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Revival: The Chaotic, Colourful Journey of the 1977-78 Toronto Maple Leafs
Eleven years on from their surprising Stanley Cup victory in 1967, the Toronto Maple Leafs once again managed to do something special - despite themselves.
By the spring of 1978, the National Hockey League was in chaos and spread thin, feeling the effects of rapid expansion. From the cozy old-boy establishment of the Original Six, the NHL had doubled in size immediately following the Leafs' Cup win in '67 - the largest expansion in professional sports history. And then there was more. By the 1977-78 season, there were eighteen teams competing - not only on the ice, but for talent.
Further depleted by the rise of a serious new rival in the World Hockey Association, the NHL had become the Wild West on skates. This was the time of the Broad Street Bullies and the Big Bad Bruins. The game had descended into violence and teams and the league were in mayhem. Perhaps it was no accident that the movie Slap Shot was released in 1977, emblematic of the fact that the NHL had become a parody of itself.
In Toronto, the Leafs faced their own challenges. Owner Harold Ballard had been released from jail and was back to his meddling ways; star players were traded away or pilfered by the WHA; and the team had to share the sports spotlight for the first time, with the brand-new Toronto Blue Jays.
And yet, somehow, the Toronto Maple Leafs were able to turn the 1977-78 season into one shining moment in the team's history, the only Leaf team to record over 40 wins in the regular season and get to the final four in the playoffs until the legendary 1993 run against Gretzky's L.A. Kings.
At the core of the 1978 Leaf team were young draft picks now coming into their own, including Darryl Sittler, Lanny McDonald, Dave "Tiger" Williams, and Ian Turnbull. And in a stunning coup - after haplessly leaking players to the WHA just a few years before - the Leafs had managed to land Swedish stars Borje Salming and Inge Hammarstrom, pioneering talent who would change the North American game.
Bolstered by the addition of veterans Ron Ellis and Jim McKenny, backstopped by acrobatic goaltender Mike Palmateer and led by visionary coach Roger Neilson and GM Jim Gregory, this team was on a mad, memorable ride like no other, delivering the first real season of promise since the 1967 Cup win.
By the spring of 1978, the National Hockey League was in chaos and spread thin, feeling the effects of rapid expansion. From the cozy old-boy establishment of the Original Six, the NHL had doubled in size immediately following the Leafs' Cup win in '67 - the largest expansion in professional sports history. And then there was more. By the 1977-78 season, there were eighteen teams competing - not only on the ice, but for talent.
Further depleted by the rise of a serious new rival in the World Hockey Association, the NHL had become the Wild West on skates. This was the time of the Broad Street Bullies and the Big Bad Bruins. The game had descended into violence and teams and the league were in mayhem. Perhaps it was no accident that the movie Slap Shot was released in 1977, emblematic of the fact that the NHL had become a parody of itself.
In Toronto, the Leafs faced their own challenges. Owner Harold Ballard had been released from jail and was back to his meddling ways; star players were traded away or pilfered by the WHA; and the team had to share the sports spotlight for the first time, with the brand-new Toronto Blue Jays.
And yet, somehow, the Toronto Maple Leafs were able to turn the 1977-78 season into one shining moment in the team's history, the only Leaf team to record over 40 wins in the regular season and get to the final four in the playoffs until the legendary 1993 run against Gretzky's L.A. Kings.
At the core of the 1978 Leaf team were young draft picks now coming into their own, including Darryl Sittler, Lanny McDonald, Dave "Tiger" Williams, and Ian Turnbull. And in a stunning coup - after haplessly leaking players to the WHA just a few years before - the Leafs had managed to land Swedish stars Borje Salming and Inge Hammarstrom, pioneering talent who would change the North American game.
Bolstered by the addition of veterans Ron Ellis and Jim McKenny, backstopped by acrobatic goaltender Mike Palmateer and led by visionary coach Roger Neilson and GM Jim Gregory, this team was on a mad, memorable ride like no other, delivering the first real season of promise since the 1967 Cup win.
270 pages, Hardcover
Published October 31, 2023
23 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
October 24, 2023
REVIVAL: The Chaotic, Colorful Journey of the 1977-78 Toronto Maple Leafs – Damien Cox and Gord Stellick
Damien Cox is no stranger to the Toronto Maple Leafs. He is entering his fifth decade as a journalist, with the bulk of those years spent covering the Leafs. With REVIVAL, this becomes his third book solely focused on the team with a few others covering hockey on the whole. REVIVAL reunites Cox with Gord Stellick with whom he wrote the 2004 release “67: The Maple Leafs, Their Sensational Victory, and The End of an Empire”. What better place to pick their partnership back up than to write about the 70s, a decade where the team danced on the bubble of relevancy before everything burst and the 80s made them the laughing stock of the league.
I’d like to consider myself a fairly rabid fan of the Leafs. I own over two dozen jerseys, countless items around my home have the team crest slapped on them and I rarely, if ever, miss a game. That being said, I have a blind spot when it comes to much of the team’s history in the years before I became a fan in the early 90s. It was fascinating to read about how before the last decade, the 1970s would be the last time the Leafs would build a team through the draft. Their core of Sittler, McDonald, Williams and Salming all came to the team through careful drafting and scouting. The authors uncover the controversy created when Börje Salming and Inge Hammarström entered the ranks of the NHL from Europe where they were relentlessly taunted and physically targeted by North American players, which only intensified following the ’72 Summit series.
And of course, how can you talk about the 70s without writing about bloated windbag team owner Harold Ballard? In an era where the NHL was struggling against upstart rival league the WHA, it did the team no favors to have someone the likes of noted cheapskate Ballard having to pony up the extra cash to keep star players from jumping ship. Cox and Stellick underline all the ways in which he was bad for the team and the way he would constantly undermine players and don’t even get me started on what he did after the deep playoff run of ’78.
In terms of analyzing the sport’s penchant for brutality in the post expansion era, this would fit right alongside Stephen Cole’s 2015 book HOCKEY NIGHT FEVER. Cox and Stellick look at just how close the game came to having on-ice antics make it into the courtroom with players being straight-up assaulted by hot-heads in an effort to win games. Stick swinging was still the norm in an era where helmets were optional and head injuries were commonplace. Look up the case of Tes Green v. Wayne Maki from a game between the Bruins and the Blues in Ottawa in September, 1969 for some nightmare fuel.
For anyone curious about not just the team’s history, but more about the tumultuous decade of the 1970s which saw a ruthless competitor arise, Soviet domination on the world stage, and the game’s turn to violence over skill, this is the book for you.
Damien Cox is no stranger to the Toronto Maple Leafs. He is entering his fifth decade as a journalist, with the bulk of those years spent covering the Leafs. With REVIVAL, this becomes his third book solely focused on the team with a few others covering hockey on the whole. REVIVAL reunites Cox with Gord Stellick with whom he wrote the 2004 release “67: The Maple Leafs, Their Sensational Victory, and The End of an Empire”. What better place to pick their partnership back up than to write about the 70s, a decade where the team danced on the bubble of relevancy before everything burst and the 80s made them the laughing stock of the league.
I’d like to consider myself a fairly rabid fan of the Leafs. I own over two dozen jerseys, countless items around my home have the team crest slapped on them and I rarely, if ever, miss a game. That being said, I have a blind spot when it comes to much of the team’s history in the years before I became a fan in the early 90s. It was fascinating to read about how before the last decade, the 1970s would be the last time the Leafs would build a team through the draft. Their core of Sittler, McDonald, Williams and Salming all came to the team through careful drafting and scouting. The authors uncover the controversy created when Börje Salming and Inge Hammarström entered the ranks of the NHL from Europe where they were relentlessly taunted and physically targeted by North American players, which only intensified following the ’72 Summit series.
And of course, how can you talk about the 70s without writing about bloated windbag team owner Harold Ballard? In an era where the NHL was struggling against upstart rival league the WHA, it did the team no favors to have someone the likes of noted cheapskate Ballard having to pony up the extra cash to keep star players from jumping ship. Cox and Stellick underline all the ways in which he was bad for the team and the way he would constantly undermine players and don’t even get me started on what he did after the deep playoff run of ’78.
In terms of analyzing the sport’s penchant for brutality in the post expansion era, this would fit right alongside Stephen Cole’s 2015 book HOCKEY NIGHT FEVER. Cox and Stellick look at just how close the game came to having on-ice antics make it into the courtroom with players being straight-up assaulted by hot-heads in an effort to win games. Stick swinging was still the norm in an era where helmets were optional and head injuries were commonplace. Look up the case of Tes Green v. Wayne Maki from a game between the Bruins and the Blues in Ottawa in September, 1969 for some nightmare fuel.
For anyone curious about not just the team’s history, but more about the tumultuous decade of the 1970s which saw a ruthless competitor arise, Soviet domination on the world stage, and the game’s turn to violence over skill, this is the book for you.
June 15, 2024
Nice little write up about the rise from the ashes of the 1970’s Toronto Maple Leafs. Well written, great commentary and accessible. Four stars.
July 5, 2024
4.5/5
This book really gave me good insight on the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 1970s. While not successful in terms of winning a Stanley cup, the personalities on that team ranging from Gord Stittler, Lanny McDonald, Börje Salming, Tiger Williams, Ian Turnbull, Mike Palmater and Inge Hammarstrom. I think that’s the biggest strength of this book, is that it doesn’t focus too much on the insanity of Ballard’s ownership or the darkness that the Leafs experienced in the 1970s, it focuses on a generation of players who had some fight and thrived under an innovative coach in Roger Neilson. My favourite chapters in the book were Börje and Inge, as I have a soft spot for many of the Swedish players who play for the Leafs. I feel bad that Inge doesn’t get that much attention from Leafs fans or even from Swedes for what he’s contributed to the game through being one of the first Swedes to play in the NHL. I also enjoyed the focus on fighting in the league as well as the chapter that focuses on the friendship of Börje, Tiger, Gord and Lanny that was an emotional one. One reason that it isn’t a 5 star book, which is no fault of the book itself, is that it’s hard to visualise the game in your head, I think that’s what comes with writing a sports book. Still this does not take away how excellent this book was!
This book really gave me good insight on the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 1970s. While not successful in terms of winning a Stanley cup, the personalities on that team ranging from Gord Stittler, Lanny McDonald, Börje Salming, Tiger Williams, Ian Turnbull, Mike Palmater and Inge Hammarstrom. I think that’s the biggest strength of this book, is that it doesn’t focus too much on the insanity of Ballard’s ownership or the darkness that the Leafs experienced in the 1970s, it focuses on a generation of players who had some fight and thrived under an innovative coach in Roger Neilson. My favourite chapters in the book were Börje and Inge, as I have a soft spot for many of the Swedish players who play for the Leafs. I feel bad that Inge doesn’t get that much attention from Leafs fans or even from Swedes for what he’s contributed to the game through being one of the first Swedes to play in the NHL. I also enjoyed the focus on fighting in the league as well as the chapter that focuses on the friendship of Börje, Tiger, Gord and Lanny that was an emotional one. One reason that it isn’t a 5 star book, which is no fault of the book itself, is that it’s hard to visualise the game in your head, I think that’s what comes with writing a sports book. Still this does not take away how excellent this book was!
January 18, 2024
Very good hockey book focuses on the late "60's and 70's Toronto Maple Leaf trials and tribulations. Insider details from Stellick reveal the factors leading to the history of the team during this period.
March 21, 2025
Scary similarities to the current day Leafs team. Great insight into the transitional era from top of that NHL to Ballard's basement
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews