The
Toronto Maple Leafs are a professional ice hockey team based in Toronto
, Ontario
, Canada
. They
are members of the
Northeast
Division of the
Eastern
Conference of the
National
Hockey League (NHL). The organization, one of the "
Original Six" members of the NHL, is officially
known as the
Toronto Maple Leaf Hockey Club and is
the leading subsidiary of
Maple Leaf Sports
& Entertainment Ltd. (MLSE).
They have played at
the Air Canada
Centre
(ACC) since 1999, after 68 years at Maple Leaf
Gardens
.
The Leafs are well known for their long and bitter
rivalry with the
Montreal Canadiens, and more recent
rivalry with the
Buffalo Sabres and
the
Ottawa Senators. The franchise
has won thirteen
Stanley Cup
championships, eleven as the Leafs, one as the
Toronto St. Patricks, and one as the
Toronto Arenas.
At $470 million (2009), the Leafs are the most valuable team in the
NHL, followed by the
New York
Rangers and the Montreal Canadiens.
Team history
Early years
The
National Hockey League was formed in 1917 in Montreal
by teams
formerly belonging to the National Hockey Association
(NHA) that had a dispute with Eddie
Livingstone, owner of the Toronto
Blueshirts. The owners of the other four clubs – the
Montreal Canadiens,
Montreal Wanderers,
Quebec Bulldogs, and
Ottawa Senators – had enough
votes between them to expel Livingstone from the NHA. Instead, they
opted to create a new league, the NHL, and effectively left
Livingstone's squad in the NHA by itself.
However, the other clubs felt it would be unthinkable not to have a
team from Toronto (Canada's second largest city at the time) in the
new league. They also needed another team to balance the schedule
after the Bulldogs suspended operations (and as it turned out,
would not ice a team until
1920).
Accordingly, the NHL
granted a "temporary" Toronto franchise to the Arena Company,
owners of the Arena
Gardens
. The Arena Company agreed to lease the
Blueshirts' players for the season until the dispute was resolved.
This temporary franchise did not have an official name, but was
informally called "the Blueshirts" by area writers and sometimes
called "the Torontos" by fans. Under manager Charlie Querrie and
coach Dick Carroll, the Toronto team won the
Stanley Cup in the NHL's inaugural season.
For the
next season,
rather than return the Blueshirts' players to Livingstone as
originally promised, the Arena Company formed its own team, the
Toronto Arena Hockey Club, which was readily granted full-fledged
membership in the NHL. Also that year, it was decided that only NHL
teams would be allowed to play at the Arena Gardens. Livingstone
sued to get his players back. Mounting legal bills from the dispute
forced the Arenas to sell most of their stars, resulting in a
horrendous five-win season in 1918–19. When it was obvious that the
Arenas would not be able to finish out the season, the NHL agreed
to let the Arenas halt operations in February 1919 and proceed
directly to the playoffs. The Arenas' .278 winning percentage that
season is still the worst in franchise history.
The legal dispute nearly ruined the Arena Company, and it was
forced to put the Arenas up for sale. Querrie put together a group
that mainly consisted of the people who had run the senior amateur
St. Patricks team in the Ontario Hockey Association. The new owners
renamed the team the Toronto St. Patricks (or St. Pats for short)
and would operate it until 1927. This period saw the team's jersey
colours change from blue to green, as well as a second Stanley Cup
championship in
1922.
During this time, the St. Patricks also allowed other teams to play
in the Arena Gardens whenever their home rinks lacked proper ice in
the warmer months.
At the time, the Arena was the only facility
east of Manitoba
with
artificial ice.
Conn Smythe era
Querrie lost a lawsuit to Livingstone and decided to put the St.
Pats up for sale.
He gave serious consideration to a $200,000
bid from a Philadelphia
group. However, Toronto Varsity Graduates
coach
Conn Smythe put together an
ownership group of his own and made a $160,000 offer for the
franchise. With the support of St. Pats shareholder
J. P. Bickell, Smythe persuaded Querrie to reject
the Philadelphia bid, arguing that civic pride was more important
than money.
After taking control on Valentine's Day 1927, Smythe immediately
renamed the team the
Maple Leafs (the
Toronto Maple Leafs
baseball team had won the
International League championship a few
months earlier and had been using that name for 30 years). The
Maple Leafs say that the name was chosen in honour of the Maple
Leaf Regiment from
World War I. As the
regiment is a proper noun, its plural is formed by adding a simple
's' creating
Maple Leafs (not *
Maple Leaves).
Another story says that Smythe named the team after a team he had
once scouted, called the East Toronto Maple Leafs, while Smythe's
grandson states that Conn named the team after the Maple Leaf
insignia he had worn during the First World War. Initial reports
were that the team's colours would be changed to red and white, but
the Leafs were wearing white sweaters with a green maple leaf for
their first game on February 17, 1927. The next season, the Leafs
appeared for the first time in the blue and white sweaters they
have worn ever since.
The Maple Leafs say that blue represents the
Canadian skies and white represents snow, but it also follows the
tradition of blue being Toronto's principal sporting colour
starting with the Toronto
Argonauts in 1873 and the University of Toronto
Varsity Blues in
1877.
1930s: Opening of Maple Leaf Gardens and first Maple Leaf
dynasty

Toronto Maple Leafs opening night
program at MLG, November 12, 1931
After four
more lacklustre seasons (including three with Smythe as coach),
Smythe and the Leafs debuted at their new arena, Maple Leaf
Gardens
, with a 2-1 loss to the Chicago Black Hawks on November 12,
1931.
Led by the "Kid Line" (
Busher
Jackson,
Joe Primeau and
Charlie Conacher) and coach
Dick Irvin, the Leafs would capture their third
Stanley Cup during the first season in their stadium, vanquishing
the
Montreal Maroons in the first
round, the
Boston Bruins in the
semifinals, and the
New York
Rangers in the Stanley Cup Finals.
Smythe took particular
pleasure in defeating the Rangers that year; he had been tapped as
the Rangers' first general manager and coach in the Rangers'
inaugural season (1926–27), but had been fired in
a dispute with Madison Square Garden
management before the season.
The Leafs' star forward,
Ace Bailey, was
nearly killed in
1933
when
Boston Bruins defenseman
Eddie Shore checked him from behind into the
boards at full speed. Maple Leafs defenseman
Red Horner was able to knock Shore out with a
punch, but it was too late as Bailey, who was by now writhing on
the ice, had his career ended. The Leafs would hold the NHL's first
All-Star Game to benefit Bailey.
The Leafs would reach the Finals five more times in the next seven
years, but would not win, bowing out to the now-defunct Maroons in
1935, the
Detroit Red Wings in
1936, the
Chicago Black Hawks in
1938, Boston in 1939, and the hated Rangers in 1940. At this time,
Smythe allowed Irvin to go to Montreal to help revive the
then-moribund Canadiens, replacing him as coach with former Leafs
captain
Hap Day.
1940s: A second decade of success
In the
1942 season, the
Maple Leafs were down three games to none in a
best-of-seven final in the playoffs
against Detroit. However, fourth-line forward
Don Metz would galvanize the team, coming
from nowhere to score a
hat trick in game
four and the game-winning goal in game five, with the Leafs winning
both times.
Captain Syl Apps had won the
Lady Byng Memorial Trophy that
season, not taking one penalty and finishing his ten-season career
with an average of 5 minutes, 36 seconds in penalties a season.
Goalie
Turk Broda would shut out the
Wings in game six, and
Sweeney
Schriner would score two goals in the third period to win the
seventh game 3-1.
Apps told writer Trent Frayne in 1949, "If you want me to be pinned
down to my [biggest night in hockey but also my] biggest second,
I'd say it was the last tick of the clock that sounded the final
bell. It's something I shall never forget at all." It was the first
time a major pro sports team came back from behind 3-0 to win a
best-of-seven championship series.
Three years later, with their heroes from 1942 dwindling (due to
either age, health, or the war), the Leafs turned to lesser-known
players like
rookie goalie
Frank McCool and
defenseman Babe Pratt. They would upset the Red Wings in the
1945 finals.
The powerful defending champion
Montreal Canadiens and their "Punch Line"
(
Maurice "Rocket" Richard,
Toe Blake and
Elmer
Lach), would be the Leafs' nemesis two years later when the two
teams clashed in the
1947
finals.
Ted "Teeder"
Kennedy would score the game-winning goal late in game six to
win the Leafs their first of three straight Cups — the first time
any NHL team had accomplished that feat. With their Cup victory in
1948, the Leafs moved ahead of Montreal for the most Stanley Cups
in league history. It would take the Canadiens 10 years to reclaim
the record.
1950s: The Barilko Curse
The Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadiens would meet once again in the
finals in
1951, with
all five games going to overtime.
Tod Sloan scored with 42 seconds left
in the third period of game five to send it to an extra period, and
defenceman
Bill Barilko, who had scored
only six goals in the regular season, scored the game-winner to win
Toronto their fourth Cup in five years.
Barilko's glory,
however, was short-lived: he disappeared in a plane crash near
Timmins,
Ontario
, barely four months after that moment. The
Leafs would not win the Cup again that decade.
1960s: New owners and a new dynasty
Before
the 1961–62 season,
Smythe sold nearly all of his shares in Maple Leaf
Gardens
to a partnership composed of his son Stafford Smythe, newspaper baron John Bassett, and Toronto Marlboros president Harold Ballard. The sale price was
$2.3 million, a handsome return on Smythe's original investment 34
years earlier. Conn Smythe later claimed that he knew nothing about
his son's partners, but it is very unlikely that he could have
believed Stafford could have raised the money on his own.
Under the new ownership trio, Toronto won another three straight
Stanley Cups from
1962 to
1964. The team featured Hall of
Famers
Frank Mahovlich,
Red Kelly,
Johnny
Bower,
Dave Keon,
Andy Bathgate, and
Tim
Horton, and was helmed by coach and general manager
Punch Imlach.
In
1967, the Leafs and
Canadiens met in the Cup finals for the last time to date, where
Montreal was considered to be a heavy favourite. But
Bob Pulford scored the double-overtime winner in
Game 3,
Jim Pappin got the series winner
in Game 6, and Keon won the
Conn
Smythe Trophy as
most valuable
player of the playoffs as the Maple Leafs won the Stanley Cup
in six games. The Leafs have not won the Stanley Cup since.
In
1968, Mahovlich was
traded to Detroit in a blockbuster deal, and in
1969, following a first-round
playoff loss to the Bruins, Smythe fired Imlach. Horton declared,
"If this team doesn't want Imlach, I guess it doesn't want me." He
was traded to the
New York Rangers
the next year.
1970s and 1980s: The Ballard years
Following Stafford Smythe's death, Harold Ballard bought his shares
to take majority control of the team. Ballard's controversial term
as the Leafs' owner was marked by several disputes with prominent
players, including Keon,
Lanny
McDonald, and
Darryl Sittler,
poor win/loss records, and not a single Stanley Cup
championship.
During the 1970s, with the overall talent level in the league
diluted by the addition of 12 new franchises and the birth of the
rival
World Hockey
Association (WHA), the Leafs were able to ice competitive teams
for several seasons. But despite the presence of stars such as
Sittler, McDonald,
Dave "Tiger"
Williams,
Ian
Turnbull, and
Borje Salming,
they only once made it past the second round of the playoffs,
besting the
New York Islanders (a
soon-to-be dynasty) in the
1978 quarter-finals only to be
swept by arch-rival Montreal in the semi-finals. One of the few
highlights from this era occurred on February 7, 1976, when Sittler
scored six goals and four assists against the
Bruins to establish a NHL single-game points
record that still stands more than 30 years later.
The serious decline started in July 1979, when Ballard brought back
Imlach, a long-time friend, as general manager. Imlach traded
McDonald to undermine his friend Sittler's influence on the team.
Sittler himself was gone two years later, when the Leafs traded him
to the
Philadelphia Flyers. He
was the franchise's all-time leading scorer until
Mats Sundin passed Sittler's total in
2007.
The McDonald trade sent the Leafs into a downward spiral. They
finished five games under .500 and barely made the playoffs. For
the next 12 years, the Leafs (who had shifted to the
Norris Division for the
1981–82 season) were barely
competitive, not posting another winning record until
1992–93. They missed the playoffs
six times and finished above fourth in their division only once (in
1990, the only season
where they even posted a .500 record). They made it beyond the
first round of the playoffs twice (in
1986 and
1987, advancing to the division
finals). The low point came in
1984–85, when they finished 32
games under .500, the second-worst record in franchise history
(their .300 winning percentage was only 22 percentage points higher
than the 1918–19 Arenas).
The Leafs' poor records during the 1980s, however, did result in
several high draft picks.
Wendel Clark,
the first overall pick in the 1985 draft, was the lone success from
the entry drafts of this period and went on to captain the
team.
Early 1990s: Resurgence
Ballard died in 1990, and a year later his long-time friend,
supermarket tycoon
Steve Stavro, bought
a majority stake in the Leafs from his estate. Unlike Ballard,
Stavro hated the limelight and rarely interfered in the Leafs'
hockey operations. His first act was to lure
Calgary Flames GM
Cliff Fletcher, who had crafted the Flames'
1989 Stanley Cup
championship team, to Toronto after the
1991–92 season.
Fletcher immediately set about building a club that would be
competitive once again, making a series of trades and free agent
acquisitions which turned the Leafs from an also-ran to a contender
almost overnight, starting in
1992–93. Outstanding play from
forwards
Doug Gilmour (an acquaintance
of Fletcher's from Calgary) and
Dave
Andreychuk (acquired from the
Buffalo
Sabres in exchange for
Grant Fuhr),
as well as stellar goaltending from minor league call-up
Felix Potvin, led the team to a
then-franchise-record 99 points, third place in the
Norris Division, and the eighth-best overall
record in the league. Toronto dispatched the
Detroit Red Wings in seven games in the
first round, then defeated the
St. Louis Blues in another seven
games in the Division Finals.
Hoping to meet long-time rival Montreal (who was playing in the
Wales Conference Finals
against the
New York Islanders)
in the Cup Finals, the Leafs faced the
Los Angeles Kings, led by
Wayne Gretzky, in the Campbell Conference
Finals.
The Leafs led the series 3-2, but dropped
Game 6 in Los Angeles
. The game was not without controversy, as
Gretzky clipped Gilmour in the face with his stick, but referee
Kerry Fraser did not call a penalty and
Gretzky scored the winning goal moments later. Gretzky's
hat trick in Game 7 finished the Leafs' run, and
it was the Kings that moved on to the Cup Finals against the
Canadiens.
The Leafs had another strong season in
1993–94, finishing with 98
points, good enough for fifth overall in the league – their highest
finish in 16 years. However, despite finishing one point above
Calgary, Toronto was seeded third in the
Western Conference (formerly the
Campbell Conference) by virtue
of the Flames'
Pacific
Division title. The Leafs eliminated the division rival
Chicago Blackhawks in six games
and the surprising
San Jose Sharks
in seven before falling to the
Vancouver Canucks in five games in the
Western Conference Finals.
At that
year's draft, the Leafs would package Clark in a trade with the
Quebec Nordiques that netted them
Mats Sundin.
A new home and a new millennium
In 1996, Stavro took on
Larry
Tanenbaum, the co-founder of Toronto's new
National Basketball
Association (NBA) team, the
Toronto
Raptors, as a partner. Maple Leaf Gardens Ltd. was accordingly
renamed
Maple Leaf
Sports and Entertainment (MLSE), to be the parent company of
the Leafs and the Raptors. MLSE has expanded since then, adding the
Toronto Marlies of the
AHL and the
Toronto FC of the
MLS to its stable of franchises.
After two years out of the playoffs in the late 1990s, the Leafs
acquired goaltender
Curtis Joseph as a
free agent from the
Edmonton Oilers
and signed
Pat Quinn, who had
been fired by Vancouver in
1997, to serve as head coach.
This
resulted in the Leafs making another charge during the 1999 playoffs after moving from
Maple Leaf
Gardens
to the new Air Canada Centre
, shared with the new Toronto Raptors. The
team eliminated the
Philadelphia
Flyers and
Pittsburgh
Penguins in the first two rounds of the playoffs, but lost in
five games to the
Buffalo Sabres in
the Eastern Conference Finals.
Toronto reached the second round of the playoffs in both
2000 and
2001, only to lose both times to
the
New Jersey Devils, who made
the Stanley Cup Finals both seasons and won in 2000. The 2000
season was particularly notable because it marked the Leafs' first
division title in 37 years, as well as the franchise's first-ever
100-point season. The season ended on a particular low, however,
with the Leafs being held to just 6 shots in game six of the second
round against the Devils.
In
2002, the Leafs
dispatched the Islanders and their Ontario
rivals, the
Ottawa Senators, in the first two
rounds, only to lose to the Cinderella-story Carolina Hurricanes in the Conference
Finals. The 2002 season was particularly impressive in that
the Leafs had many of their better players sidelined by injuries,
but managed to make it to the conference finals due to the efforts
of lesser-known players who were led mainly by
Gary Roberts and
Alyn McCauley.
Joseph left to go to the defending champion Red Wings in the 2002
off-season; the team found a replacement in veteran
Ed Belfour, who came over from the
Dallas Stars and had been a crucial part of
their 1999 Stanley Cup run. Belfour could not help their playoff
woes in the
2003
playoffs, however, as the team lost to Philadelphia in seven games
in the first round. 2003 also witnessed a change in the ownership
ranks, as Stavro sold his controlling interest in MLSE to the
Ontario Teachers' Pension
Plan and resigned his position as Chairman of the Board in
favour of Tanenbaum. Stavro died in 2006.
The
2003–04 season started in
an uncommon way for the team, as they held their training camp in
Sweden
and played
in the NHL Challenge against teams
from Sweden and Finland
. That year, the Leafs had a very successful
regular season, posting a franchise-record 103 points. They
finished with the fourth-best record in the league (their best
overall finish in 41 years) and also managed a .628 win percentage,
their best in 43 years and the third-best in franchise history.
Toronto defeated the Senators in the first round of the playoffs
for the fourth time in five years, but lost to the Flyers in the
second round in six games.
Post-lockout era
Following the
2004–05 NHL
lockout, the Leafs began experiencing some rough times, missing
the playoffs in four consecutive seasons following a pre-lockout
run of six straight playoff appearances. They struggled in
2005–06, and despite a
late-season surge (9-1-2 in their final 12), led by third-string
goaltender
Jean-Sebastien
Aubin, the Leafs were eliminated from playoff contention for
the first time since 1998. This marked the first time that the team
missed the playoffs under coach
Pat Quinn, and as a result he was
fired shortly after the season.
Paul
Maurice, an experienced NHL coach who had just coached the
Leafs'
American Hockey League
affiliate, the
Toronto Marlies, in
their inaugural season, was announced as Pat Quinn's replacement.
On June 30, 2006, the Maple Leafs bought out the contract of
long-time fan favourite, Tie Domi. In addition to Domi, the Maple
Leafs also decided against picking up the option year on the
contract of goaltender Ed Belfour. Both players became free agents
on July 1, 2006, effectively ending their tenures with the Toronto
Maple Leafs. However, despite the coaching change and addition of
new players such as
Pavel Kubina and
Michael Peca, the Leafs again did not
make the playoffs in
2006–07,
2007–08 or
2008–09.

The alternate logo
On January 22, 2008, general manager
John Ferguson Jr. was fired and was
replaced by
Cliff Fletcher on an
interim basis. On May 7, the Leafs fired head coach Paul Maurice
and assistant coach
Randy Ladouceur,
and replaced them with former
San Jose
Sharks coach,
Ron
Wilson, and assistants Tim Hunter and Rob Zettler.
On November 29, 2008, the Maple Leafs hired
Brian Burke as their 13th
non-interim General Manager (1st American) in team history. The
acquisition of Burke had ended the second Cliff Fletcher era and
settled rumours that Brian was coming to Toronto within the next
year.
Rivalries

Hockey Knights in Canada mural in
Toronto's College Station
As one of the oldest teams in the league, the Leafs have developed
numerous rivalries. The deepest of these is with the
Montreal Canadiens, which is acknowledged
as one of the richest rivalries in ice hockey. The Canadiens have
won 24 Stanley Cups, while the Leafs have won 13, putting them at
first and second place in NHL history, respectively. The Canadiens'
fan point of view is perhaps most famously captured in the popular
Canadian short story "
The Hockey
Sweater", by
Roch Carrier,
originally published in French as "
Une abominable feuille
d'érable sur la glace" ("An abominable maple leaf on the ice")
referring to the Maple Leafs sweater his mother forces him to wear.
The
rivalry is also evident in College
subway
station.
The rivalry between the Leafs and the
Ottawa Senators, known as the
Battle of Ontario, has heated up since the
late 1990s, owing in no small part to the Canadiens' struggles
during that period. While Ottawa has dominated during most of the
teams' regular season matchups in recent years, the Leafs have won
all four postseason series between the two teams, including a
four-game sweep. However, the rivalry has somewhat diminished since
the lockout, owing largely to the Leafs' failure to make the
postseason since that time.
The Leafs' biggest U.S.-based rivals of late have been the
Philadelphia Flyers, who defeated the
Leafs in the 2003 and 2004
Stanley Cup
Playoffs. The rivalry goes back to the 1970s when the Flyers and
Leafs had the reputation as being two of the toughest (and often
most penalized) teams in the league. Games between the two teams
are still often very physical.
The
Buffalo Sabres have also been
cited as notable American rivals of the Leafs. Buffalo is the NHL
team which is closest to Toronto, only a short drive along the
Queen Elizabeth Way highway. A
large number of Leaf fans typically travel to Buffalo for games
there, creating a somewhat more neutral environment.
The Leafs also maintain a traditional Original Six rivalry with the
Detroit Red Wings.
The teams' close
proximity to each other – the two cities are just apart – and a
number of shared fans (particularly in markets such as Windsor,
Ontario
) means the rivalry is found more in the crowd than
on the ice. However, since the Maple Leafs moved to the
Eastern Conference in
1998, the two teams have
faced each other less often each season.
Fan base
Maple Leafs fans are known by the collective nickname "Leafs
Nation," which the club uses on its
website. Maple
Leafs home games have long been one of the toughest tickets to
acquire in Canada, even during lean periods. The Leafs, along with
the
Minnesota Wild, currently have
the longest sellout streaks in the
NHL. As of 2008, there is a waiting
list of about 2,500 names for season tickets. Earlier, they sold
out every game at Maple Leaf Gardens from 1946 until the building
closed in 1999. The Leafs have also sold out every game at the Air
Canada Centre since October 2002. With an average of US$1.9 million
per game, the Leafs had the highest average ticket revenue per game
in the
2007–08 season;
the previous season they earned about $1.5 million per game.
Conversely, there is an equally passionate dislike of the team by
fans of several other NHL teams. In November 2002, the Leafs were
named by
Sports
Illustrated hockey writer Michael Farber as the "Most
Hated Team in Hockey." Leafs fans are also known for being loyal
despite being treated poorly — in a 2008 survey by
ESPN The Magazine on rewarding fans,
the Leafs were ranked 121st out of the 122 professional teams in
the
Big
Four leagues. Teams were graded by stadium experience,
ownership, player quality, ticket affordability, championships won
and "bang for the buck"; in particular, the Leafs came last in
ticket affordability.
In the
United
States
, several cities in the Sun Belt
have sizable numbers of Leaf fans, since many
Snowbirds tend to flock to locales
such as Atlanta
, Phoenix
, Tampa
Bay
, and Miami
during the
winter, resulting in a boost in turnout and ticket sales when these
franchises play the Maple Leafs.
Season-by-season record
Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses,
T = Ties, OTL = Overtime losses, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA =
Goals against, PIM = Penalties in minutes, TG = Playoff series
decided on total goals
| Season |
GP |
W |
L |
OTL |
Pts |
GF |
GA |
PIM |
Finish |
Playoffs |
| 2004–05 |
Season cancelled due to 2004–05 NHL lockout |
| 2005–06 |
82 |
41 |
33 |
8 |
90 |
257 |
270 |
1291 |
4th, Northeast |
Did not qualify |
| 2006–07 |
82 |
40 |
31 |
11 |
91 |
258 |
269 |
1065 |
3rd, Northeast |
Did not qualify |
| 2007–08 |
82 |
36 |
35 |
11 |
83 |
231 |
260 |
1087 |
5th, Northeast |
Did not qualify |
| 2008–09 |
82 |
34 |
35 |
13 |
81 |
250 |
293 |
1113 |
5th, Northeast |
Did not qualify |
Players
Current roster
Honoured members
The
following members of the Toronto Maple Leafs have been inducted
into the Hockey Hall
of Fame
. The list includes anyone who played for the
Leafs who was later inducted as a player. The list of builders
includes anyone inducted as a builder who spent any part of their
career in a coaching, management, or ownership role with the
Leafs.
Players
- Jack Adams, C, 1922-26,
inducted 1959
- Glenn Anderson, RW/LW, 1991-94,
inducted 2008
- Syl Apps, C, 1936-48, inducted
1961
- George Armstrong,
C, 1950-71, inducted 1975
- Ace Bailey, LW, 1926-33, inducted
1978
- Andy Bathgate, C, 1963-65,
inducted 1978
- Max Bentley, C, 1947-53, inducted
1966
- Leo Boivin, D, 1951-55, inducted
1986
- Johnny Bower, G, 1958-70, inducted
1976
- Turk Broda, G, 1936-52, inducted
1967
- Harry Cameron, D, 1917-23,
inducted 1962
- Gerry Cheevers, G, 1961-62,
inducted 1985
- King Clancy, D, 1930-36, inducted
1958
- Sprague Cleghorn, D, 1920-21,
inducted 1958
- Charlie Conacher, RW, 1929-37,
inducted 1961
- Rusty Crawford, LW, 1917-19,
inducted 1962
- Hap Day, D, 1924-37, inducted 1961
- Gordie Drillon, LW, 1937-42,
inducted 1975
- Dick Duff, LW, 1954-64, inducted
2006
- Babe Dye, RW, 1920-26, 1930, inducted
1970
- Fernie Flaman, D, 1950-54,
inducted 1990
- Ron Francis, C, 2003-04, inducted
2007
- Grant Fuhr, G, 1991-93, inducted
2003
- Mike Gartner, RW, 1994-96, inducted
2001
- Eddie Gerard, D, 1921-22, inducted
1945
- George Hainsworth, G, 1933-37,
inducted 1961
- Hap Holmes, G, 1917-19, inducted
1972
- Red Horner, D, 1928-40, inducted
1965
- Tim Horton, D, 1952-70, inducted
1977
- Syd Howe, LW, 1931-32, inducted
1965
- Busher Jackson, LW, 1929-39,
inducted 1971
- Red Kelly, D, 1960-67, inducted
1969
- Ted Kennedy, C,
1943-57, inducted 1966
- Dave Keon, C, 1960-75, inducted
1986
- Brian Leetch, D, 2004, to be
inducted 2009
- Harry Lumley, G,
1952-56, inducted 1980
- Frank Mahovlich, LW, 1957-68,
inducted 1981
- Lanny McDonald, RW, 1973-79,
inducted 1992
- Dickie Moore, LW,
1964-65, inducted 1974
- Larry Murphy, D,
1995-97, inducted 2004
- Frank Nighbor, C, 1929-30,
inducted 1947
- Reg Noble, LW, 1919-24, inducted
1962
- Bert Olmstead, RW, 1958-62,
inducted 1985
- Bernie Parent, G, 1970-72,
inducted 1984
- Pierre Pilote, D, 1968-69,
inducted 1975
- Jacques Plante, G, 1970-73,
inducted 1978
- Babe Pratt, D, 1942-46, inducted
1966
- Joe Primeau, C, 1927-36, inducted
1963
- Marcel Pronovost, D, 1965-70,
inducted 1978
- Bob Pulford, LW, 1956-70, inducted
1991
- Borje Salming, D, 1973-89,
inducted 1996
- Terry Sawchuk, G, 1964-67,
inducted 1971
- Sweeney Schriner, LW, 1939-46,
inducted 1962
- Darryl Sittler, C, 1970-82,
inducted 1989
- Allan Stanley, D, 1958-68,
inducted 1981
- Norm Ullman, C, 1968-75, inducted
1982
- Harry Watson,
LW, 1946-55, inducted 1994
Builders
- Harold Ballard,
owner/executive/director, 1957-89, inducted 1977
- J. P.
Bickell, shareholder/director,
1919-51, inducted 1978
- Cliff Fletcher, president/general
manager/executive, 1991-97 and 2008-2009, inducted 2004
- Jim Gregory, general
manager, 1969-79, inducted 2007
- Foster Hewitt, announcer, 1927-63,
inducted 1965
- Punch Imlach, coach/general
manager, 1958-69 and 1979-80, inducted 1984
- Dick Irvin, coach, 1931-40, inducted
1958
- Frank Mathers, player/executive,
1948-52, inducted 1992
- Howie Meeker, player/coach/general
manager/broadcaster, 1946-57, inducted 1998
- Roger Neilson, coach, 1977-79,
inducted 2002
- Bud Poile, player/executive, 1942-48,
inducted 1990
- Frank J. Selke, executive, 1929-46, inducted 1960
- Conn Smythe,
owner/executive/director, 1927-66, inducted 1958
- Carl Voss, player/executive, 1926-29,
inducted 1974
Team captains
- Bert Corbeau, 1927
- Hap Day, 1927–37
- Charlie Conacher, 1937–38
- Red Horner, 1938–40
- Syl Apps, 1940–43
- Bob Davidson,
1943–45
- Syl Apps, 1945–48
- Ted Kennedy,
1948–55
- Sid Smith, 1955–56
- Jimmy
Thomson, 1956–57
- Ted Kennedy, 1957
- George Armstrong,
1957–69
- Dave Keon, 1969–75
- Darryl Sittler, 1975–79
- No captain, 1979-80
- Darryl Sittler, 1980-82
- Rick Vaive, 1982–86
- No captain, 1986–89
- Rob Ramage, 1989–91
- Wendel Clark, 1991–94
- Doug Gilmour, 1994–97
- Mats Sundin, 1997–2008
Source: Toronto Maple Leafs Media Guide 2008–09.
Franchise scoring leaders
These are the top-ten point-scorers in franchise history, as of the
end of the 2007–08 season. Figures are updated after each completed
NHL regular season.
Legend: Pos = Position; GP = Games Played; G =
Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; P/G = Points per game; * =
current Maple Leafs player
Source: Toronto Maple Leafs Media Guide 2008–09.
Facilities
Besides
the Air Canada
Centre
, the Leafs have a practice facility at the MasterCard Centre for
Hockey Excellence. Opened in 2009, it was built on the
site of the former
Lakeshore Lions
Arena (c. 1951). The practice facility has 2 rinks and is
operated by the local Lions Club.
See also
References and notes
External links