Books for Maple Leafs Fans

The Lives of Conn Smythe: From the Battlefield to Maple Leaf Gardens: A Hockey Icon's Story by Kelly McParland

Best Quote: "He saw the battlefield and hockey rink as symbiotic: both depended for success on shared habits and attitudes. Hockey players needed to play as a team, be constantly vigilant, but ready to attack on all fronts.”

Summary: Any reading list on the history of the Toronto Maple Leafs should begin with Conn Smythe. Smythe, an early and long-term owner of the Maple Leafs led an extraordinary life, which included service in both World Wars. His time in WWI included participation in the battles of Ypres, Vimy, the Somme, and Passchendaele, perhaps the four greatest battles of the war. His combat time in WWII lasted a short two weeks, but only after being injured from enemy fire in France.

The Lives of Conn Smythe paint the famous Leafs owner not only as an owner, but as a man who is central to Canadian Hockey identity. McParland goes deep into Smythe’s history detailing how he rose out of childhood poverty to emerge as the man who built Maple Leaf Gardens, and as the person who would hire Foster Hewitt, a broadcasting pioneer. For all of Smythe’s achievements, the author does not turn the book into an “ode to Conn Smythe” as McParland describes his character flaws, ensuring a well balanced book, and essential read to understanding not just the Toronto Maple Leafs, but understanding the history of professional hockey.

Father Bauer and the Great Experiment: The Genesis of Canadian Olympic by Greg Oliver and Jim Gregory

Best Quote: “There were many things that we wanted to do . . . and maybe part of that was Father Bauer’s idea that you can get more out of life than if you’re simply a hockey player.”

Summary: A biography of Father Bauer, the man who built Canadian National Hockey. Before NHL and other professional hockey players were allowed to compete in international tournaments including the Olympics, the Canadian National Team was led by Father Bauer. But more than a hockey coach, Father Bauer stressed hockey as a means and ways for young men to develop into a more holistic person. Bauer stressed education, spiritual development, and clean but still hard hitting hockey. Bauer’s success isn’t judged by the number of championship trophies, but rather by the lives his players went on to live when hockey was no longer central to their being.

The King: The Story of Börje Salming by Börje Salmingand Ola Ola Liljedahl

Best Quote: “I thought that when you are outplayed, you have to give it your all. Not because we were naive and thought we could turn the game around, but because the opponents would leave the ice knowing that the next game was not going to be easy.”

Summary: An autobiography of the famous Swede who would become the “King” of Toronto. Salming was one of the first Europeans to really shine in the NHL, having a long Hall of Fame Career as a Defenseman playing for the Leafs. Salming had to overcome multiple obstacles, to include the historic biases against European hockey players who were deemed as soft, and non-physical in their play. The final chapter is perhaps the most moving, as Salming discusses his battle with ALS (Salming would pass away in 2022). Salming also discusses what it was like to play for Harold Ballard, the former owner of the Leafs, and the man largely responsible for a couple decades of disfunction in the Leafs organization. Salming’s brother Stig, wrote the afterwords who detailed Börje’s final days. This book is an important read to understand the barriers the first NHL European’s faced, and how they paved the way for today’s players/

Home and Away by Mats Sundin

Best Quote: “Unlucky bounces happen in hockey all the time. A good team needs to control the game so that the unlucky bounces don’t decide your fate for you.”

Summary: This book spans the life and career of Mats Sundin, from his childhood growing up in Sweden to his career in the NHL, most of which was spent as a member and captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs. Sundin would be the first overall draft pick in 1989, and as such he was the first European picked at #1. He began his career with the Quebec Nordiques, and would later spend 13 years with the Leafs, 11 as the captain following the departure of Wendall Clark. Throughout his book, Sundin describes some famous personalities he came across to include Ed Belfour, Alexander Mogilny, Curtis Joseph, Gary Roberts, and famous fighter Tie Domi. Sundin further tells us about his relationship with coaches Pat Burns and Pat Quinn.

'67: The Maple Leafs, Their Sensational Victory, and the End of an by Gord Stellick and Damien Cox

Best Quote: “"If Conn Smythe built the temple, Harold Ballard turned it into a circus and a cash register.”

Summary: Every empire eventually comes to an end, and this book captures how and why 1967 is both a triumph and the beginning of a downfall for Toronto sports fans. This book by Stellick and Cox look at the 1967 Maple Leafs, the last Leaf team to bring the Stanley Cup to Toronto and how they earned their championship. This team was the last of the Leafs dynasty of the 1960s, and the book presents a picture of championship team coming to it’s end. In the final season of the “Original 6 Era”, this Leafs team was at the transition point not only of NHL expansion, but in the change in ownership from Conn Smythe to Harold Ballard, the latter of which led the team to decades of incompetency. The book contains character studies of key players such as Johnny Bower, Brian Conacher, and Frank Mahovlich, while also speaking to some of the more tragic figures such as Terry Sawchuck and Tim Horton.

Young Leafs: The Making of a New Hockey History by Gare Joyce

Best Quote: “Contracts might be guaranteed, but chances to play aren’t.”

Summary: This book chronicles the Toronto Maple Leafs 2016/2017 season through the lens of a stable of rookies including Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, and William Nylander. The book tells the story of how each player earned their way to the NHL through various individual paths. Matthews for example grew up in Arizona, and started his youth hockey career thanks in large part to the NHL starting a franchise in Phoenix. The book then tells the details of their rookie season, which included Matthew’s 4-Goal NHL debut, and a game against the Detroit Red Wings in the Winter Classic.

The book, while dated, provides a nice perspective into the lives of NHL hockey players, the pressures placed upon the shoulders of young stars barely out of their teens, and the almost forced decisions faced by NHL team coaches and management.