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The article focuses on the unpredictable and surprising start to the NHL season, with unusual trends and performances from teams and players, and attempts to analyze whether these outliers have staying power.

Byline: JAMES MIRTLE; Staff TORONTO -- Every member of the Toronto Maple Leafs seemed to have a different answer, even as they talked about the same problem. They agreed they're [...]

Byline: JAMES MIRTLE; Staff TORONTO -- So the Carolina Hurricanes are heating up. And the latest victims of their stifling defensive play are the Toronto Maple Leafs. The 'Canes won [...]

Byline: James Mirtle; Staff Toronto -- It wasn't pretty, but the Toronto Maple Leafs found a way back into the win column on Friday. And they relied on three big [...]

Byline: JAMES MIRTLE TORONTO -- It's fairly clear that, 13 games in, the Toronto Maple Leafs remain very much an unfinished puzzle for their coach and their GM. Yes, they [...]

Byline: JAMES MIRTLE TORONTO -- Game 1 for the Toronto Maple Leafs was understandably The Auston Matthews Show, with the rookie's record-setting four-goal debut making headlines around the hockey world [...]

Byline: JAMES MIRTLE TORONTO -- There were rumours about Joffrey Lupul all summer. He had left the Toronto Maple Leafs, after 46 uneventful games, in February with an abdominal injury [...]

Byline: JAMES MIRTLE TORONTO -- For two weeks now, these players from different countries, teams and conferences have bonded. They've also captivated a large viewing audience in Canada and the [...]

Byline: JAMES MIRTLE TORONTO -- You can hear it in Steven Stamkos's voice, how the Sochi Olympics broke his heart. How he spent a couple of months in gruelling rehab, [...]

Byline: JAMES MIRTLE TORONTO -- There is an unmistakable air to Team Canada entering the World Cup this weekend, and it's fitting for a country that has dominated the highest [...]

Byline: JAMES MIRTLE HOCKEY / NHL LOCKOUT / ANALYSIS TORONTO -- So the NHL lockout is headed to court. And the way things are playing out, the NHL Players' Association [...]

Byline: JAMES MIRTLE CHARITY MATCH TORONTO -- He wanted to talk about the game, getting back on the ice and benefiting charity with Wednesday's game between locked-out players in Toronto. [...]

Byline: JAMES MIRTLE, SEAN GORDON and ALLAN MAKI HOCKEY TORONTO and MONTREAL and CALGARY -- The drive to unionize junior hockey players appears set for collapse, with the executive director [...]

Byline: JAMES MIRTLE HOCKEY / NHL / THE GLOBE AND MAIL'S LOCKOUT SOLUTION Ending the NHL lockout: What will a compromise look like? There appears to be no end in [...]

Byline: JAMES MIRTLE MAPLE LEAFS MILTON, ONT. -- There may be no bigger indictment of where this franchise is, one month before the regular season that few expect to start [...]

Byline: JAMES MIRTLE HOCKEY TORONTO -- By now, hockey fans have been more than appropriately bombarded with the facts and figures involved in what has sadly become a familiar fight [...]

Byline: JAMES MIRTLE LONDON 2012 / CANADA ON THE PODIUM LONDON -- Moving across the country is challenging enough for your average Canadian. Doing so when you're an elite athlete [...]

Byline: JAMES MIRTLE LONDON 2012 / CANADA ON THE PODIUM WINDSOR -- Most Olympians have their parents sitting in the stands, their hands covering their eyes or raised in the [...]

Byline: JAMES MIRTLE LONDON 2012 / CANADA ON THE PODIUM LONDON -- Derek Drouin may have won an unexpected medal - the only one for Canada's young track and field [...]

Byline: JAMES MIRTLE LONDON 2012 / ON THE TRACK LONDON -- Canada's 4x100-metres men's relay sprinters have a message - and they delivered it emphatically Friday at Olympic Stadium. First, [...]

Byline: JAMES MIRTLE LONDON 2012 / ON THE TRACK / DECATHLON Damian Warner came off the track to a set of beaming faces in Canada jackets, taking hugs from all [...]

Byline: JAMES MIRTLE LONDON 2012 / ON THE WATER AT ETON DORNEY WINDSOR, ENGLAND -- The story sounds so implausible and so Canadian, it barely passes as truth. Boy grows [...]

Byline: JAMES MIRTLE LONDON 2012 / KAYAK DORNEY LAKE, ENGLAND -- You get used to seeing tears at the Olympics. Tears when they win. Tears when they lose. What made [...]

Byline: JAMES MIRTLE LONDON 2012 / WOMEN'S 100-METRES HURDLES LONDON -- It was, without question, one of the fastest women's 100-metres hurdles races of all time. An Olympic record was [...]

Byline: JAMES MIRTLE LONDON 2012 / PREVIEW LONDON -- Derek Drouin and Michael Mason have an outside shot Tuesday of becoming the first Canadian since Greg Joy to win an [...]

Byline: JAMES MIRTLE LONDON 2012 / ATHLETICS LONDON -- Any other year, Canadians would likely be overjoyed to see three women post terrific times and advance to the semi-finals in [...]

Byline: JAMES MIRTLE LONDON 2012 / TRACK AND FIELD LONDON -- Canada's fastest man just wasn't fast enough. Justyn Warner was one of 24 sprinters to take part in the [...]

Byline: JAMES MIRTLE LONDON 2012 / PREVIEW / CANOE AND KAYAK LONDON -- He was, in his own words, 'the king of the club.' As the grandson, son and nephew [...]

Byline: JAMES MIRTLE LONDON 2012 / ATHLETICS LONDON -- In Beijing, it was one centimetre. In London, it was multiplied by 30. Canada's big man delivered the first truly huge [...]

Byline: JAMES MIRTLE LONDON 2012 / SHOT PUT LONDON -- This was where Dylan Armstrong left off for most Canadians. A fourth-place finish at the Olympic Games, four years ago [...]

Byline: JAMES MIRTLE LONDON 2012 / OLYMPICS / OWN THE PODIUM If you listen closely here in London, you can hear it, and for the first time, it's coming from [...]

Byline: JAMES MIRTLE LONDON 2012 LONDON -- London Mayor Boris Johnson recently called it, 'magnificent and bonkers.' One night at a beach volleyball game at the 2012 Summer Olympics and [...]

Byline: JAMES MIRTLE LONDON 2012 / TRIPLE BRONZE / WOMEN'S 63 KILOGRAMS / WEIGHTLIFTING LONDON -- Christine Girard thought it was all happening again. The four-year wait. The agony and [...]

Byline: James Mirtle LONDON 2012 / MEN'S EIGHT ROWING They may be the reigning Olympic champs, but the Canadian men's eight have their work cut out for them if they're [...]

Byline: JAMES MIRTLE LONDON 2012 / ROWING / WOMEN'S EIGHTS ETON DORNEY, ENGLAND -- There's a battle royal brewing in the women's eight rowing race this week. And on the [...]

Byline: JAMES MIRTLE LONDON 2012 / KAYAKING OAKVILLE, ONT. -- There will be no second chance for Adam van Koeverden in London. Unlike four years ago in Beijing, when the [...]

Byline: JAMES MIRTLE LONDON 2012 / UNIFORMS TORONTO -- An extra 0.023 seconds can make a difference. That could be the tag line for the Canadian track and field team's [...]

Byline: JAMES MIRTLE LONDON 2012 TORONTO -- According to Nikkita Holder, it was track and field's version of love at first sight. Only in this case, the two teenagers and [...]

Byline: JAMES MIRTLE HOCKEY / CANUCKS He speaks. Vancouver Canucks netminder Roberto Luongo gave his first interview of the summer on Friday with The Fox in Vancouver, and he candidly [...]

Byline: JAMES MIRTLE NHL Given his concussion history, it could well be the riskiest contract signed by a team in NHL history. It's certainly one of the richest. But when [...]

Byline: JAMES MIRTLE OLYMPICS / LONDON 2012 TORONTO -- What was supposed to be a joyous occasion with the naming of Canada's five-member triathlon team on Tuesday instead shone an [...]

Byline: James Mirtle HOCKEY Two years ago, a few days before his 40th birthday, Nicklas Lidstrom took a few minutes out to sit down with The Globe and Mail and [...]

Byline: JAMES MIRTLE HOCKEY / NHL PLAYOFFS / EASTERN CONFERENCE FINAL NEWARK, N.J. -- He is the son of an NHL player and coach, and if you listen closely, that's [...]

Byline: David Shoalts, Roy MacGregor, Sean Gordon, Eric Duhatschek, David Ebner and James Mirtle HOCKEY FIRST-ROUND SERIES Red Wings-Predators Kings-Canucks Blackhawks-Coyotes Sharks-Blues Penguins-Flyers Senators-Rangers Bruins-Capitals Panthers-Devils DAVID SHOALTS Preds in [...]

Byline: JAMES MIRTLE MAPLE LEAFS TORONTO -- Their expression says they know it's coming. Their words almost say it, too, even if they're not allowed to. Elimination is imminent for [...]

Byline: JAMES MIRTLE HOCKEY / NHL / GENERAL MANAGERS' MEETINGS BOCA RATON, FLA. -- Gary Bettman would be right at home on an episode of Seinfeld. Where better for the [...]

Byline: JAMES MIRTLE HOCKEY / PANTHERS 5, MAPLE LEAFS 2 SUNRISE, FLA. -- Brian Burke, savvy Harvard grad that he is, was careful to include an 'if' in the statement. [...]

Byline: James Mirtle HOCKEY Boca Raton, Fla. -- Ladies and gentlemen, we have a rule change. Well almost. The NHL's 30 general managers emerged from their second day of meetings [...]

Byline: JAMES MIRTLE HOCKEY / NHL / WESTERN CONFERENCE BOCA RATON, FLA. -- Several NHL general managers clearly were not all that pleased. But unlike many of the rule changes [...]

Byline: SEAN GORDON and JAMES MIRTLE; With a report from The Canadian Press HOCKEY / NHL / EASTERN CONFERENCE As the NHL trade deadline loomed last month, Pittsburgh Penguins general [...]