Top 10 "Greatest Leafs of All-Time"

[Kin]

Well, okay but outside of tasty treats, I'm not sure there's much of a case for Horton.

Championships, first-team all star selections, Games Played, the opinion of the Hockey News...There's a lot there.

I mean again, we're talking about a 6 team league here when we're talking Horton's accolades.

But that doesn't make it easier. Talent is more concentrated in a 6 team league, not less. We're going to give Salming more credit because he got to beat up on the Kansas City Scouts while Horton had real games night-in and night-out? Let's not forget that Salming's best years came during a era where the talent was diluted in the NHL not just because of expansion but also because of the WHA. After the WHA folded Salming was a cumulative -11 for the rest of his career.

edit: just looking at it, it's astonishing how much the league expanded and so quickly. The league Salming joined had gone from 6 teams to 16 teams in just seven years. By the time Salming established himself the number of teams in the league had tripled from '67 in just 9 years.

It's really just a universe of difference there. Now don't get me wrong, Horton was a fine player and like I said earlier, there's probably a few choices than can be made for the "greatest" and far be it from me to tell folks what/how to think. This is just an opinion here that I happen to share with Ulmer. - A good read for anyone interested.     

Like I said, if someone wants to say that Salming is their choice for the best Leafs defenseman of all time in spite of the evidence against it...go nuts. Just don't try and sell that there's no debate on the matter.

 

[GhostofPotvin29]

No Potvin, no credibility.  ;D

 

[Kin]

As far as I'm concerned there's a few guys I wouldn't consider as wrong answers for the greatest Leaf ever but yesterday, Mike Ulmer made a case for my guy, Borje Salming;

http://blog.mapleleafs.com/salming-could-be-best-leaf-ever/

Also, and I missed this myself, but this isn't written by Mike Ulmer. It's attributed to someone named Matt Iaboni.

So apologies Mr. Wilner, it's Mr. Iaboni who sounds like a complete stooge.

 

[GhostofPotvin29]

As far as I'm concerned there's a few guys I wouldn't consider as wrong answers for the greatest Leaf ever but yesterday, Mike Ulmer made a case for my guy, Borje Salming;

http://blog.mapleleafs.com/salming-could-be-best-leaf-ever/

Also, and I missed this myself, but this isn't written by Mike Ulmer. It's attributed to someone named Matt Iaboni.

So apologies Mr. Wilner, it's Mr. Iaboni who sounds like a complete stooge.

Tough day for Ulmer here!

 

[maplesyrup]

LOL. I missed it too. Anyway, still a good read.

 

[jdh1]

Tim Horton in his day was always considered at the top of NHL defencemen ...comparing with the best of the Habs defencemen who were Toronto's biggest and best rivals.

 

[RobDM]

As far as I'm concerned there's a few guys I wouldn't consider as wrong answers for the greatest Leaf ever but yesterday, Mike Ulmer made a case for my guy, Borje Salming;

http://blog.mapleleafs.com/salming-could-be-best-leaf-ever/

Also, and I missed this myself, but this isn't written by Mike Ulmer. It's attributed to someone named Matt Iaboni.

So apologies Mr. Wilner, it's Mr. Iaboni who sounds like a complete stooge.

Matt sent a tweet this morning saying that the article was incorrectly credited, it was in fact Mike Ulmer who wrote the piece.


@mattiaboni "@arrrlittle wish i could say it was me but that was Mike Ulmer (@mulmer)."

 

[Kin]

Boy, between incorrectly attributed articles, my inability to get names right within the same post and tweets today it's very difficult to keep track of who I'm calling a stooge.

 

[Boston Leaf]

I guess I can only go by who I have seen

1. Salming
2. Sundin
3. Sittler
4. Keon
5. Mahovlich
6. Ellis
7. Clark
8. Gilmour
9. Vaive
10. MacDonald

 

[Corn Flake]

Had a very hard time trying to conjure up a top 10 list but IMO, #1 is

Teeder Kennedy. 

5 cups, hart trophy, entire career with the Leafs... don't know how that doesn't win.

 

[Kin]

Had a very hard time trying to conjure up a top 10 list but IMO, #1 is

Teeder Kennedy. 

5 cups, hart trophy, entire career with the Leafs... don't know how that doesn't win.

Well, I think there are two quick things that come to mind. The first is that he scored 560 points in his career of 696 games and the second is that his Hart Trophy win is kind of inexplicable. He won it in a year where he scored 10 goals and 42 assists. He wasn't in the top 10 in scoring, wasn't the top scorer on the Leafs, wasn't a first or second team all-star and the Leafs were a .500 team.

It just reads as strange more than as a terrific accomplishment and it's not limited to him. The year before Kennedy won the Hart they gave it to Al Rollins, a goalie who went 12-47-7 with a 3.23 GAA.

 

[Justin]

The list as voted on by Sportsnet readers:

1. Mats Sundin
2. Darryl Sittler
3. Doug Gilmour
4. Johnny Bower
5. Dave Keon
6. Wendel Clark
7. Borje Salming
8. Frank Mahovlich
9. Tim Horton
10. George Armstrong

http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/2012/11/30/mats_sundin_greatest_toronto_maple_leaf_reader_poll/

 

[TheMightyOdin]

No Olaf Kolzig? Ridiculous!