Really, who cares? Right? I wonder how many Maple Leafs fan even know the Leafs didn’t draft in 1965… let alone why?

I didn’t know, though there was no reason I should have known. I like NHL hockey but not THAT much to know such trivia. I wouldn’t have cared, either, except that in doing my first post for a Athletic Analytics, a sports analytics blog I’m starting with JavaScript visuals I can’t embed here, I saw an anomaly in the visual. Curiosity then got the better of me.

In the first post about the number of drafts in which NHL teams participated, I saw that the Toronto Maple Leafs had one fewer year of participation than the other five Original Six teams. I’m not a hockey historian but I know the Leafs had been around long before 1963 when the drafts started, so what was going on?

Turns out, they opted not to draft due to what they perceived as a poor class of players available. You can get the fuller story through the link above. I hope you’ll also join me for an adventure into athletic analytics.

By the way, if you know any Leafs fans, would you mind asking them for me to see if they knew the Leafs didn’t draft in 1965? Or why? Or if they cared? Thanks!