Amazon preps Maple Leafs hockey doc

Amazon Prime Video has added another sports documentary series to its line-up, this time following Canadian ice hockey team Toronto Maple Leafs.

James Farrell

All or Nothing: Toronto Maple Leafs comes from Amazon Studios, produced in association with NHL Original Productions and Cream Films, and will follow the team during its 2020/21 NHL season.

Offering hockey fans a rare inside look at the team on and off the ice, it will be made available on Prime Video in more than 240 countries and territories later this year.

Despite being one of the biggest names in the sport, the Leafs are currently enduring the longest drought between Stanley Cup wins of any team in the NHL – 53 years since their last, one shy of the record 54 years set by the New York Rangers between 1940 and 1994.

The executive producers are Steve Mayer, Ross Greenburg and Steven Stern. It marks the first commission for Cream Films, the fledgling premium doc division of Toronto-based Cream Productions, overseen by documentary producer Corey Russell.

It is also the second Amazon original series from Canada to be announced, following The Kids in the Hall.

Since 2015, Amazon Studios has filmed 22 of its original series and films in Canada, including The Man in the High Castle and Upload in Vancouver, The Boys and The Expanse in Toronto, Tales from the Loop in Winnipeg, as well as parts of Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan and The Voyeurs in Montreal.

Corey Russell

“As part of our continued investment in Canada, this new Canadian Original series will offer behind-the-scenes access and rarely seen point of views of the Toronto Maple Leafs, one of the most storied hockey franchises – and my personal favourite team – during a season unlike any in NHL history,” said James Farrell, VP of local originals at Amazon Studios.

Other teams to have been featured as part of Amazon’s All or Nothing docuseries franchise include Tottenham Hotspur, Manchester City and the New Zealand All Blacks.

The streaming service has also pushed aggressively into live sports rights in recent years, becoming the first streamer in the UK to offer live English Premier League football matches, while it has also bagged live cricket rights in India.