They also don't understand how tariffs work so they wouldn't understand what happened either
- Aaron_85

Very true.

A couple of years ago, I donated a pair of Leafs tix to my daughter’s school (she was on the Girls’ Athletic Council Executive) for a raffle.

My daughter said she could have sold five times as many raffle tix if they were Raptors tix instead of Leafs.

Young people are not watching hockey as much, and the Leafs and NHL need to figure this out.
- Atomic Wedgie

The raptors popularity has definitely increased over the past 8 years or so, specially with new canadians. As basketball is a much cheaper sport than hockey (to play).
Does that mean that leafs fandom has decreased, not sure about. But i do believe due to cost less people are putting their kids in hockey .

Robbie Earl?

Yeah, he was that stupid.
- fifty__missions

Well, everyone has poopty hot takes. Lol
After one year of Franson, i thought he was gonna be a steady top 4 D.

That was a big NOPE!

I have a headache this morning.

The body is not meant to ingest that much THC.

Yeah people think Canada is hockey, maple and clubbing baby seals' heads apart, and it is, but if you really know Canada you know ketchup chips, milk bags and donairs.
- Zezel

Maybe for you city folk.

To many others is Blackflies/mosquitoes, bad roads, talking about the weather, complaining about their day at work.

I have a headache this morning.

The body is not meant to ingest that much THC.
- GalacticStone

Probably from the bags of candy you likely ate while being high.

Boomers love their ranch.
- AdamFrench

I do enjoy it with wings once in while.

Yeah people think Canada is hockey, maple and clubbing baby seals' heads apart, and it is, but if you really know Canada you know ketchup chips, milk bags and donairs.
- Zezel

don’t forget about moosecock👍🏿🍆

don’t forget about moosecock👍🏿🍆
- Skalapy

Definitely the driver of most American tourism.

I do enjoy it with wings once in while.
- dmnted

Don't you dare say that in Buffalo.

You'll be punched in the face.

And you will deserve it.

The raptors popularity has definitely increased over the past 8 years or so, specially with new canadians. As basketball is a much cheaper sport than hockey (to play).
Does that mean that leafs fandom has decreased, not sure about. But i do believe due to cost less people are putting their kids in hockey .
- Fakepartofme

You also have much easier access to basketball - whether it's courts indoor or outdoor.

There's definitely a generational thing though - my son is pretty tall and pretty good at basketball so obviously he's into it, but no matter how much I try . . .I can't get into it. I actually hate it. I can watch the occasional play and think, "That was nice." but for the most part it's just another sport in a litany of modern sports where the rules of the game sporadically apply and the refs seem to control the flow of the game rather than the game being played fairly.

I say that knowing that if I tried to pick up hockey now I don't think I could.

I have lacrosse season tickets (well, to be honest we paused them this year while the Rock play in Mississauga), but I still struggle with the rules of THAT game.

Because unless you grow up with the game and are immersed enough to know fouls/penalties/infractions, you don't pick them up anymore. You don't know what's supposed do be a rule . . .and if you can't afford to play hockey, you won't know the rules, and if you don't know the rules, you won't really love the sport. But to your point - most kids know the rules of basketball as a result.

In some ways, to me, it's the silliest thing in the world - but when I was little and Peter Puck taught me the rules of hockey, it helped a LOT. Hockey could use more of that now - because the biased local commentators aren't helping. In fact they are lying to the audience regularly which just adds to the frustration of watching a game.

Probably from the bags of candy you likely ate while being high.
- Arctic_AARDVARK

It was definitely the leftover beef stew and then the fajitas.

I'm not a chips and candy type of munchies guy.

When I get the munchies, I want ribeye steak.

Well, everyone has poopty hot takes. Lol
After one year of Franson, i thought he was gonna be a steady top 4 D.

That was a big NOPE!
- Fakepartofme

In defense of every Leaf fan from 2007 - 2016 - the team was so hopeless that all the rest of us had was hope. Blinding stupid hope that when you shone the light of reality on it, all you had left was the stupid.

Be it Franson, Earl, Wellwood, Battaglia, Colaiacovo could stay healthy and be good, Pohl as an acquisiton of waivers would be good, Stahlberg, Gustavsson, Clarke MacArthur and Versteeg or Colby Armstrong, Lombardi - or maybe giant Aulie would come and be good for us when he sucked everywhere else he'd been! Didn't we all think that Leivo or Peter Holland might be a little better than they turned out to be?

Blinding stupid hope. It's the only guiding light that suffering sports fans have.

Don't you dare say that in Buffalo.

You'll be punched in the face.

And you will deserve it.
- Atomic Wedgie

How would they know if they don't have windows?

So you prefer it with your pizza then.

So Minten was sent to the Marlies and Mermis called up to replace OEL

In defense of every Leaf fan from 2007 - 2016 - the team was so hopeless that all the rest of us had was hope. Blinding stupid hope that when you shone the light of reality on it, all you had left was the stupid.

Be it Franson, Earl, Wellwood, Battaglia, Colaiacovo could stay healthy and be good, Pohl as an acquisiton of waivers would be good, Stahlberg, Gustavsson, Clarke MacArthur and Versteeg or Colby Armstrong, Lombardi - or maybe giant Aulie would come and be good for us when he sucked everywhere else he'd been! Didn't we all think that Leivo or Peter Holland might be a little better than they turned out to be?

Blinding stupid hope. It's the only guiding light that suffering sports fans have.
- Monkeypunk

Joe Colborne was the future #1 Center the Leafs needed

In defense of every Leaf fan from 2007 - 2016 - the team was so hopeless that all the rest of us had was hope. Blinding stupid hope that when you shone the light of reality on it, all you had left was the stupid.

Be it Franson, Earl, Wellwood, Battaglia, Colaiacovo could stay healthy and be good, Pohl as an acquisiton of waivers would be good, Stahlberg, Gustavsson, Clarke MacArthur and Versteeg or Colby Armstrong, Lombardi - or maybe giant Aulie would come and be good for us when he sucked everywhere else he'd been! Didn't we all think that Leivo or Peter Holland might be a little better than they turned out to be?

Blinding stupid hope. It's the only guiding light that suffering sports fans have.
- Monkeypunk

Matt Frattin is almost ready.

Because unless you grow up with the game and are immersed enough to know fouls/penalties/infractions, you don't pick them up anymore. You don't know what's supposed do be a rule . . .and if you can't afford to play hockey, you won't know the rules, and if you don't know the rules, you won't really love the sport. But to your point - most kids know the rules of basketball as a result.

In some ways, to me, it's the silliest thing in the world - but when I was little and Peter Puck taught me the rules of hockey, it helped a LOT. Hockey could use more of that now - because the biased local commentators aren't helping. In fact they are lying to the audience regularly which just adds to the frustration of watching a game.
- Monkeypunk

IIRC, it was the Dallas Stars, as the first non-traditional hockey market - that figured out that the way to build up a fanbase was to develop kids' hockey in the area.

Basketball was set to destroy hockey in Canada...yet now Drake sucks and everybody hates him. The Raptors suck and nobody cares. The NBA's ratings are down 58% because their stars are overpaid douchebags and everybody hates them.

Basketball was set to destroy hockey in Canada...yet now Drake sucks and everybody hates him. The Raptors suck and nobody cares. The NBA's ratings are down 58% because their stars are overpaid douchebags and everybody hates them.
- AdamFrench

Not fan of basketball, but I heard the ratings down mostly because of game become 3 point shooting and lacking creativity.
And their stars also turning fans off from watching NBA.

Not fan of basketball, but I heard the ratings down mostly because of game become 3 point shooting and lacking creativity.
And their stars also turning fans off from watching NBA.
- alex.TML

Maybe I'm a cynic, because I don't understand how fan culture around Football in Europe works either, but having only 3-4 contenders a year because of super teams with money hungry female genitalias, seems to be an easy way to kill your local fanbases of all the other franchises who never have a shot and only raise hyper fans internationally.

Not fan of basketball, but I heard the ratings down mostly because of game become 3 point shooting and lacking creativity.
And their stars also turning fans off from watching NBA.
- alex.TML

What's the point of watching a game where the only thing that really matters is the fourth quarter, but the last minute of said fourth quarter takes 10 minutes to play! Like baseball, basketball is something you can have on in the background while you do something else.

Joe Colborne was the future #1 Center the Leafs needed
- senstroll

You guys think this stroll down bad memory lane is funny, but it's incredibly triggering for me (did I use that term correctly?).

Joe Colborne was everything we needed, if only Joe Colborne would put forth a franking effort and use his size.

I vividly remember going to a Leafs pre-season game. Everyone in the building knew it was Colborne's last chance to make the team. In the third period, in our own end, he was incredibly soft in a puck battle against the boards, and the other team scored.

Joe's time in Toronto was over. I knew it, and he knew it. I remember watching him skate back to the bench and just kinda slump over.

They dumped him shortly afterwards to Calgary for a 4th rounder.

Just franking around on Hockeydb, and the Joe Colborne story is even worse.

We got him from Boston along with their #1 overall pick in the 2011 draft for Kaberle.

We took that pick and used it to trade up - to select Tyler Biggs.

Anaheim used the pick to select Rickard Rakell - who now has 774 games played, 224 goals, 270 assists, 494 points, and is still playing.

But hey, when we traded Colborne for the 4th round pick, we used it to select Ville Husso.

So to recap, the Bruins got a Stanley Cup with Kaberle, the Ducks got a guy who will probably play 1000 games in the NHL, and we got Joe Colborne, who played 16 games with the Leafs, with one goal and five assists.

Basketball was set to destroy hockey in Canada...yet now Drake sucks and everybody hates him. The Raptors suck and nobody cares. The NBA's ratings are down 58% because their stars are overpaid douchebags and everybody hates them.
- AdamFrench

Source?

Maybe I'm a cynic, because I don't understand how fan culture around Football in Europe works either, but having only 3-4 contenders a year because of super teams with money hungry female genitalias, seems to be an easy way to kill your local fanbases of all the other franchises who never have a shot and only raise hyper fans internationally.
- AdamFrench

Speaking of super teams, why TF did Dallas just gift Doncic to the Lakers?!?!? That's like the modern day equivalent of Gretzky to the Kings.