The Toronto Maple Leafs have had some talented players come through the organization throughout their years of existence. After constructing the Maple Leafs’ all-time Canadian and American lineup, it is now time to make an all-European team.
Forwards:
| Alex Steen | Mats Sundin | William Nylander |
| Alexei Ponikarovsky | Peter Ihnacak | Igor Korolev |
| Alex Mogilny | Mikhail Grabovski | Nikolay Kulemin |
| Sergei Berezin | Nikolai Borschevsky | Jonas Hoglund |
Steen – Sundin – Nylander
To get us started with the Maple Leafs’ all-time European team, we have an all-Swedish first line that consists of two former Maple Leafs and a current one who just inked a massive eight-year extension to stay in Toronto.
Alex Steen and Mats Sundin make up two-thirds of the top line and they even played together from the 2005-06 season to the 2007-08 season. Steen was traded to the St. Louis Blues the following season while Sundin inked a one-year deal with the Vancouver Canucks for the 2008-09 campaign.
When it comes to their time in the blue and white, they were both productive, more so Sundin, but Steen wasn’t some average depth guy. Although he only spent three and a half seasons in Toronto after being their 1st round selection in the 2002 NHL draft, Steen went on to play in 253 games for Toronto, scoring 50 goals and adding 76 assists for 126 points.
His linemate up the middle, however, spent 13 seasons in the city after coming over in a trade from the Quebec Nordiques, quickly becoming the franchise’s greatest player, depending on who you ask. Over his decade-plus career with the Maple Leafs, Sundin skated in 981 games, registering 987 points – 420 goals and 567 assists – ranking him first all-time in Maple Leafs history in goals and points while being 50-plus assists back of Borje Salming for the franchise’s lead in that department.
For the type of career Sundin had, you’d think he’d have a decent amount of hardware to his name, but that’s not the case. He was voted for the Hart Trophy on multiple occasions, and while he never finished higher than eighth, he did take home the 2007-08 Mark Messier Leadership Award in his final year with the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Closing out the top line is a fan favourite on the current team, William Nylander. Fresh off signing an eight-year extension to stay with the team nine months ago, Nylander is coming off his best season of his career, scoring 40 goals for the second consecutive season and adding 58 assists for 98 points in 82 games. The growth in his game every season has been evident, especially over the last three years, and it is quickly putting his name among the greats of this franchise on the all-time list.
Over his 603 games since the 2015-16 season, Nylander has scored a total of 217 goals and added 311 assists for 528 points, good enough for 13th on the all-time list, third among European players. He has yet to win any hardware but has been voted for the Lady Byng four separate times, most recently coming in the 2022-23 season and 2023-24 season.
Ponikarovsky – Ihnacak – Korolev
The second line may not have the same star power that the first line has, but this trio as the second line is not bad at all.
Ihnacak was drafted by Toronto in the 2nd round of the 1982 NHL draft and went on to play his entire eight-year career with the organization between 1982-83 to 1989-90. Overall, his numbers were respectable, but it was evident his production was a little up and down after a stellar rookie season.
After scoring 28 goals and totalling 66 points in 80 games in his rookie year, Ihnacak failed to break the 50-point mark in the next seven years but would go on to record two 40-point and two 30-point seasons. He finished his career with Toronto with 102 goals and 165 assists for a total of 267 points in 417 games.
On his left side is a man who spent nearly a decade in the blue and white after being selected in the 4th round of the 1998 NHL draft, Alexei Ponikarovsky. He began his career in the NHL with Toronto during the 2000-01 season and went on to skate in 477 games with the franchise until the 2009-10 season before being traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Kyiv native was a decent producer offensively and set career highs in goals (23), assists (38), and points (61) during the 2008-09 season.
Ponikarovsky bounced from team to team after his brief stint with the Penguins in 2009-10, but he’ll always be remembered as a Maple Leaf. In his 477-game career with Toronto, he registered 257 points – 114 goals and 143 assists.
Closing out the top six is Igor Korolev, who, similar to Ihnacak, was just before my time when he was a member of the Maple Leafs. The Moscow native spent four years in Toronto between the 1997-98 season and 2000-01 season, skating in 297 games where he scored 60 goals and added 101 assists for 161 points. These aren’t earth-shattering numbers, but they rank him 12th among European forwards to play for the organization, right behind a couple of players who fill out the bottom six of this lineup.
Mogilny – Grabovski – Kulemin
We’ve gotten to the part of the forward group that will bring back a lot of nostalgia, especially for the younger Maple Leafs fans who got to see Grabovski and Kulemin play. However, I’ll start with Alex Mogilny, who, to this day, still belongs in the HHOF.
Mogilny wasn’t a Maple Leaf for long, in fact, he only played three seasons with the team. Between the 2001-02 season and the 2003-04 season, Mogilny skated in 176 games for Toronto, scoring 65 goals and adding 101 assists for 166 points, with his 79-point campaign in 2002-03 being the second-highest point total in a season since he put up 107 points with the Canucks in 1995-96. Alex took home the Lady Byng that year.
Mikhail Grabovski. Where do I begin? Grabo falls under the category of “fan favourite”. Originally drafted by the rival Montreal Canadiens in the 5th round of the 2004 NHL draft, Grabovski made his way to Toronto in a trade in the summer of 2008. He would go on to play the next five seasons, skating in 340 games, scoring 91 goals and adding 117 assists for 208 points, while being one-third of one of the most fun and productive lines the Maple Leafs had during his time. Grabovski didn’t win any hardware during his time in Toronto or during his career but finished 11th in the Calder Trophy voting in his first year with the Maple Leafs.
Nikolai Kulemin’s name has been in the news more often in the past few weeks than it has in the past half-decade or so after he inked (and was promptly released from) a professional tryout with the Ottawa Senators. Kulemin was originally drafted by Toronto in the 2nd round of the 2006 NHL draft and quickly found success year after year throughout his first three seasons, setting career highs in goals (30), assists (27), and points (57) during the 2010-11 campaign. Unfortunately, Nikolai was unable to regain that form, only cracking the 30-point mark once in his next seven seasons. However, Kulemin, along with Grabovski, was part of that line with Clark MacArthur that just seemed to gel so nicely together. Over his 421 games with Toronto, the Magnitogorsk native scored 84 goals and added 111 assists for 195 points.
Berezin – Borschevsky – Hoglund
To finish off the forward group is a line of three former Maple Leafs who all played in parts of the 1990s, Sergei Berezin, Nikolai Borshevsky and Jonas Hoglund. Let’s begin with Berezin, who sadly passed away earlier this summer at the age of 52.
Berezin was selected by the Maple Leafs in the 10th round of the 1994 NHL draft and made his debut during the 1996-97 campaign, scoring 25 goals and 41 points in 73 games. His production would take a slight dip to 31 points in five fewer games the following season but would crush his career highs from his rookie season the next year in 1998-99, scoring 37 goals and adding 22 assists for 59 points. The Russian would go on to skate in 357 games for Toronto where he would finish his five-year career with the organization with 220 points – 126 goals and 94 assists.
Up the middle is Nikolai Borschevsky, and like Berezin, was before my time. Borschevsky wasn’t a Maple Leaf for a long time let alone in the NHL for long, but his first two seasons in the league with Toronto were magical. In his rookie season, at the age of 28, Nikolai scored 34 goals and added 40 assists for 74 points in 78 games and was also a solid contributor to their deep playoff run in 1993. The following year in 1993-94, Borschevsky took a slight dip in production, but was still an offensive threat, scoring 14 goals and dishing out 20 assists for a total of 34 points in 45 games. He got traded to the Flames in April 1995, where he would struggle to find consistent production.
Borschevsky took his talents overseas for the remainder of the 1995-96 season until the 1997-98 season. During his limited time in Toronto, he skated in 142 games, scoring 48 goals and adding 65 assists for 113 points.
The final player in this forward group is another Swede and another late-draft gem. Originally taken by the Flames in the 10th round of the 1992 NHL draft, Jonas Hoglund came over to the Maple Leafs in 1999 as a free agent and spent the final four years of his career here. His best days as an NHL player came with Toronto where he set career highs in every major statistical category, and would go on to skate in 325 games for the franchise, registering 184 points – 78 goals and 106 assists.
Defence:
| Borje Salming | Carl Gunnarsson |
| Rasmus Sandin | Pavel Kubina |
| Anton Stralman | Timothy Liljegren |
Salming – Gunnarsson
A Maple Leafs legend, Borje Salming, headlines the first pairing on the back end for this roster and is slotted in alongside another Swede, Carl Gunnarsson. Salming, as many know, paved the way for many European players after he made his way to the NHL in 1973 with the Maple Leafs after playing the World Hockey Championship the same year.
He spent 16 of his 17 years in the NHL with the Maple Leafs, where he went on to skate in 1099 games, ranking him first among European defencemen and second among European skaters. The talented blue-liner recorded 768 points during his time with the Maple Leafs, scoring 148 goals and adding 620 assists, ranking him first among all defensemen in franchise history.
Salming never won any hardware with Toronto, but was named an all-star six times and finished top five in Norris Trophy voting in seven consecutive seasons (1974 – 1980).
His partner, Gunnarsson, also began his career with the Toronto Maple Leafs, starting in the 2009-10 season after being selected in the 7th round of the 2007 NHL draft. The Orebro native skated in a total of 325 games with Toronto over seven years, scoring 15 goals and adding 37 assists for 52 points, but offence was never Gunnarsson’s forte.
Similar to Salming, Gunnarsson never won any hardware in Toronto, or during his career for that matter, but received votes for the 2012 Lady Byng Award in his third season with the Maple Leafs.
Sandin – Kubina
To round out the top four on the blue line, we have Rasmus Sandin and Pavel Kubina. Beginning with Sandin, who was originally drafted in the 1st round of the 2018 NHL draft, Maple Leafs fans thought they had their second coming of Morgan Rielly who could slot behind him in the lineup down the road after being drafted.
Unfortunately, Sandin’s run with Toronto didn’t last as long as many initially thought it would. Ahead of the 2023 trade deadline, Toronto dealt Sandin to Washington in exchange for Erik Gustafsson and a 1st round pick. But despite his tenure only lasting four seasons, the Maple Leafs did get some productive games from the young blue-liner. Sandin skated in 140 games, scoring 10 goals and adding 38 assists for 48 points. 20 of his 48 points came in 52 games during the 2022-23 season before being traded away to the Capitals.
Kubina, similar to Gunnarsson, was drafted in the 7th round of the NHL draft, but not by the Maple Leafs. The Tampa Bay Lightning selected him 179th overall in 1997 and went on to play 10 years in Tampa Bay before making his way to Toronto in 2006 after inking a four-year contract in free agency.
His run with the Maple Leafs didn’t last long, only playing three years of his four-year deal in the blue and white, but he had some of the best seasons of his career here in the city. In 215 games, Kubina scored 32 goals and added 69 assists for a total of 101 points. He set a career-high twice in points in a season during the 2007-08 and 2008-09 campaign, recording 40 points.
Stralman – Liljegren
Closing out the blue line for the Maple Leafs’ all-time European team is another 7th-round draft pick, Anton Stralman, and a 1st-round draft pick, Timothy Liljegren.
Let’s begin with Stralman, who feels like one of the ones who got away. Stralman was drafted by the Maple Leafs 216th overall in the 2005 NHL draft and only spent two seasons in Toronto, playing in 88 games, and recording 22 points (four goals and 18 assists), before being shipped to Calgary and later flipped to Columbus ahead of the 2009-10 season. Stralman would make his way to Tampa Bay where he spent five seasons being a stable presence in their top-four while they were making deep runs in the playoffs.
Liljegren is the only current defenceman who is still on the team today and was drafted a year before fellow Swede Rasmus Sandin. Originally taken 17th overall in the 2017 NHL draft, Liljegren was immediately one of the organization’s best prospects and gave the fan base a tremendous amount of hope that they had finally found their elite right-shot defenceman, a need the Maple Leafs had been lacking for so long.
Through 196 games thus far, Liljegren has had his ups and downs, showing flashes of brilliance and signs of struggle, as he has continuously rotated between a second-pairing defenceman and a third-pairing. He’s given the team a solid floor of offence in each of the last three seasons, recording 23 points in 61 games during the 2021-22 season, 18 points in 67 games during the 2022-23 season and 23 points in 55 games last season.
Liljegren recently signed a two-year, $6M extension ($3M AAV) with the Maple Leafs and appears to still be in their plans in the future despite rumours over the last year about potentially being traded.
Goalies:
| Frederik Andersen | Vesa Toskala |
Andersen – Toskala
Compared to the Maple Leafs’ all-time Canadian goalie tandem and the American one, I’d say the European tandem ranks right in the middle when it comes to success with the organization. It ranks in the middle because of Frederik Andersen, who is by far the greatest European netminder to ever wear the Maple Leafs jersey.
Initially acquired from the Anaheim Ducks ahead of the 2016-17 season, Andersen signed a five-year contract with the club and played in 268 games with Toronto, ranking him first among European goalies in franchise history and sixth among all goalies. He was the backbone of the Maple Leafs for three + consecutive years, being a stable presence behind a not-so-stable defence group. Of his 268 career games with the organization, he recorded 149 wins, ranking him fourth all-time and first among European goalies.
The Herning native didn’t win any hardware with the Maple Leafs but was named an all-star in 2020 and finished top 10 in Vezina voting twice, including a fourth-place finish in 2018 when he finished the season with a 38-21-5 record (five shutouts) along with a .918 SV% and a 2.81 GAA.
Andersen’s tandem partner is Vesa Toskala, from Finland. The options for European goaltenders were thin – evidently. Toskala only spent two and a half seasons in the blue and white but ranks right behind Andersen in games played (145) and wins (62) among European goalies to play here.
(Stats from Quanthockey.com)
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