Best and Worst Skaters in Leafs history ....

Teeder Keon

Defeat does not rest lightly on their shoulders
Mar 11, 2019
17,312
24,185
Deep in the Purple jungles of BC
Teeder I did not see but my dad always said he was the warrior of all Leaf hockey warriors. He supposedly could lift team with skill and make it happen whatever it took whatever the situation --- a winner. A leader extraordinaire. He always says it is what the Leafs are missing now no disrespect to Tavares.
Your dad was absolutely right
I’m always torn between Keon and Teeder , but deep down I have to go with Teeder 5 cups and as you said “Warrior of all Warriors “
Tavares is in the same mold but doesn’t have that little extra ingredient , toughness and ability to fight if need be
Gilmour was very close to a Teeder exhibiting the same qualities
Keon was a different leader , very quiet but hard ass like no other
 

deletethis

Registered User
Mar 17, 2015
7,910
2,486
Toronto
Best (not mentioned yet):

Kaberle
Gaston Gingras
Matthieu Schneider
Bryan Berard
young Al Iafrate

Ron Ellis
Mike Gartner (speed, not edges and agility)


Worst:

Chris Kotsopoulos
Terry Johnson
Tracy Pratt

Paul Gardner, Dale McCourt and Mike Allison, all slow as molasses with good hockey skills


P.S. Words cannot describe how bad a skater Dan Maloney was. Think Milan Lucic with arthritis
 

Teeder Keon

Defeat does not rest lightly on their shoulders
Mar 11, 2019
17,312
24,185
Deep in the Purple jungles of BC
Best (not mentioned yet):

Kaberle
Gaston Gingras
Matthieu Schneider
Bryan Berard
young Al Iafrate

Ron Ellis
Mike Gartner (speed, not edges and agility)


Worst:

Chris Kotsopoulos
Terry Johnson
Tracy Pratt

Paul Gardner, Dale McCourt and Mike Allison, all slow as molasses with good hockey skills


P.S. Words cannot describe how bad a skater Dan Maloney was. Think Milan Lucic with arthritis
Perfect takes
And hilarious thoughts on Maloney
Also good ones on Johnson and Pratt and in Gingras
 
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JayDog17

Registered User
Dec 23, 2014
223
149
Same guy best / worst...

Early in Leaf career..Jake Gardiner best
Last couple years of his Leaf career..Jake Gardiner worst

Looked like his hips aged 20 years every season the last few.
 
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ToMaLe

Registered User
Sep 24, 2002
4,843
2,459
Saskatchewan
Best: Mogilny, Iafrate, Leipsic, Kapanen and Berard

Worst: Marincin, Lumme, Allison, McGill and Kristich

Hard to choose between Mogilny and Berard, they were the best of the best. I don’t call Marincin, spaghetti legs for nothing.
 
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Primary Assist

The taste of honey is worse than none at all
Jul 7, 2010
5,910
5,699
Best have all been said with honorable mentions to Grabner, Mason Raymond, and Jason Blake.

Worst: Ryan Hollweg
 
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rumman

Registered User
Sep 10, 2008
13,347
9,427
Best (not mentioned yet):

Kaberle
Gaston Gingras
Matthieu Schneider
Bryan Berard
young Al Iafrate

Ron Ellis
Mike Gartner (speed, not edges and agility)


Worst:

Chris Kotsopoulos
Terry Johnson
Tracy Pratt

Paul Gardner, Dale McCourt and Mike Allison, all slow as molasses with good hockey skills


P.S. Words cannot describe how bad a skater Dan Maloney was. Think Milan Lucic with arthritis
by far the best skater I've had the pleasure of seeing play in person was Mike Gartner, and isn't even close. This was I think his 2nd to last year playing and his acceleration was simply unbelievable, I'm certain he was part cheetah.
 
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TheProspector

Registered User
Oct 18, 2007
5,339
1,697
Orlando
Too many horrible skaters to count.

Anyone before 10-15 years ago shouldn't be considered. Nobody from the 90s or early 2000s teams could hold a candle to *league average* skater now.

And what is a good skater, anyway? Top speed? Acceleration? Edges?

Using some arbitrary combination of the above using nothing but my judgement....

Best:
  • Phil Kessel
  • Kasperi Kapanen
  • Michael Grabner
  • Jason Blake
  • Viktor Stalberg
  • Brendan Leipsic
  • Boyd Devereaux
  • Tyler Ennis
I know. A lot of these players aren't good NHLers. But they all had phenomenal wheels. The brain and hands held them back from being elite NHLers.

This team has a lot of great skaters, of course. But their wheels don't define them. What makes them great players is being able to pull off plays at high speed. Other than Kapanen, I doubt our current crop of speedsters are actually faster than the other players on this list.
 
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TheProspector

Registered User
Oct 18, 2007
5,339
1,697
Orlando
BTW... another guy who didn't make the big club, but should be on this list is Robbie Earl. That guy was obscenely fast. And while he never put it together at the NHL level, he's been a prolific scorer in seemingly every other professional league in the world -- Swiss league, SHL, AHL...
 
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JT AM da real deal

Registered User
Oct 4, 2018
12,056
7,321
Too many horrible skaters to count.

Anyone before 10-15 years ago shouldn't be considered. Nobody from the 90s or early 2000s teams could hold a candle to *league average* skater now.

And what is a good skater, anyway? Top speed? Acceleration? Edges?

Using some arbitrary combination of the above using nothing but my judgement....

Best:
  • Phil Kessel
  • Kasperi Kapanen
  • Michael Grabner
  • Jason Blake
  • Viktor Stalberg
  • Brendan Leipsic
  • Boyd Devereaux
  • Tyler Ennis
I know. A lot of these players aren't good NHLers. But they all had phenomenal wheels. The brain and hands held them back from being elite NHLers.

This team has a lot of great skaters, of course. But their wheels don't define them. What makes them great players is being able to pull off plays at high speed. Other than Kapanen, I doubt our current crop of speedsters are actually faster than the other players on this list.
Not sure about that one although could be true. There have been many mentions and a couple guys I know who have told me Orr was timed in 13 seconds around rink blue line to same line. The difference is today everyone can do it. Whereas before you could wipe out virtually every defender and half the forwards. Also heard from a good source the Rocket was sub 13. Put some current skates on Orr and Rocket and they likely demolish the existing records.
 
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deletethis

Registered User
Mar 17, 2015
7,910
2,486
Toronto
Don't forget the superior modern training regimens in addition to the better skates.

Old timers told me that Dick Duff was a great skater as well as a young Carl Brewer.
 
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The Iceman

Registered User
Sep 22, 2007
5,069
3,707
A bunch of great choices. Really most enforcers and many D of the 80's 90's were bad skaters.
Keying on some unnamed.

Glenn Anderson
Ken Linseman
Grabovski

some of the bads
GOAT
Zettler
Larry Murphy (Slow)
Ken THE BOMBER Baumgartner
Garth Butcher
Yanik Pearrualt-185 points in 67 games one jr season. If only he could skate he would have been Lemieux II
Bob McGill
Kevin Maguire
Ric Nattress
 
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FreeBird

Registered User
Dec 18, 2005
7,782
190
A bunch of great choices. Really most enforcers and many D of the 80's 90's were bad skaters.
Keying on some unnamed.

Glenn Anderson
Ken Linseman
Grabovski

some of the bads
GOAT
Zettler
Larry Murphy (Slow)
Ken THE BOMBER Baumgartner
Garth Butcher
Yanik Pearrualt-185 points in 67 games one jr season. If only he could skate he would have been Lemieux II
Bob McGill
Kevin Maguire
Ric Nattress

Barry Melrose and Richard Mulhearn come to mind.
 
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ITM

As Long As It Takes
Jan 26, 2012
4,536
2,509
Best: Salming, Courtnall, Berard, Mogilny, Marner...Edgework-heavy.

Worst: Valiquette, Marsh, Smith...Skating with intention appeared absent in these cases.
 
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67Cup

Registered User
Sep 16, 2005
3,894
702
Going back to older days, Syl Apps was a superlative skater. At one point, a contest was set up featuring the top skaters of each of the then seven NHL teams. Apps won.

As you can see from my avatar, I have nothing against George Armstrong, but in his last few seasons his skating was painful to watch. I can still see him in my minds eye all but crawling down the right wing to score the empty net goal that clinched the 67 Cup. It seemed to take an eternity.

Allan Stanley, from the same vintage, also looked like he was skating on snowshoes in his later years.

Reilly and Kapanen from the present team are about as good as I have seen in recent years.

Bad skater? Pick your favourite enforcer.
 
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