martin14 wrote:
sure, and the Laughs have maintained a steady level of poor
for 40 years now.. nice 'rebuilding' phase.
Some not so poor times:
Early 1990s: Resurgence
Ballard died in 1990(edit: yay!
), and a year later his long-time friend, supermarket tycoon Steve Stavro, bought a majority stake in the Leafs from his estate. Unlike Ballard, Stavro hated the limelight and rarely interfered in the Leafs' hockey operations.[citation needed] His first act was to lure Calgary Flames GM Cliff Fletcher, who had crafted the Flames' 1989 Stanley Cup championship team, to Toronto after the 1991-92 season.
Fletcher immediately set about building a club that would be competitive once again, making a series of trades and free agent acquisitions which turned the Leafs from an also-ran to a contender almost overnight, starting in 1992-93. Outstanding play from forwards Doug Gilmour (an acquaintance of Fletcher's from Calgary) and Dave Andreychuk (acquired from the Buffalo Sabres in exchange for Grant Fuhr), as well as stellar goaltending from minor league call-up Felix Potvin, led the team to a then-franchise-record 99 points, third place in the Norris Division, and the eighth-best overall record in the league. Toronto dispatched the Detroit Red Wings in seven games in the first round, then defeated the St. Louis Blues in another seven games in the Division Finals.
Hoping to meet long-time rival Montreal (who was playing in the Wales Conference Finals against the New York Islanders) in the Cup Finals, the Leafs faced the Los Angeles Kings, led by Wayne Gretzky, in the Campbell Conference Finals. The Leafs led the series 3-2, but dropped Game 6 in Los Angeles. The game was not without controversy, as Gretzky clipped Gilmour in the face with his stick, but referee Kerry Fraser did not call a penalty and Gretzky scored the winning goal moments later.[8] Gretzky's hat trick in Game 7 finished the Leafs' run, and it was the Kings that moved on to the Cup Finals against the Canadiens.
The Leafs had another strong season in 1993-94, finishing with 98 points, good enough for fifth overall in the league – their highest finish in 16 years. However, despite finishing one point above Calgary, Toronto was seeded third in the Western Conference (formerly the Campbell Conference) by virtue of the Flames' Pacific Division title. The Leafs eliminated the division rival Chicago Blackhawks in six games and the surprising San Jose Sharks in seven before falling to the Vancouver Canucks in five games in the Western Conference Finals. At that year's draft, the Leafs would package Clark in a trade with the Quebec Nordiques that netted them Mats Sundin.
A new home and a new millennium
In 1996, Stavro took on Larry Tanenbaum, the co-founder of Toronto's new National Basketball Association (NBA) team, the Toronto Raptors, as a partner. Maple Leaf Gardens Ltd. was accordingly renamed Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment (MLSE), and it remains the parent company of the Leafs, the Raptors, and Toronto FC of Major League Soccer (MLS), to the present day.
After two years out of the playoffs in the late 1990s, the Leafs acquired goaltender Curtis Joseph as a free agent from the Edmonton Oilers and signed Pat Quinn, who had been fired by Vancouver in 1997, to serve as head coach. This resulted in the Leafs making another charge during the 1999 playoffs after moving from Maple Leaf Gardens to the new Air Canada Centre, shared with the new Toronto Raptors. The team eliminated the Philadelphia Flyers and Pittsburgh Penguins in the first two rounds of the playoffs, but lost in five games to the Buffalo Sabres in the Eastern Conference Finals.
Toronto reached the second round of the playoffs in both 2000 and 2001, only to lose both times to the New Jersey Devils, who made the Stanley Cup Finals both seasons and won in 2000. The 2000 season was particularly notable because it marked the Leafs' first division title in 37 years, as well as the franchise's first-ever 100-point season. The season ended on a particular low, however, with the Leafs being held to just 6 shots in game six of the second round against the Devils.
In 2002, the Leafs dispatched the Islanders and their Ontario rivals, the Ottawa Senators, in the first two rounds, only to lose to the Cinderella-story Carolina Hurricanes in the Conference Finals. The 2002 season was particularly impressive in that the Leafs had many of their better players sidelined by injuries, but managed to make it to the conference finals due to the efforts of lesser-known players who were led mainly by Gary Roberts and Alyn McCauley.
Joseph left to go to the defending champion Red Wings in the 2002 off-season; the team found a replacement in veteran Ed Belfour, who came over from the Dallas Stars and had been a crucial part of their 1999 Stanley Cup run. Belfour could not help their playoff woes in the 2003 playoffs, however, as the team lost to Philadelphia in seven games in the first round. 2003 also witnessed a change in the ownership ranks, as Stavro sold his controlling interest in MLSE to the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan(edit: boo!
) and resigned his position as Chairman of the Board in favour of Tanenbaum. Stavro died in 2006.
The 2003-04 season started in an uncommon way for the team, as they held their training camp in Sweden and played in the NHL Challenge against teams from Sweden and Finland. That year, the Leafs had a very successful regular season, posting a franchise-record 103 points. They finished with the fourth-best record in the league (their best overall finish in 41 years) and also managed a .628 win percentage, their best in 43 years and the third-best in franchise history. Toronto defeated the Senators in the first round of the playoffs for the fourth time in five years, but lost to the Flyers in the second round in six games.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toronto_Ma ... Resurgence
CKA Elite 
