Offside: The Harold Ballard Story

The Toronto Maple Leafs haven't won the Stanley Cup since 1967 and this well done documentary explains pretty clearly why the team failed from 1968 thru 1992, or almost half of the 56 years (and counting) spent in the wilderness. We have been following this team since just before it began winning 4 Cups in the 1960's, and not surprisingly it's been pretty depressing. Ballard's goal throughout has been to enhance his personal wealth and he was so fortunate that hockey fans in Toronto kept buying those hard-to-get tickets throughout. As long as revenue remained high, Ballard saw no reason to "waste" it on quality players or coaches or scouts for future players. The fans became enablers of his greedy lifestyle. Priestly has done a fine job of interviewing all the relevant characters from the late 60's thru 1993. Current Leaf fans will find this educational, especially those under age 35.