After writing my wildly successful "They Played for the Blue Jays?" blog, it seemed only natural that I followed it up with one for the Leafs. I only went back to 1980, which was the year the Clark family touched down in Canada, and the year I became a hockey and Leaf fan as I watched my first favorite Leaf Jiri Crha let in 7 in a 7-4 loss to the New York Rangers. Why this performance attracted me to the Leafs is beyond my scope, other than to say that I was 8 years old. Without further adieu, here's my list of "They Played For The Leafs?"
1. JIM RUTHERFORD - The highly successful GM of the PIttsburgh Penguins and Carolina Hurricanes closed out his lengthy NHL career with the with the Red Wings back in the early 80's , but toiled for the Maple Leafs in 1980-1981 fashioning a less than stellar (even for the early 80's) 5. 12 GAA with a 4-10-2 record.
2. RENE ROBERT- Robert, a member of the famous French Connection line with Gilbert Perreault, and Rick Martin, closed out his famous career with the Leafs, scoring 19 of his 284 career goals with Toronto after being picked up by the Colorado Rockies from Buffalo. Martin hit 100 points at the apex of his career with the Sabres.
3. BARRY MELROSE- What? The mulleted head coach of the Kings who was public enemy number one for Leaf fans because he coached the LA KIngs team that knocked off the '93 Leafs and deprived fans of a Toronto/Montreal Stanley Cup. Pat Burns went after him during the series as well, and we were all hoping he'd grab that mudflap and pound on him. Melrose, a tough and rugged D man actually played parts of 2 seasons with the Leafs counting 352 PIM and 3g 7a in 121 games. Melrose played a total of 300 NHL games and 178 World Hockey League games in his career before transitioning to coaching and then broadcasting.
4. PAUL HIGGINS- Neither famous nor a noteworthy NHL'er other than the fact than in 1982-1983 he dressed 22 times for the Leafs amassing 0 points and 135 penalty minutes. This actually ranked him 2nd on the Leafs in PIM of players who had zero points as Bob McGill put up the old goose egg in 30 games with 146 PIM. McGill, at least, went on to a fairly lengthy NHL career while Higgins dressed for four more games int the minors and then dropped out of sight. Somehow he was drafted in the 10th round 200th overall in the 1980 NHL Draft after a sterling junior career consisting of 7g 9a and 308 PIM in 81 games.
5. MICHEL "BUNNY" LAROCQUE- We lost Bunny far too early from brain cancer, but his time with the Leafs was memorable as it was the complete antithesis of his time with the Canadiens where he was the back up to Ken Dryden and won multiple Stanley Cups. Bunny played parts of three years with the Leafs behind a young and pretty porous D corp and his best goals against average was 4.69. Clearly, there was no Serge Savard , or Larry Robinson types with the Leafs in the early 80's.
6. RICH COSTELLO- Why the f--- am I talking about Rich Costello? Well, he was the centre piece of the trade that sent Daryl Sittler to Philadelphia when Harold Ballard ran out of patience with the classy captain for some unknown reason that lay deep in the depths of Harold Ballard's mind. Costello would play 13 games for the Leafs with a whopping 2 goals and 1 assist, finishing his career in a flourish in Germany. Sittler, by the way, would score 84 more goals with Philadelphia over 2 1/2 years before looking really odd in a Detroit Red Wings jersey where he closed out his wonderful career.
7. MARIAN STASTNY- There was an old Simpson's episode where Marge and Homer renewed their vows and the DJ said "Hey everyone, remember the Dooby Brothers, because we got one of them!" I felt this way when the Leafs got Marian Stastny. "Hey remember the great Stastny's? Well, we got one of them". In all fairness he was a pretty good player topping out at 89 points one year. Marian wasn't bad for the Leafs, who were awful in '85-86, though they did somehow make the 2nd round of the NHL playoffs. He had 23 goals and 30 assists, and then dropped off the hockey earth.
8. VAL JAMES- Val played only 11 games in the NHL, 4 with the Leafs with 14 PIM and was a middling journeymen. Why is he on the list? Two reasons. For those games he played with the Leafs James was mine and my best friend at the time Joe Davis' favourite player because every time they panned over to the bench there was James stoically by the bench door, which was not a great place to be and we wanted him to get a shift or two. More importantly Val wrote a book that deals with the issue of racism and what it was like to be black hockey player. All in all, a tip of the hat to Val.
Here's a review : https://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/04/sports/hockey/val-james-first-us-born-black-player-in-nhl-publishes-autobiography.html
9. AL SECORD- I liked Al Secord when he was a Chicago Blackhawk. The helmetless tough guy scored 54 goals playing with Denis Savard one year for the Hawks but I was not a fan when he was traded from Chicago to the Leafs. It was not due to on ice performance as Secord had a solid 29 goals and the year before potted 40. However, he, along with Ed Olczyk was traded for the immensely popular Rick Vaive and Steve Thomas. Vaive had three straight 50 goal seasons for the Leafs and Thomas was the local boy made good as he played for the OHL Marlies and then the Leafs. Secord would score only 20 goals in a year and a half with Toronto before a short spell in Philly before closing out the NHL portion of his career back in Chicago. After a four year hiatus Secord then played two more years with the Chicago Wolves of the IHL showing that legendary Secord ornery behavior with over 300 PIM in two years.
10. DAVE SEMENKO- Yes, indeed the legendary tough guy who patrolled wing and was the minder of Wayne Gretzky for many years closed out his career with the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1987-88 with a less than stellar year with 2g 3a for 5 points in 70 games. Even his penalty minutes seemed off as he had a rather pedestrian 107 PIM. Semenko also could have fit nicely in a "he played with the Hartford Whalers ?" list as spent the penultimate year of his career with them. More importantly big Dave was the subject of my first of very, very, very few viral tweets. When it was announced that there was a Wayne Gretzky statue being built, I tweeted that they probably should a Dave Semenko one to make sure no one messes or vandalizes it. Hilarious, I know!!! Ok, it was not that funny, but I was a little bit clever you'd have to admit. Dave Semenko sadly passed away in 2017 at the age of 60 from cancer.
11. KEN LINESMAN- Ken Linesman is EXACTLY why I wanted to create a blog/posting like this. Who remembers that Ken Linesman played for the Leafs? Not me! The "Rat", nicknamed for his pugnacious ways and the ability to get under the opponents skin had a long storied career with the Flyers, Oilers and Bruins twice scoring 10 plus goals in the playoffs and recording the rather lofty 325 playoff PIM in just 113 games while averaging over a point a game in the post season. He had over 800 points in the NHL and eclipsed the 70 point mark on 7 different occasions. Oh, and he played his last two NHL games ever with the Leafs in 1991-92. o points 2 PIM and a -2 in those two rather unremarkable games and barely enough time to work up the mildest disdain which is something for a guy universally loathed unless you played on the same team as him.
12. RICH SUTTER- Ah the infamous Sutter brothers. Six of them played in the NHL and of all of them Rich was the only one to play for the Leafs, and it was a rather forgettable 18 games back in the strike shortened season of 1994-1995. Rich played for 8 different teams during his career but of the 18 he played with the Leafs he had only three points and made a minimal contribution in a playoff series that the Leafs lost in 7 games after winning the first two games on the road. He limped through 4 more games with Tampa the next year before calling it a career
13. DON BEAUPRE- This one escaped me completely. Best known for being part of a very good Minnesota North Stars tandem with Gilles Meloche and then starting for a few years with Washington, Beaupre landed with the Leafs for parts of two seasons playing 8 games in 1995-1996 and then 3 more in '96-97 where his record was flawless. 0-8. That's right. He lost 8 straight in regulation. No OT. No ties. Nothing. That tends to happen when your save percentage is in the .840's. Don would rightfully cash in his chips at that point proud of at least 659 of his 667 NHL games.
14. KELLY CHASE- These keep getting better and better. Again, I had no clue that Kelly Chase found his way to Toronto for two rather busy games in '96-97 after being acquired from the Hartford Whalers. Chase' official Leaf totals was a whopping 27 PIM in those two games. He departed for a second tour of duty with St Louis for the last three years of his career and came full circle as the Blues were where he started his NHL career. Chase would end with 2017 PIM in 458 NHL games so those 27 he got with the Leafs put him over the 2000 mark, but his best year was '90-91 when he accumulated 406 PIM in 61 games with Peoria of the IHL.
15. DAVE MANSON - Lotta tough guys in this list, and while I do remember Manson as a Leaf, it took me a little bit. Known for being two dollar steak tough with a raspy voice "Charlie" played over 1000 games in the NHL for seven different teams with two tours in Chicago and Dallas. Though known for being an intimidating scrapper with over 200 PIM 5 times, including twice going over the 300 PIM mark, he was also a scoring D man early in his career who had 18 goals 36 assists in'88-89. Though I was drawn to his impressive 86 PIM in 16 playoff games that year. By the time he got to the Leafs he was at the end of his career and a stay at home D man who had 4 g 8 a in 87 games over parts of two seasons with 103 PIM.
16. TOM BARRASSO- Two time Stanley Cup winner and long time legendary media curmudgeon Tom Barrasso played 4 of his 777 NHL games with the Leafs as a back up in '01-'02 after being acquired from Carolina. This was back when the Leafs were trading for, or signing an astonishing number of players about 8 years too late in their career. Barrasso played just 4 games for the Leafs going 2-2 with a sub 3.00 GAA and sat and watched a pretty memorable Leaf playoff run as they went to the conference final losing in 6 games to Carolina. That loss spoiled what would have been a Detroit/Toronto Stanley Cup. Barrasso did not play one minute in the playoffs as Curtis Joseph shouldered the load. He returned the next year as he likely felt he had ignored the St Louis media enough, playing 6 games for the Blues.
17. PHIL HOUSLEY- Legendary Buffalo D man with almost 1500 NHL games over 1200 points as a puck mover, PP quarterback also played some excellent hockey for Winnipeg, New Jersey, Washington and Chicago. Then he played one regulation game for the Leafs and three playoff games with zero points total. I don't think too many people were ordering too many Housley Maple Leaf jerseys. Housley unfortunately proved that you can't go home again as he had a rather dreadful coaching stint with Buffalo going 68-84-22 over two playoff-less years.
18. DOUG GILMOUR PART 2. Doug Gilmour was literally the most famous athlete in Toronto from 1992-1995 and that included a Blue Jays team that won two World Series and had Robby Alomar and Joe Carter leading the way. He was beloved and really should be on Legends Row he was that good. It was a feel good story when the Leafs acquired then then 39 year old from Montreal in 2002-03 for the stretch run. His best days were behind him for sure but he still had 11 g 19a with the Habs. Disaster struck as half way through his first game with the Leafs he tore his ACL, ending his career. Gilmour went into management with the OHL's Kingston Frontenacs and is now back with the Leafs in an off ice role.
19. BRIAN LEETCH- I think Brian Leetch is one of the more well known players who was acquired by the Leafs from the Rangers to provide veteran savvy in the post season. It's still surreal that the Hall of Famer who really bled Ranger red, white and blue played for the Leafs. Leetch was good with the Leafs with 15 points in 15 regular season games and then 8 assists in 13 playoff games, but he didn't provide the expected spark to get the Leafs over the top. He spent his last year looking oddly out of place with Boston before retiring.
20. RON FRANCIS- Ron was 40 when he was picked up by Toronto down the stretch. He was a two time Stanley Cup winner with Pittsburgh in the '90's and led Carolina to the Stanley Cup back in 02 as the 'Canes upended the Leafs in the conference semi final before falling in 5 to Detroit. It was Francis last dance as he played out the string with the Leafs. He got 3 g 7 a in 12 gams with the Leafs in the regular season but sputtered with just 4 assists in 12 games in the playoffs. Today the silver haired Francis is a top executive with the new Seattle NHL team.
21. CALLE JOHANSSEN- Hard to believe that Johanssen was acquired the same year as Leetch and Francis as the Leafs upped their geriatric, uh, veteran quotient hoping for playoff success. The 36 year old Johannson did very little with the Leafs as he got 6 assists in 8 regular season games and then went pointless in four playoff games. If you are doing the math the Leafs invested heavily in Leetch, Francis and Johansson and they got a grand total of zero goals for the Leafs in the post season.
22. ERIC LINDROS- It was pretty well known that Lindros played for the Leafs before suffering a season ending injury, but it's still worth noting as Lindros was one of the most polarizing stars in the NHL. By the time he got to the Leafs Lindros was clearly not the same player as he was when he was part of the Legion of Doom line with Mikael Renberg and John LeClaire in Philadelphia. He did have a respectable 11 g 11 a in 33 games for the Leafs and then went to Dallas for one more year. The Leafs missed the playoffs on the last day of the season that year which was the post-lockout season that saw a lot of stars like Al McInnis, Steve Yzerman, Jeremy Roenick and Brett Hull cash in their chips when it was found that they couldn't keep up in the newer and faster NHL.
23. BRAD MAY- Here's another one under the "veteran scrapper/tough guy" moniker. Known mainly for the infamous "May Day, May Day" call by Rick Jeannerette with Buffalo and author of over 1000 games, May spent 38 insignificant games with Toronto in 2008-2009 as the Leafs were routinely missing the playoffs again. May had 1 g 1 a and 61 PIM in his tenure with Toronto before closing out his career with Detroit. May played for seven different teams with two tours of duty where he was best known for allegedly leveling the bounty on Steve Moore that lead to the brutal attack by Todd Bertuzzi that ended Moore's career.
24. J.S. GIGUERE- Stanley Cup winner Giguere joined the Leafs midway through the season and spent portions of two seasons with the Buds. He played 48 games with the Leafs going 17-18-5 before going to Colorado. Giguere played well for the Leafs, which considering the fact the team had Jonas Gustavsson and Vesa Toskala as their other goalies really was not saying that much. It was not a surprise that an Ex Duck made an appearance with the Leafs as Brian Burke , fresh off being GM of the Ducks acquired a few players from there including Gigurere, Francois Beauchemin and Jake Gardiner.
25. JERRED SMITHSON- Who? You might say, as I too searched my memory banks for something meaningful to say about the Smithson era in Toronto. Well, there wasn't much as he played 18 pointless games for the Leafs, but he did play 606 NHL games, mainly with Nashville as a defensive specialist. He is an example of "find your niche and you can have an NHL career" as he was undrafted after his junior career with the Calgary Hitmen. Smithson played one more season in Denmark with the vaunted Herning Blue Fox squad.
26. OLLI JOKINEN- Jokinen is mainly known for playing 1231 regular season games and only 6 career playoff games. If he was hoping to change his fortunes with the Leafs, he was mistaken as he played 6 forgettable games with the Leafs with one assist before shuffling off to St Louis who also didn't make the playoffs. He was a good player for some lousy Florida teams but despite playing for LA, Florida, Calgary, NYR, Winnipeg, Nashville, Toronto and St Louis he still only played one playoff series and that was with Calgary. That's a lot of teams to miss with!
27. MILAN MICHALEK- Milan scored 208 goals in the NHL, two of them with Toronto as he toiled part time over small portions of two seasons with the Leafs after being acquired by the Leafs from the Ottawa Senators. Mihalek had a decent career with both San Jose and Ottawa but the Leafs marked the end of his career. He was a 1st round pick 6th overall in 2003 which was a heck of a draft that saw 12 first rounders play over 1000 games, plus Mark Andre Fleury who was the 1st overall pick that year.
28. THOMAS PLEKANEC- The most recent example of "They Played For The Leafs?" and one you all likely remember but he was a guy who played all but 17 games with the Montreal Canadiens. Plekanec did absolutely nothing in his 17 regular season games with Toronto unless you remember something about the two assists he got but he did produce in the playoffs chipping in 2 goals and 2 assists as the Leafs lost in 7 to Boston. Plekanec returned to Montreal of un coupe de cafe (or something like that) and is still active in his native Czech Republic where he plays for Brno Cometo
29. JOEL QUENNEVILLE- This is the "oops, I forgot him" part of the list as I've tried to go in chronological order for this The great Joel Quenneville, who authored three Stanley Cup teams as Head Coach of Chicago played 93 games over two years with the Leafs at the beginning of his career . Quenneville, who maintained a sterling mustache over his career played over 600 NHL games and was once touted as a potential Leafs head coach as he was an assistant with the Leafs AHL squad in St. John's for two years.
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