Chris Johnston will give print and digital readers an insider’s perspective on the NHL,

Memories, and future plans, drew NHL insider Chris Johnston to join Star team

The Star. It was always the Star.

And there was an unspoken agreement.

In those pre-dawn hours on Westwood Drive in Cobourg, my mother, Linda, freely assumed control of every section in the newspaper as long as my bowl of cereal came with a side helping of sports.

That daily ritual kept the peace and fed a dream. It ultimately started the eight-yearold wearing Super Mario pyjamas down a path that has taken him to places he couldn’t have imagined while poring over every word written about the local teams.

On some level it has unexpectedly landed him here in this space now — although sentiment and sweet memories barely scratch the surface on answering the questions you might be asking.

Why here? Why now?

I’ll be the first to raise my hand and acknowledge that I didn’t see this coming two months ago, let alone more. But there is power in possibility and what quickly became apparent in discussions is that there’s an exciting future to be found here, not just a glorious past.

Thanks to new ownership, there’s a renewed emphasis on sports. The coverage from the Tokyo Olympics was top shelf. The commitment to growth can be found in recent hires, the rollout of new stats packages and some fascinating developments brewing behind the scenes.

It’s why I’m now working for a new venture that will see my work appear in the Toronto Star, in addition to other sites and apps.

So in this era of big, constant change on the sports media landscape, I followed the lead of more than 100 NHLers this summer and chose a new home for my writing.

It just felt right.

Those already familiar with my work should expect a similar buffet of hockey content: breaking news, plus columns and features on the biggest stories from across the NHL, with a particular focus on the Maple Leafs.

What this opportunity offers me is a chance to engage you in new ways.

This promises to be a season unlike any other, with the NHL seeking to return to normal 18 months into a pandemic that has wreaked havoc on its business.

The Beijing Olympics are also on the horizon, which will likely give Connor McDavid, Auston Matthews and many of their peers a long-awaited first crack at best-on-best international competition while competing for country. And here in our own backyard it’s difficult to remember a Leafs season that carried more consequences than this one for key figures across the organization following five consecutive playoff series losses.

If you didn’t follow my work at Sportsnet.ca these last several years, or with The Canadian Press before that, here are the Coles Notes: I’m a mechanic who is unafraid to get under the hood and tinker with complex salary cap or collective bargaining issues, but I won’t lose sight of the fact that the business of pro sports is propped up on the backs of people with stories to tell, first and foremost.

The NHL is tentatively planning to allow reporters back into dressing rooms this season in order to better tell them, too.

By way of introduction I’ll let you in on a little secret I’ve never even previously shared with colleagues before because it’s so cringe: After moving to downtown Toronto to attend Ryerson University, the kid from the breakfast table used to make his way down to the sidewalk on Bay Street whenever the Leafs called a big press conference.

He’d stand at a safe distance from Gate 2B and watch the sports reporters file in — some of whom would later become friends.

Just as Matthews and Mitch Marner once studied Patrick Kane’s YouTube highlights for clues, this was my chance to imagine myself walking through that door. Damien Cox, Ken Campbell, Paul Hunter and for a time even Bob McKenzie were the hockey writers who brought the stories behind the games to Westwood Drive.

So, yes, there’s a little hint of magic to be found in this career development for me. There’s also a sense of pride. My mom died a few years back, taken far too soon by glioblastoma, and I’ve spent the last few days reflecting on all of those hours we spent together at the breakfast table and how they set the north star on my career.

Wherever she is, there’s no doubt about what newspaper she’s reading between sips of a black coffee.

She’ll probably even click over to the sports section now.