43 Years of Maple Leaf Frustration: 1970-71 Season

The 1970-71 season saw the Leafs’ young defencemen start to mature. Rick Ley, Brad Selwood, Mike Pelyk, Brian Glennie and Jim McKenny were all progressing under the tutoring of the reacquired Bob Baun, who the Leafs had lost in the 1967 expansion draft. In September Jim Gregory moved Bob Pulford to the Los Angeles Kings for two younger players (Garry Monahan and Brian Murphy) as part of the dismantling of the aging team he had inherited. It was also the last season for Johnny Bower and George Armstrong who would both retire.

On February 1, 1971, in a steal of a trade with Philadelphia, Jim Gregory managed to acquire a future Hall of Fame goalie in Bernie Parent. The previous summer, the Leafs were also fortunate to have obtained the veteran Jacques Plante, who would act as the mentor for the young Parent.  Plante carried a incredible 1.88 GAA that season at the age of 41. Besides the young and maturing defence, the Leafs now had some firepower up front including centres Dave Keon and Norm Ullman who both had their greatest offensive seasons in 1970-71.  As well, the Leafs had speedy wingers Paul Henderson and Ron Ellis together with the vast potential of Sittler.

For the first round of the 1971 playoffs, the new-look Leafs were pitted against the New York Rangers, a powerhouse team at the time. Although the Leafs put up stiff resistance, the Rangers won the bitterly contested series four games to two, which was highlighted by one of the wildest scenes involving hockey players in a long while. In Game 2 of the series, in one of the many fights that took place, the Rangers’ Vic Hadfield tossed Bernie Parent’s mask into the Madison Square Garden’s hostile crowd. Leafs executive King Clancy bravely, but vainly appealed to the partisan fans to return the mask, which was never seen again (see 4:00 mark of the video below).

There continued to be a power struggle for control of the Leafs between Stafford Smythe and Harold Ballard and John Bassett. Although Bassett had Smythe and Ballard removed from the management positions, he did not force them to sell their shares, and both men remained on the board. This proved to be a serious strategic blunder; Smythe was the largest single shareholder in Maple Leaf Gardens, and he and Ballard controlled almost half the company's stock between them. They were thus able to stage a proxy war and regain control of the board in 1970. Smythe was once again appointed president. Facing an untenable situation, Bassett sold his shares in the Gardens to Smythe and Ballard for $6 million in 1971. Ballard would be convicted of tax evasion, but Smythe died of a bleeding ulcer at the age of only 50 just before his trial was scheduled to begin. Ballard took control of the Leafs in 1972, winning a battle with members of Smythe's family for ownership of Smythe's shares.