How Jim Gregory ’55, OSM Rescued the Toronto Maple Leafs

Larry Colle ’69

Jim, you were a true hero for all St. Mike’s alumni for all you did for the Maple Leafs and the Majors before them. You brought fun and enjoyment back for all Toronto hockey fans everywhere. We will always be grateful.

e Toronto Maple Leafs had just been blown out four games to zero in an April 1969 playo series by the Boston Bruins. Punch Imlach was red moments aer Game 4, marking the end of a 10-year reign that saw him win four Stanley Cups.

But it was an exciting time for St. Mike’s students and alumni everywhere as we heard the news on the radio soon aer: 33-yearold Jim Gregory was selected by Leafs president Staord Smythe to be the new Leafs GM.

1967 Memorial Cup Winners, Jim Gregory, GM, second om the right

It was a bold move. e Leafs were on a downward spiral. Under Punch and short-sighted ownership, they had traded their young players or lost most of their deep farm system with ill-advised cash sales. And in the disastrous 1967 expansion dra, fading veterans were protected over future stars. From 1967 to 1969, powerhouses Montreal and Boston had stockpiled dra picks and young talent.

On top of all these disadvantages, Jim realized when he took over that most of the players’ contracts had run out. e Leafs’ farm system at this time was one of the barest in the NHL, behind even the expansion teams that had joined the league only two years earlier in 1967.

1964 Memorial Cup, Jim as coach

St. Michael's College School Majors' trainer, late 50s

Aer he was selected to be GM, one of Jim Gregory’s rst public appearances was at the St. Mike’s Athletic Banquet in May 1969. I was there. During the banquet, Jim turned the event on its head by announcing at the podium that he would turn the proceedings into a ‘Meet the Press’ format and that the students could pepper him with questions.

I took him up on the oer and reeled o all the number one dra picks accumulated by the Canadians and Bruins. How could we compete with that, I asked. Jim was bemused, rst complimenting me for my hockey knowledge then adding the Leafs would have to move fast and work smarter to keep up with these NHL powerhouses.

Aerwards, I followed him out and asked about acquiring Ron Ward, the rst trade he had made as GM. Jim was shockingly candid. He did not think Ward would make the team and again thanked me for my interest.

During Jim’s 10-year reign he had to deal with an unstable Leafs ownership situation. Aer Staord Smythe and Harold Ballard ousted John Basse and gained total control of the Leafs the two were subjects of federal tax charges. Tragically, Smythe soon died and Ballard gained control of the team even as he went to federal prison. But Ballard had to take out huge loans with Toronto Dominion Bank to buy the team and although the Leafs were ostensibly one of the NHL’s top teams they were deeply in debt. Ballard also had to deal with high interest rates for his loans that peaked at 18 per cent in 1981. Ballard would severely cut corners by giving his hockey operations less funds . Tower yearbook graduation picture

is is what faced Jim Gregory for ten years, including making do with one of the league’s smaller scouting departments. Despite this, Jim built up the Leafs on three separate occasions during his tenure.

Inheriting a bare bones roster from Punch Imlach in 1969, it took Jim four years to rebuild the team. He had St. Mike’s alumnus Johnny

McLellan (1946-47)

as coach. Jim developed and draed Darryl Siler, Errol ompson, Rick Kehoe, and George Jim Gregory, General Manager of St. Michael's College School Majors - 1961 Ferguson. He added Hall of Famers Jacque Plante and Bernie Parent in trades, also acquiring Bobby Baun and Jim Harrison. He assembled one of the best young defenses in the league, featuring Jim McKenney, Jim Dorey, Brian Glennie, Brad Selwood, Ricky Ley, and Mike Pelyk. But then the World Hockey Association (WHA) came along and Ballard wouldn’t and couldn’t pay key players to keep them from jumping. e Leafs plummeted, forcing Jim to re-invent the roster once again over the next four years.

Jim started with three number one dra picks in 1973. He draed Lanny McDonald and Ian Turnbull. He hired the legendary Red Kelly ’46, OSM to be their innovative coach. He was the rst GM to turn to Europe in a major way, acquiring Borje Salming and Inge Hammarstrom as free agents. He traded for Doug Favell and added toughness in the legendary Dave Photo with Bill Hay, 2007 Hockey Hall of Fame Induction ‘Tiger’ Williams. But the Leafs were outgunned and outmuscled by the

Philadelphia Flyers in their showdown playo series, despite

Red Kelly’s pyramid power antics and underrated coaching prowess. It didn’t help that the NHL looked the other way and did lile to control the Flyers brutal tactics.

During this period Ballard wouldn’t keep Paul Henderson from jumping to the nascent WHA. Ballard also balked at re-signing Leafs captain Dave Keon ’60, OSM in 1975, which led to a 40-year rupture between the Leafs icon and the organization. He wouldn’t pay Rick Kehoe, who ended up being traded, and balked when Jim again tried to turn to Sweden to sign emerging young stars 1964 Toronto Marlies Memorial Cup Reunion Anders Hedberg and Ulf Nilsson. Instead, those two went to the WHA to join Bobby Hull and the Winnipeg Jets.

From 1977-79, working with a totally out of the box coaching hire in Roger Neilson, Gregory once again moulded a new unit. Neilson guided one of the Leafs all-time toughest and defensively responsible teams. ose squads featured Siler and MacDonald, but 1964 Memorial Cup, 50th Anniversary also Dan Maloney - one of the most feared wingers of that period - who was acquired by Gregory via trade. Jim also draed John Anderson and Randy Carlyle. e team was backstopped by the acrobatic Mike Palmateer. Jim’s crowning achievement was the seven-game playo series in 1978 that saw the Leafs outhit and defeat the emerging superpower New York Islanders.

Aer Jim’s exciting 10-year period the Leafs went into a 13-year swoon until nally rescued by Doug Gilmour. Jim had been inexplicably let go by the erratic and mercurial Ballard in 1979. He then joined the NHL executive suite for the next four decades. But Jim not once said a bad word about Ballard in public or private, even though the owner never told Jim he had been red, leaving him to nd out via the media and other hockey executives.

Jim Gregory richly deserved enshrinement in the Hockey Hall of Fame if only for what he accomplished as Leafs GM in spite of all the obstacles thrown his way.

St. Michael's College School Majors' trainer, late 50s