Line Combos: Best Leaf Team in last 25 Years?

[Lauro]

reimer-bozak-antropov
burke-bernier-nonis
o'dog-hayes-noodles
carlton the bear-jvr-cross

kessel-belfour
bautista-potvin
federer-mogilny

yuskevich
jeter

rofl

 

[ITM]

Andreychuk Gilmour Sundin
Roberts Lindros Mogilny
Anderson Nieuwendyk Gartner
Clark Damphousse Tucker

Leetch Yushkevich
Mccabe Kaberle
Berard Phaneuf

Belfour
Joseph
Fuhr

 

[TheOtherSide]

A lot of these guys are too slow for the post-Dead-Puck era.

Sundin would look lost out there.

A definitive no to Kaberle and McCabe. Both too slow.

You know the dead puck era is considered to be from around '94 until the '04 lockout eh?

Sundin had great seasons for the Leafs post lockout! And the game was more open back in '05 then it is today. Same goes for McCabe and Kaberle. And even if Kaberle was slow, (he wasn't) he is one of the very best skaters I have ever seen play for the Leafs, which can more than make up for raw speed.

Then you have guys like Gilmour, Clark, Andrychuck, Roberts etc. who all had great success pre DPE when scoring was at an all time high.

 

[666]

Wow, this exercise is pretty revealing. It's shocking how few selections were actually drafted by the Leafs and how horrible some of these teams are compared to what other teams could put together. There are probably some cup winners in the past 25 years that could beat these best of Leafs teams especially when you consider when these players played for the Leafs, for example Lindros and Leetch were already done their careers.

 

[Wendelstache]

Clark L Gilmour C Andreychuk R
Mogilny L Sundin C Kessel R
JVR L Damphousse C Lindros R
Tucker L C Zezel R Berg

Iafrate Berehowsky
Macoun Kaberle
Yuskevich Lefebrve

7th D - Brad Marsh

Joseph
Potvin

Your Stanley cup champions.

 

[Morgs]

Reimer-Bozak-Antropov
Burke-Bernier-Nonis
O'Dog-Hayes-Noodles
Carlton the bear-JVR-Cross

Kessel-Belfour
Bautista-Potvin
Federer-Mogilny

Yuskevich
Jeter

JVR isn't a center, and wheres Aki Berg.... ?

 

[Dustin]

Some pretty awesome names on these teams. When doing my lineup I only included guys that had been here for more than a couple of seasons and used their best seasons as a Leaf to gauge who would make it.

While I agree that some of the players are not exactly "elite", we have had some nice teams in the last 25 years.

 

[garce]

Kessel Sundin Roberts
Andreychuk Gilmour Mogilny
Anderson Damphousse Clark
Tucker Zezel Domi
Gartner

Yuskevich Kaberle
Mc Cabe Phaneuf
Rielly Ellett
Rouse

Joseph
Balfour
Potvin

 

[Leafs87]

How are so many people including Leetch when he player like 30 games for us

 

[garce]

How are so many people including Leetch when he player like 30 games for us

Leetch, Francis, Housely and Lindros were barely Leafs and deserve no consideration.

 

[tmlms13]

Andreychuk- Gilmour- Kessel

Roberts- Sundin - Mogilny

Clark - Lindros/Nieuwendyk- Nolan

Tucker- Peca - Thomas

Svehla Yushkevich

Kaberle McCabe

Phaneuf Schneider

Belfour
Cujo

Tucker and Peca on the same line would be interesting

 

[The Winter Soldier]

Yuskevich gets no respect on these boards. The guy made the All Star team.

You are right. He should have been on my team in retrospect. He was a warrior.

Let's redo it.


Cujo
Belfour

1- Clark Gilmour Andreychuk
2- Thomas Sundin Mogilny
3- Tucker Nieuwendyk Roberts
4- Berg Zezel Domi

McCoun Lefebvre
Rouse Kaberle
McCabe Phaneuf

7th D man Yuskevich

Extra Forward Corson

 

[tmlms13]

Roberts - Sundin - Mogilny
Andreychuk - Gilmour - Kessel
Thomas - Korolev - Ponikarovsky
Tucker - Clark - JVR
Antropov, Berezen,

Kaberle - McCabe
Yushkevich - Markov
Ellet - Phaneuf
Franson

Cujo
Eddie

criteria was that they played a few seasons in Toronto, not the rentals

 

[LeafGm]

Dave Andreychuk - Mats Sundin - Phil Kessel
Wendel Clark - Doug Gilmour - Alexander Mogilny
James van Riemsdyk - Vincent Damphousse - Steve Thomas
Gary Roberts - Joe Nieuwendyk - Darcy Tucker

Brrian Leetch - Robert Svehla
Tomas Kaberle - Bryan McCabe
Sylvain Lefebvre - Dion Phaneuf

Ed Belfour
Curtis Joseph

 

[Mats13]

A lot of these guys are too slow for the post-Dead-Puck era.

Sundin would look lost out there.

Gilmour would be a good pick. Not sure about Francis or Andreychuk.

Mike Gartner would be a great option.

Tie Domi is a big no.

Since I assume we're talking about these players in their prime whether or not it was on the Leafs, I would suggest Giguère as a goalie option, certainly worth consideration with Curtis Joseph and Eddie Belfour.

Wendel Clark I think would make the team.

Leetch I feel would too.

Would agree on Nieuwendyk. Bryan Berard. I think Paul Ranger would be a good option too, again, assuming prime years prior to his early "retirement".

Mogilny would make it.

I'll tentatively agree on Iafrate, though again, not sold on the foot-speed. Curious what today's composite-stick technology could do for his laserbeam.

Kessel would make it since he wouldn't be a marquis player and could be a 2nd/3rd line guy.

JVR likely makes it. Like Rielly as well. Probably Phaneuf makes the bottom pairing.

A definitive no to Kaberle and McCabe. Both too slow.

Can't think of many others beyond that...

Please tell me you're joking...

You clearly never saw Mats play.

JVR - Gilmour - Gartner
Mogilny - Clark - Kessel
Berard - Nieuwendyk - Francis
Tucker - Kadri - Zezel

Leetch - Rielly
Phaneuf - Ranger
Iafrate - Robidas

Belfour
Giguère

This is a troll roster right?

No Sundin
Clark at Center
Giguere?
Kadri, Ranger, Robidas

Oh my this is horrid

 

[GordieHoweHatTrick]

Andreychuk - Gilmour - Kessel
Roberts - Sundin - Mogilny
Clark - Nieuwendyk - Thomas
Tucker - Francis - Gartner

Kaberle - McCabe
Svehla - Phaneuf
Ellett - Yushkevich

CuJo
Eagle

 

[ITM]

How are so many people including Leetch when he player like 30 games for us

Open exercise. In some instances we gave up a lot...They wore the crest. However short, they were Maple Leafs.

 

[ITM]

Open exercise. In some instances we gave up a lot...They wore the crest. However short, they were Maple Leafs.

That said...Using a definition excluding the likes of Leetch and Lindros...

Andreychuk (A)Gilmour Sundin**
Roberts (A)Nieuwendyk Mogilny
Anderson Damphousse Gartner
Clark Muller Tucker

(C)Salming* Yushkevich
Mccabe Kaberle
Berard Phaneuf

Belfour***
Joseph
Fuhr

*His last season was 88-89...That's close enough.
** People forget Sundin was a fantastic winger.
*** Ed Belfour should be the default number one on every list. He's the best goalie to play for this club and in the words of Jacques Martin, routinely beat in head to head championship competition, the likes of Roy and Hasek. His words.

 

[Darcy Tucker]

People seem to forget Nieuwendyk only played 1 season for us too. Same category as Leetch and Lindros IMO.

 

[LeafsFIO*]

Jeff O'Neill

 

[Leafs87]

People seem to forget Nieuwendyk only played 1 season for us too. Same category as Leetch and Lindros IMO.

At least he played a full season, some people are naming Housley who literally played 1 regular season game and 4 post season

 

[LeafGm]

People seem to forget Nieuwendyk only played 1 season for us too. Same category as Leetch and Lindros IMO.

With my roster, this is the point of view I decided to take with it: any player you pick, you're getting them at their best as a Maple Leaf.

So, for example, if you pick Gary Roberts, you're not getting the Gary Roberts who scored 50 goals with the Flames. You're getting the Leaf-version of Roberts that was still a 25-30 goal, 50ish point player that was also as hard as nails and a beast of a two-way player.

Likewise, if you pick Ron Francis, you're not getting the Ron Francis that built his HoF credentials as a member of the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Hartfolina Whalicanes. You're getting the 40 year-old who by that point of his career, always skated around like he'd just dropped a load in his trousers.

As far as Leetch is concerned---as much as this is simultaneously a compliment for Leetch and a condemnation of the top-end quality of Leaf defensemen over the last quarter century---in my entire lifetime of watching the Leafs, a period that stretches from the early 90's to today, I have never before or since seen a Leaf defenseman that looked as dominant and elite as Leetch did in the 28 games he played for us at the end of the 03/04 season.

Likewise, Robert Svehla is one of the best Leaf defensemen I've every seen play live, regardless of the fact he played one solitary season for us. I also haven't seen very many Leaf centers that I'd take over the Joe Nieuwendyk I watched in the one regular season and playoff he spent as a Leaf.

 

[LeafsYoungGuns]

Nobody mentioned Rick Vaive? Three time 50 goal man and first leaf ever to hit 50 none the less, come on guys. You're all better then that, lol.

...His last season played was 1991-92 so he played within the last 25 but I am assuming we are going off prime years lol.

 

[LeafsFIO*]

Reimer-Bozak-Antropov
Burke-Bernier-Nonis
O'Dog-Hayes-Noodles
Carlton the bear-JVR-Cross

Kessel-Belfour
Bautista-Potvin
Federer-Mogilny

Yuskevich
Jeter

What??

Brian Burke and Dave Novis never played for the Leafs. Carleton the Bear isn't real although one caller to Leaf Talk once suggested he take over for Ron Wilson as head coach haha that was funny

Jamie McLennan never played for the Leafs though
He may have been productive backing up Cujo! You'd be better off just putting CuJo or Belfour their

Derek Jeter played baseball and had s lot of mobility, waste of his athleticism playing him in net

Not sure who Federer or Bautista are but this looks kinda stupid no offense

 

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Pony-Bozak-Odog
Valk-Allison-Clarkson (speed line)
Blake-Wellwood-Antropov
May-Reichel-Hollweg

Finger-Ranger
Aulie-Pilar
Berg-Komisarek

Toskala
Raycroft