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The Toronto Maple Leafs began play in 1917-18, then known as the Toronto Arenas. The name was changed to the Maple Leafs for the 1927-28 season after a stint as the Toronto St. Patricks. Since, Toronto has won the Stanley Cup 13 times, the most of any National Hockey League team, with exception of the Montreal Canadiens. The Maple Leafs last won the Stanley Cup in 1966-67.
For a great portion of the team’s history, the Maple Leafs have enjoyed success with defense over offense. Not once, has a Toronto Maple Leafs player won the Art Ross Trophy as the league’s top point getter. However, there have been flashes of offensive brilliance through the years and the individual single season records for goals, assists and points reflect just that.
Just three players over the history of the Toronto Maple Leafs have reached the 50 goal plateau in a single season. One player, Rick Vaive, accomplished the feat three times. Vaive scored 54 goals during the 1981-82 season and that mark remains as a Toronto record. Rick was fifth in the NHL that season, well behind Wayne Gretzky’s NHL record 92 goals. Considering Toronto’s dismal 56 points over 80 games, Vaive’s accomplishment is all that more respectable. The only other two Maple Leafs to reach 50 goals are Gary Leeman and Dave Andreychuk.
Rick Vaive was the fifth overall pick at the 1979 NHL Amateur Draft, going to the Vancouver Canucks. Vaive played 876 regular season NHL games in a career that spanned from 1979-80 to 1991-92 with Vancouver, Toronto, the Chicago Black Hawks and Buffalo Sabres. He played one year of pro hockey in 1978-79 with the World Hockey Association’s Birmingham Bulls. He totalled 441 regular season NHL goals.
Doug Gilmour had a career year in 1992-93 as the Leafs came within a game of qualifying for the Stanley Cup finals. Gilmour set the team’s single season assist record with 95. He finished the regular season tied for second with Pat Lafontaine of the Buffalo Sabres and two assists behind Adam Oates of the Boston Bruins. Lafontaine’s total of 95 still serves today as a Buffalo Sabres record. The assist total is the 17th highest single season achievement in NHL history.
In the same season, Doug Gilmour totalled 127 points, breaking Darryl Sittler’s team record of 117 set in 1977-78. The 127 points placed Gilmour tied for seventh in the NHL with Alexander Mogilny of the Buffalo Sabres and well back of Mario Lemieux of the Pittsburgh Penguins, who had 160. The 127 points ranks at 53rd on the NHL’s all-time list.
Doug Gilmour was a seventh round pick of the St. Louis Blues at the 1982 NHL Entry Draft, 134th overall. Returning to junior for one more season, Doug was awarded the Eddie Powers Trophy in the OHL as the league’s top point-getter with 177 as a member of the Cornwall Royals. Gilmour played 1,474 regular season NHL games between 1983-84 and 2002-03. He appeared in the uniforms of St. Louis, Calgary Flames, Toronto, New Jersey Devils, Chicago Blackhawks, Buffalo Sabres and Montreal Canadiens. Doug was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2011.
