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The Toronto Arenas, Toronto Blueshirts or Torontos was a professional men's ice hockey team that played in the first two seasons of the National Hockey League (NHL). It was operated by the owner of the Arena Gardens, the Toronto Arena Company. (Arena Co.) As the ownership of the National Hockey Association (NHA) Toronto Blueshirts franchise was in dispute, the new NHL league was started, and a temporary Toronto franchise was operated. The NHL itself was intended to only be a one-year entity until the NHA could be reactivated, although it never was. For the first season, 1917 � 18, the team operated without a formal organization separate from the Arena Co. and without an official club nickname, although the press would dub the team the "Blue Shirts" or "Torontos" as they had done with the NHA franchise. After the 1918-1919 season, the Arena Company formed a permanent franchise to operate the team, which evolved into today's Toronto Maple Leafs. |