Toronto Maple Leafs 2022 Wine Pairing

Toronto Maple Leafs 2022 Wine Pairing: EastDell Pinot Noir

Wine Notes

If Brendan Shanahan had any input into the Toronto Maple Leafs 2022 Wine Pairing it would be to “don’t discard the plan”.

With that in mind, the Leafs 2022 Wine Pairing sticks to familiar territory this year with EastDell Pinot Noir, another Niagara VQA Pinot Noir selection. That’s right, the Maple Leafs will get a lot of homegrown GTA talent for their wine pairings and just like on the ice, these selections will surprise you with their quality.

There is good reason for this pairing as it is versatile and pairs well with a wide variety of meat dishes. The bottle label says it best though, “Pairs well with glazed-ham, soft cheeses, and rustic dishes including mushroom risotto and roast pork with herbs”… Could there be a better wine pairing for Hogtown?

Pick up your bottles of EastDell Pinot Noir from the LCBO for $15.95

Be sure to check out Toronto’s All-Time Wine Roster

Line Change

Here are a few options if you can’t find a bottle of EastDell Pinot Noir:

• EastDell Black Cab: Buy at the LCBO for $13.95
• East Dell Pinot Grigio: Buy at the LCBO for $13.95

Team notes

If you have not yet read the Steve Simmons interview with Brendan Shanahan you need to: Read the article here.

Now that you have some insight about how the Leafs operate it is time for some bold predictions.

This will very likely be the last year for Morgan Rielly to compete for a Stanley Cup as a Toronto Maple Leaf. He is the last player remaining from the Brian Burke era and will probably want more money than the Leafs will be able to provide given their salary cap space. Since taking over as GM, Kyle Dubas has honoured the contract obligations of key players and have let key players test/leave the organization as UFAs – Zach Hyman being the most recent example. Rielly will be destined to cash out well above his current $5,000,000 cap hit and our guess is that he will head to the Pacific Division …. L.A. Kings or Anaheim Ducks maybe?

So what does this mean for the Leafs and their plan? Well, it means if they win the Stanley Cup this year it is a bonus that comes 1 year earlier than expected.

The reality is that the pieces are still coming together this year and the 2022-23 season is the year for the Leafs to make their Stanley Cup charge. They will do this by sticking to the plan starting with veteran depth signings of UFAs for reasonable contracts on the blue line (think Jason Spezza). Here is a short list of D-men who will be UFAs in the summer of 2022 and currently make less money than Morgan Rielly: Zdeno Chara (6’9”), Nikita Zadorov (6’6”), Erik Gudbranson (6’5”), Nick Holden (6’4) Ben Chiarot (6’3”), and Oli Maatta (6’2”).

There are also two D-men to keep your eye on that currently more than Morgan Rielly – P.K. Subban, Rasmus Ristolainen.

Here at Hockey WineUp, we think that the Leafs will stick with the plan and go with an affordable contract that brings in a couple of depth defensemen who are currently making less than Rielly but will add experience and size to the blueline.

With all of that said, the 2021-22 season is about sticking to the game plan and you can do that as a fan (or enemy) of the Leafs with a glass of EastDell Pinot Noir.

Cheers!

© 2025 Nicholas Shalagan and Hockey WineUp. All rights reserved. Hockey WineUp is an independent publication and is not affiliated with or endorsed by the NHL or its teams.