There is a mini series called Borje. It is the story of Borje Salming, Swede who broke into NHL in the 1970’s, when the NHL was dominated by Canadian players. The majority of his career was with the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Before I moved out West, I was a die hard Maple Leafs fan. This would be from the mid 1970’s to the mid 1990’s

The person above is Harold Ballard. He owned the Leafs for a majority of that period. To say he was a hands on owner would be an understatement.

Episode five of Borje focussed on the destruction that Ballard did to the Leafs in the late 70’s. The Leafs were a good promising team. They had taken the Broad Street Bully Flyers to seven games in 1977 and then met the powerhouse Canadiens in the semifinals in 1978. Then Ballard brought in Punch Imlach as GM and turned the Leafs into a laughing stock. Leaf favourites such as Lanny McDonald, Tiger Williams and eventually Daryl Sittler were traded away. One year Toronto traded their first round pick for Tom Kurvers and ended up in last place. One year Ballard fired popular coach Roger Neilson only to rehire him a few days later. On being rehired, Ballard actually wanted Nielsen to come to the players bench on Hockey Night In Canada with a bag over his head. Honestly.

The Leafs had losing seasons for 13 years in a row. This was at a time when there was only one game on tv. So if you did not want to see the Leafs get blown out on Saturday night your other option was to watch Fantasy Island and Love Boat.

I have not been a Leaf fan for 30 years. But watching that episode of Borje made my blood boil at the way Ballard turned the Leafs into a laughing stock.