BudMaster17
Gap Inspector
I saw Dougie out with this hot black haired chick at a Spanish resturant, I farted as I walked by him. True story.
The Toronto Maple Leafs franchise has always been built on two way play, a collective team mentality and healthy dose of goonery.
Even during the Original Six era when the team was largely a high flyer in a six team league, the Leafs basically never had a scoring leader, or very many Hart Trophy winners. While other Original Six teams lay claim to the greatest names in the game like Howe, Hull, Orr, Richard, Beliveau, our alumni nights show you we really didn't have those kinds of comparables.
The franchise and fanbase has always been lukewarm to elite talent and more happy to embrace the blue collar guys.
Why did they drive Frank Mahovlich out after all the personal and team success that he had in the 50s and 60s? Why was Wendel Clark held in such high esteem as a bright spot in the 80s while you hear so little about Vincent Damphousse?
Given this gooney Leafs Nation culture, I wouldn't be that surprised if people preferred a team full of Mike Browns to a team full of Patrick Kanes.
Never said he was bad, just wasn't on the same tier as Gilmour was. As good as Sundin was he was never elite.
Gilmour and Clark were magic, those were my favorite Leaf teams ever.
Pretty funny that the 27th all time leading scorer in the NHL is not considered elite eh? Four points behind some guy name Guy Lafleur.....Too funny. You guys are hilarious.
There's also the unfortunate story of the leafs losing in the first round in 2003 and Sundin and CO saying "we'll just play in the world championships" and Domi ripping them a new one..... I can't see Gilmour ever saying that after being eliminated.
Mario Lemieux.
Absolute bollocks
If you were around to watch Gilmour (Im assuming you were too young) you would know that in those first two seasons he was in Toronto he was as good a playmaker as Gretz was. He turned Andreychuk into a 50 goal scorer. He could completely change the tempo of the game with one shift. It was magic. He was that good.
He single handedly rebuilt the Leafs into a cup contender from a fringe scrape in the playoffs and get killed in the first round team.
It was almost a fairy tale how much the team turned around because of one guy.
Sundin was good as well, he had the longevity factor going for him, but he is just not on the same page as Gilmour was for me. He didn't single handedly lead the team. He was a good captain and the go to guy for years, but it was goaltending that won for us in the early 2000's.
This is absolutely ridiculous. No matter how you want to spin it, we lost to the Kings, it sucks but we lost. Don't try to say otherwise because you like Gilmour. I love him too but what you're saying is absurd.
Sundin never carried the team on his BACK for deep playoff runs? Goodness gracious this fan base. What do you call 1998-1999 when the Leafs went to the Conference Finals against Buffalo?What about 2001-2002 when they played Carolina in the conference finals? He went as far as Gilmour went with the team and he didn't have Wendel Clark,Dave Anderchyuk, or Nikolai Borschevsky
I have to laugh at the people here who write asking why Gilmour is so loved, and that it could be because of Don Cherry, or because Mats is Swedish, etc.
It's because Gilmour fought tooth and nail in 92/93 when the Leafs teams were laughingstocks for the prior 20 years. He (and others) brought respect back to a dismal franchise and we fans were drooling after everything the Gilmour-led team did. The run in 92/93 was truly magic and as fun as the 99 and 02 runs were, they did not even come CLOSE to 93. Not even a sniff.
I don't mean to offend, seriously, but it has to come down to age around here. For the older posters, Gilmour will always have a special place in their heart. For those who didn't experience the runs in 93 and 94, you shouldn't post your pro-Sundin comments. I loved Sundin too, but as others have mentioned, Gimour >> Sundin, in their best years.
Absolute bollocks
If you were around to watch Gilmour (Im assuming you were too young) you would know that in those first two seasons he was in Toronto he was as good a playmaker as Gretz was. He turned Andreychuk into a 50 goal scorer. He could completely change the tempo of the game with one shift. It was magic. He was that good.
He single handedly rebuilt the Leafs into a cup contender from a fringe scrape in the playoffs and get killed in the first round team.
It was almost a fairy tale how much the team turned around because of one guy.
Sundin was good as well, he had the longevity factor going for him, but he is just not on the same page as Gilmour was for me. He didn't single handedly lead the team. He was a good captain and the go to guy for years, but it was goaltending that won for us in the early 2000's.
I have to laugh at the people here who write asking why Gilmour is so loved, and that it could be because of Don Cherry, or because Mats is Swedish, etc.
It's because Gilmour fought tooth and nail in 92/93 when the Leafs teams were laughingstocks for the prior 20 years. He (and others) brought respect back to a dismal franchise and we fans were drooling after everything the Gilmour-led team did. The run in 92/93 was truly magic and as fun as the 99 and 02 runs were, they did not even come CLOSE to 93. Not even a sniff.
I don't mean to offend, seriously, but it has to come down to age around here. For the older posters, Gilmour will always have a special place in their heart. For those who didn't experience the runs in 93 and 94, you shouldn't post your pro-Sundin comments. I loved Sundin too, but as others have mentioned, Gimour >> Sundin, in their best years.
QFT. There are way too many people here who never even saw Gilmour play making idiotic comments about Sundin. Sorry, Sundin isn't even in the same area code as Gilmour. The guy pretty much single-handedly revived the Leafs as a franchise. Same as Fletcher revived the team off the ice. I've never seen anyone in any sport give so much every single night, like Gilmour did in 92, 92-93, and 93-94. Something happened after the loss in 94, though. I don't know if it was the Clark trade for Sundin, or the lockout that caused the 94-95 season to be delayed into January of 95. But something happened during that extended break and Gilmour was never the same player again.
Neither was the team, which started to coast downhill. I still think the best move for the Leafs at that time was keeping Clark and moving heaven and earth to sign Bernie Nicholls that summer as the second centre. Sundin was a good move, but the Leafs gave up too much with shipping off Clark and Lefebvre. Gutted the team by ditching Clark's heart and lost a ton of their ability on the blue line without Lefebvre.
I have to laugh at the people here who write asking why Gilmour is so loved, and that it could be because of Don Cherry, or because Mats is Swedish, etc.
It's because Gilmour fought tooth and nail in 92/93 when the Leafs teams were laughingstocks for the prior 20 years. He (and others) brought respect back to a dismal franchise and we fans were drooling after everything the Gilmour-led team did. The run in 92/93 was truly magic and as fun as the 99 and 02 runs were, they did not even come CLOSE to 93. Not even a sniff.
I don't mean to offend, seriously, but it has to come down to age around here. For the older posters, Gilmour will always have a special place in their heart. For those who didn't experience the runs in 93 and 94, you shouldn't post your pro-Sundin comments. I loved Sundin too, but as others have mentioned, Gimour >> Sundin, in their best years.
The Leafs were an old fossil of a team after the lockout, much like the Vancouver Canucks and Calgary Flames are today. If they hadn't made the Sundin trade, they wouldn't have had much of a future going into the late 90s. That group was never going to come close to competing with New Jersey, Detroit and Colorado for cups over the next few years...
Absolute bollocks
If you were around to watch Gilmour (Im assuming you were too young) you would know that in those first two seasons he was in Toronto he was as good a playmaker as Gretz was. He turned Andreychuk into a 50 goal scorer. He could completely change the tempo of the game with one shift. It was magic. He was that good.
He single handedly rebuilt the Leafs into a cup contender from a fringe scrape in the playoffs and get killed in the first round team.
It was almost a fairy tale how much the team turned around because of one guy.
Sundin was good as well, he had the longevity factor going for him, but he is just not on the same page as Gilmour was for me. He didn't single handedly lead the team. He was a good captain and the go to guy for years, but it was goaltending that won for us in the early 2000's.
I was 10 and 11 when 1993 and 1994 happened, and I do remember the excitement we all felt as kids with Gilmour, Clark and Potvin leading the charge with Burns behind the bench. It's the reason I fell in love with hockey in the first place, so as a Leaf fan, those were important events...
That said, I find it incredible sad and hilarious that all of our modern glory is derived from a couple of conference finals appearances, which good teams get to and get past on a regular basis.
The Philadelphia Flyers are a bit of an old losing club too, having not won since the mid 70s. Even then, they've made it to the finals in 1976, 1980, 1985, 1987, 1997, 2010, and I doubt they look on any of those runs with the reverence some of us do for 1993...
Seems like there are more 'idiotic' people on here making derogatory comments about Sundin than the other way around.QFT. There are way too many people here who never even saw Gilmour play making idiotic comments about Sundin. Sorry, Sundin isn't even in the same area code as Gilmour. The guy pretty much single-handedly revived the Leafs as a franchise. Same as Fletcher revived the team off the ice. I've never seen anyone in any sport give so much every single night, like Gilmour did in 92, 92-93, and 93-94. Something happened after the loss in 94, though. I don't know if it was the Clark trade for Sundin, or the lockout that caused the 94-95 season to be delayed into January of 95. But something happened during that extended break and Gilmour was never the same player again.
Neither was the team, which started to coast downhill. I still think the best move for the Leafs at that time was keeping Clark and moving heaven and earth to sign Bernie Nicholls that summer as the second centre. Sundin was a good move, but the Leafs gave up too much with shipping off Clark and Lefebvre. Gutted the team by ditching Clark's heart and lost a ton of their ability on the blue line without Lefebvre.