The history of the Toronto Maple Leafs, a professional ice hockey team in the National Hockey League (NHL), begins with the establishment of the NHL itself. Both the Toronto Maple Leafs and the NHL arose from disputes between Eddie Livingstone, owner of the National Hockey Association's Toronto Blueshirts, and the other team owners of the Association. In November 1917, these other team owners founded the NHL, and granted Toronto a temporary franchise in their new league. Playing at Arena Gardens, this temporary team, the Toronto Arenas, won the 1918 Stanley Cup Final following the inaugural 1917–18 NHL season. The NHL made the franchise permanent in October 1918.
In 1919, the club was sold to the St. Patrick Hockey Club, who renamed the franchise the Toronto St. Patricks. Although the St. Patricks won one Stanley Cup, in 1922, they were again put up for sale due following a series of litigations from Livingstone. The franchise was eventually sold to Conn Smythe in 1927, who immediately renamed the team the Toronto Maple Leafs (formally the Toronto Maple Leaf Hockey Club). In an effort to finance the construction of Maple Leaf Gardens, Smythe launched Maple Leaf Gardens Limited (MLGL, renamed Maple Leafs Sports & Entertainment in 1998), a publicly traded management company to own both the Maple Leafs and the planned arena. The Maple Leafs played their first game at Maple Leaf Gardens in November 1931. For most of the 1930s, the team was led by The Kid Line. Led by this line, the Maple Leafs won the 1932 Stanley Cup and made six more Stanley Cup Final appearances in the following eight seasons.
As a result of the Great Depression, a number of NHL franchises financially struggled, suspended operations, or folded. By the 1942–43 season, the Maple Leafs were one of six remaining teams in the league. The Maple Leafs saw tremendous success during the early "Original Six" era (lasting until the 1966–67 season), winning the Stanley Cup in 1942, 1945, 1947, 1948, and 1949. Following the Maple Leafs 1951 Stanley Cup victory, the team saw an 11-year championship drought. Prior to the 1961–62 NHL season, Conn Smythe sold nearly all of his shares in MLGL to a partnership made up of his son, Stafford Smythe, John W. H. Bassett, and Harold Ballard. The Maple Leafs found new success during the 1960s, winning the Stanley Cup in 1962, 1963, 1964, and 1967. Winning their last championship in Centennial Year prior to the 1967 NHL expansion, the Maple Leafs' drought between Stanley Cups is the longest active drought in the NHL.
In 1971, Ballard secured principal ownership of MLGL. During the 1970s, the Maple Leafs saw some success, only failing to qualify for the playoffs once in the decade. However, the Maple Leafs would fail to post a winning record for 12 years, from 1980–81 to 1992–93. During the 1990s and early 2000s, the team saw a resurgence in competitive play, missing the playoffs only twice from 1993 to 2004. In February 1999, the Maple Leafs moved from Maple Leaf Gardens, to their new home arena, the Air Canada Centre. Following the 2004–05 NHL lockout, the Maple Leafs saw a seven-year playoff drought, failing to qualify for the playoffs from the 2006 to 2013 Stanley Cup playoffs. In August 2012, BCE Inc. and Rogers Communications completed the purchase for a combined 70 per cent stake in MLSE. Shortly after the end of the 2013–14 season, Brendan Shanahan was appointed the president and alternate governor of the hockey club.
Early years (1917–1928) The beginnings of the Maple Leafs NHL franchise arose out of a long-running dispute between Eddie Livingstone, owner of the National Hockey Association's Toronto Blueshirts, and his fellow NHA owners, particularly Sam Lichtenhein of the Montreal Wanderers. Tempers boiled over when the NHA added a second Toronto team in 1916–17, representing the 228th Battalion of the Canadian army. The 228th was forced to withdraw its team in mid-season when the unit was called overseas. That left the NHA with an odd number of teams, and the team owners—at a meeting that did not include Livingstone—decided to even-up the number of teams by suspending operations of the Torontos for the rest of the season. All players were given to other NHA teams for the rest of the season. At the time, the plan was to return the players to the Toronto franchise, but the rest of the league wanted Livingstone out. At the end of the season Toronto was reinstated, with the condition that the club was to be sold within 60 days. However, Livingstone turned down several offers and obtained a court order to prevent the sale.
By the fall of 1917, the owners of the NHA's other four clubs—the Montreal Canadiens, Montreal Wanderers, Ottawa Senators, and Quebec Bulldogs—were eager to disassociate themselves from Livingstone. On October 19, a meeting of the NHA board of directors was held. Livingstone did not attend, sending lawyer Eddie Barclay. Barclay was informed by the directors that Toronto would not be permitted to play in the 1917–18 season due to the difficulty of operating a five-team league, both in scheduling and availability of players during wartime. However, the NHA's constitution didn't allow the other teams to simply vote Livingstone out. Livingstone responded by publicly announcing that he would set up an international circuit and raid the NHA players.
On November 9, 1917, it was reported that the Toronto NHA franchise had been sold to Charles Querrie of the Toronto Arena corporation. At this point, NHA president Robertson and secretary Frank Calder denied that the NHA would change, dissolve or adopt other subterfuge. This sale never completed.
At the November 10, 1917 annual meeting of the NHA Livingstone was represented by J. F. Boland, who stated that if the league operated that the Toronto franchise intended to be a full member. The NHA voted to suspend operations for the 1917–18 season but not wind up the organization, and meet in one year's time. Efforts began immediately by the NHA clubs to form a new four-team replacement league. However, Livingstone was not invited to join them. While the Ottawa and two Montreal clubs were committed to playing, Quebec's status was unclear. If Quebec, which had run into financial trouble, could not play then a new temporary Toronto franchise would be granted to balance the schedule with a fourth team.
On November 26, 1917, representatives of the Ottawa, Quebec, and Montreal NHA clubs met at the Windsor Hotel in Montreal. The decision to start a new league, called the National Hockey League, was finalized and announced. The Quebec franchise was suspended and a franchise for Toronto was granted to the Arena Gardens of Toronto, Limited, an ownership group fronted by Henry Pellatt that owned and managed the Arena Gardens where the Blueshirts had played. The Toronto franchise was intended to be 'temporary' for only for the inaugural season, with the NHL instructing the company to resolve the dispute with Livingstone, which included litigation between Livingstone and the NHL, or transfer ownership of the Toronto franchise back to the League at the end of the season. The team was loaned the Blueshirts' players for the season.
This effectively left Livingstone in a one-team league. On paper, the NHL clubs also remained members of the NHA and were able to vote down Livingstone's attempts to keep that league operating. Frank Calder gave the Arena Company was given a year to resolve the dispute or lose the temporary franchise. The Arena Company did agree to compensate Livingstone for the use of the players for the season, although no suitable figure was ever reached, and the league itself disputed any claims that Livingstone had on the players.
Toronto Arenas (1917–1919)
The Toronto NHA franchise did not have an official name during the NHL's inaugural season in 1917–18, but was still unofficially called "the Blueshirts" and "the Torontos" by the newspapers of the day, as well as by some fans. Although the roster was composed mainly of former Blueshirts, the Maple Leafs do not claim the Blueshirts' history as their own, unlike the other two NHL franchises with NHA roots, the Canadiens and the Senators. This is because NHL was formed to remove Livingstone from the NHA and that franchise was folded. As a result, the Maple Leafs could not legally claim the Blueshirts' legacy.
Under manager Charles Querrie and coach Dick Carroll, the Toronto team won the Stanley Cup that season. The dispute with Livingston included a disagreement regarding the distribution of revenues from the Toronto Stanley Cup games in 1917, resulting in the Toronto club not engraving their name on the Cup to memorialize their series victory at the time. In 1948, the NHL engraved "1918 Toronto Arenas" on the Cup, using the official nickname of the closely related 1918–19 Toronto franchise.
Since the Torontos had won the Cup, even more revenue was at stake. The team was estimated now to be worth , and Livingstone demanded that as compensation. The Arena offered $7,000. This led to Livingstone filing another lawsuit, this against the Arena Company and Querrie for the $20,000. A league meeting of the old NHA proved futile, as heated arguments broke out between Livingstone and the other owners. The old NHA was disbanded, in spite of objections from Livingstone, and the other owners made plans to operate the NHL for a second season. However, George Kennedy gave some ground, saying that if Livingstone dropped his lawsuits, he might be allowed in the league. In the meantime, instead of returning the players to Livingstone or paying Livingstone, the Arena Company requested on October 19, 1918, that it be granted a permanent franchise, with Querrie and Arena Gardens treasurer Hubert Vearncombe as nominal owners. The new club, the Toronto Arena Hockey Club, popularly known as the Toronto Arenas, was an independent from the Arena Company's corporate structure, and thus was separated from the Livingstone lawsuits, though the franchise still used Livingstone's players without permission. At the same time, the Arena Company board decided that only NHL teams would be allowed to play at the Arena Gardens, effectively foreclosing Livingstone's efforts to resurrect the NHA. Livingstone and Percy Quinn, who owned the suspended Quebec Bulldogs of the NHA/NHL, unsuccessfully attempted to launch a competing Canadian Hockey Association (CHA)., with Quinn planning to relocate the Quebec club to Toronto as the "Shamrocks".
Mounting legal bills from the dispute forced the Arenas to sell most of their stars, resulting in a horrendous five-win season in 1918–19. With the club losing money and no hope of catching Ottawa and Montreal in the standings in a three-team league, they requested permission to suspend operations for the season in late February 1919. League president Frank Calder persuaded the team to play its 18th game on February 20, after which the league ended the regular season prematurely (shortening the 20 game schedule) and immediately proceeded to the playoffs. The Arenas' .278 winning percentage that season is still the worst in franchise history. However, since the 1919 Stanley Cup Final ended without a winner, the Arenas proclaimed themselves world champions by default.
Livingstone's suit dragged through the courts for nearly a decade. In October 1923, a ruling was made that Arena Gardens had abused its position as a trustee of the assets of the Toronto Hockey Club—its player contracts—and finding damages of in favour of Livingstone. That still was not the end, as the damages were later reduced to $10,000 and that decision was also appealed—all the way to the privy council, which dismissed the appeal in July 1926.
Toronto St. Patricks (1919–1927)