New documentary: Maple Leafs owner Harold Ballard's greed and ego led the team to chaos and ruin

Harold Ballard was the principal owner of the Toronto Maple Leafs for nearly two decades of headline-grabbing mayhem. From the day he assumed ownership in 1972 until his death in 1990, he was a magnet for publicity. 

In actor and director Jason Priestley's new documentary Offside: The Harold Ballard Story, players, sports journalists and former employees describe Ballard as a man who liked nothing more than a good time, a full cash register and the attention of anyone who'd listen. 

The team now known as the Toronto Maple Leafs was founded in 1917. Over the next 100-plus years, they'd see the highest highs and the lowest lows the ice had to offer. 

Born in 1903, Harold Ballard was the son of a successful businessman. As a rich man's son, he pursued a life of excitement. "During the Great Depression, he had a playboy lifestyle," journalist Mary Ormsby says in the documentary. "He never had a worry in his life."

Passionate about sports, Ballard raced miniature speedboats and was even the flag-bearer for Canada at the Winter Games in St. Moritz in 1928. He went on to coach a minor league hockey team, and in 1940, became president of the Toronto Marlboros, where he developed a friendship with Stafford Smythe, the son of Maple Leafs owner Conn Smythe. 

In 1957, an aging Conn Smythe turned over control of the Maple Leafs to a seven-person committee headed by Stafford. Soon, Ballard was brought on board to fill a vacancy and the stage was set for his ultimate takeover. 

By 1961, the management of the Leafs was in the hands of Ballard, Stafford Smythe and newspaper publisher John Bassett . The team went on to win three consecutive Stanley Cups between 1962 and 1964, and won again in 1967. 

Ballard's main role was to keep their