arrbez said:
lol, yes, we in Leaf land humbled in the presence of that mighty list of Canuck greats you guys have out there
um...they drafted Cam Neely...and Mark Messier spent some time there, did he not? I think he'll make the hall.
But when you compare the Leafs with the rest of the Original 6, it's kind of sad. Montreal has Beiveau, Richard, Plante, Roy, LaFleur, Harvey, Morenz, etc. Chicago has Hall, Hull and Mikita. Boston has Orr, Shore, Bourque and Esposito. Detroit has Sawchuk, Lindsay and Howe. Only the Rangers are worse than the Leafs when it comes to all-time greats among the Original Six teams.
Frank Mahovlich is my pick. He's likely the No. 3 LW of all-time (after Bobby Hull and Ted Lindsay), he won four Cups with Toronto, had some dynamite seasons and playoffs. But even his best statistical years, both regular season and playoffs, were in Montreal.
Red Kelly is one of the top 10 defencemen ever, and won his Hart Trophy in Toronto and won four Cups with the Leafs, but he spent most of his career outside of Toronto.
Sawchuk is one of the top five of all-time, but his best days came outside of Toronto. Apps, Conacher, Keon, Salming, Sittler, Bower and Horton are likely the best players to ever spend unarguably the best years of their career in Toronto.
In the end, though, the Leafs do have the most important number of all: 11. That's for Stanley Cups, second only to Montreal. I'd rather have 11 Stanley Cups and lesser players on my all-time team, than three or four Cups and a plethora of all-time greats (witness Boston and Chicago).