida Panthers on Wednesday. Not only did the Leafs beat the Panthers 2-1, but they also appeared to beat them at their own game.

As the final horn sounded of Game Four, a fracas broke out between the two teams. Matthew Tkachuk, who is essentially human sandpaper, punched Mitch Marner directly in the face twice as a referee tried to separate the players.

Marner responded by laughing, appearing to enjoy and crave more violence.

This is what the NHL playoffs do to people, folks.

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By Katie Adler 5 months ago

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