With the rising popularity of puckdoku and grid trivia, more people than ever are thinking about players who have laced it up for multiple teams. For the Toronto Maple Leafs it’s no different, especially since the franchise has a shockingly small number of players who spent their entire career in the blue and white.
So the question then becomes what’s the best 20 player roster that can be created between the shared alumni of the Toronto Maple Leafs and a second team? Over the next few days we’ll be taking a look at what these combined rosters look like, starting by teaming up with the longtime rival Montreal Canadiens.
Forwards
Frank Mahovlich – Doug Gilmour – Gordie Drillon
Dickie Moore – Vincent Damphousse – Russ Courtnall
Dick Duff – Tomáš Plekanec – Gary Leeman
Bert Olmstead – Yanic Perreault – Kirk Muller
A first line of Hall of Famers is always a great way to start a team, especially when they have a combined eight Stanley Cups between them. Gilmour’s two-way play and playmaking ability does wonders to open up space for the goal scoring threats of Mahovlich and Drillon, both of whom averaged over 0.45 goals per game over their careers.
Another two-way stud centres the second line with Vincent Damphousse finding himself between Russ Courtnall and Hall of Famer Dickie Moore, who led the NHL in scoring twice during his fourteen year career while also capturing six cups.
The left-side continues to be a point of strength as Dick Duff adds yet another Hall of Fame winger to the roster while playing alongside Gary Leeman and Tomas Plekanec, who narrowly made this list after playing 17 games for the Maple Leafs following a 2018 trade before returning to finish his career with Montreal the next season.
An energetic fourth line looks to cause chaos for opponents with Yanic Perreault centered between power forwards Bert Olmstead and Kirk Muller. Olmstead has our team go 4/4 in Hall of Fame left wingers, as the playmaking power forward who twice lead the league in assists teams up with a pair of two-way players that both received Selke votes numerous times over their career while also being consistent goal scoring threats.
Defence
Sprague Cleghorn – Harry Cameron
Tomas Kaberle – Rob Ramage
Tom Kurvers – Mathieu Schneider
Hall of Fame old timers Sprague Cleghorn and Harry Cameron lead the defensive corpse, both old enough to have played for the St. Patricks, with Cleghorn twice finishing as Hart Trophy runner up.
Powerplay quarterback Tomas Kaberle finds himself paired up with the hard-hitting Rob Ramage, which should help Kaberle feel right at home after years next to Bryan McCabe’s highlight reel hits. Journeymen Tom Kurvers and Mathieu Schneider round out the team on the bottom pairing, providing more goalscoring threats from the blueline.
Goaltending
Jacques Plante
George Hainsworth
The highlight of the team is easily the goaltending, with two Hall of Famers on the roster, including arguably the most dominant goalie to ever play the position. Plante and Hainsworth boast a combined eight Stanley Cups and ten Vezinas.
Just Missed the Cut
Darcy Tucker, Sergei Berezin, Shayne Corson, Mike Komisarek, François Beauchemin
