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Toronto Maple Leaf’s Top-20 Goal Scorers All-Time
Throughout the Maple Leafs’ 100-plus year existence, they have been home to many great, Hall of Fame calibre players. Many of their best players had extended careers with the team, and today we’re going to discuss the top-20 highest scoring players to ever play for the blue and white.
No. 1: Mats Sundin, 420 Goals
The lone European on the list, and the long-time captain of the Maple Leafs, Mats Sundin was all-world when he played for the team. His 420 goals are highlighted by two 41-goal seasons in 1996-97 and 2001-02. In the 13 seasons he played for the blue and white, he scored 30 goals or more in 10 of them.
What is most impressive about his production, however, is that he never had a superstar winger to play with as a Maple Leaf. The best of his regular linemates, perhaps, was Gary Roberts, who had two 40-point seasons and one 50-point season as a Maple Leaf.
Related: Mats Sundin’s Impact on Toronto Hockey
The majority of Sundin’s work was done by himself, and it is remarkable that he still comes out on top as the Maple Leafs’ all-time goal-scoring (and points) leader. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2012.
No. 2: Darryl Sittler, 389 Goals
Known best for his record 10-point game in 1976 when he scored six goals and four assists, Darryl Sittler is second on our list.
Related: Darryl Sittler – Toronto Maples Legend
A first-round draft pick by the Maple Leafs in 1970, Sittler spent 12 seasons with the team before being traded to the Philadelphia Flyers. In those 12 seasons, he topped the 40-goal plateau four times, his highest goal-scoring total was in the 1977-78 season, when he recorded 45.
Sittler also holds the record for most hat tricks by a Maple Leafs player with 18. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1989.
No. 3: Dave Keon, 365 Goals
Hailed as the team’s greatest player of all time, Keon spent 15 seasons, almost his entire career, with the Maple Leafs, scoring 365 goals. His best season, in 1970-71, saw him score 38 goals.
Related: 7 Highly Questionable HHOF Selections
In his career with the Maple Leafs, Keon reached the 20-goal mark 11 times. Remarkably, he also accumulated a total of only 75 penalty minutes, by far the lowest of any of the Maple Leafs’ top-10 goal scorers (and second behind Syl Apps in the top 20).
Keon is an eight-time NHL All-Star, a two-time recipient of the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy, and a four-time Stanley Cup champion, including three straight victories. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1986.
No. 4: Ron Ellis, 332 Goals
Ellis spent the entirety of his 15-year NHL career with the Maple Leafs. His best season, in 1969-70, saw him register 35 goals. He reached the 20-goal plateau 11 times in his career, including 10 straight seasons.
Ellis is a four-time NHL All-Star, and won the Stanley Cup once with the Maple Leafs. He has not been inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame.
No. 5: Rick Vaive, 299 Goals
Becoming the first Maple Leafs player to score 50 goals in a season, Vaive scored 54 of his 299 goals in the blue and white in the 1980-81 season. That number still stands as the record for most goals in a season by any Maple Leafs player (although it was likely to have been broken by Auston Matthews during the 2019-20 season).
He would reach the 50-goal mark two more times, scoring 51 and 52 goals, respectively, in the following years. In his seven full seasons with the Maple Leafs, Vaive never scored less than 32 goals. He has not been inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame.
No. 6 (Tie): Frank Mahovlich, 296 Goals
Mahovlich spent 10 full seasons with the Maple Leafs before being traded to the Detroit Red Wings halfway through his eleventh. He was awarded the Calder Memorial Trophy in his rookie season with the team, scoring 20 goals and adding 16 assists in 67 games.
Mahovlich had success with the Maple Leafs for many seasons, his best in 1960-61, when he scored 48 goals. He reached the 30-goal plateau three more times after that.
Related: Top 10 All-Time European-Born NHL Forwards
With the Maple Leafs, he was a nine-time NHL All-Star, appearing every year from 1959 to 1968 with the exception of 1966. He won the Stanley Cup four times with the Maple Leafs, and two more times with his future teams. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1981.
No. 7 (Tie): George Armstrong, 296 Goals
Armstrong spent 21 years playing centre in the NHL, all of them with the Toronto Maple Leafs. Not known for being a prolific scorer, his best season saw him score 23 goals.
He was a well-respected, hard-working captain for the team for many years, a 7-time NHL All-Star, and four-time Stanley Cup champion. He still holds the record for most games played by a Maple Leaf to this day, with 1,187. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1979.
No. 8: Wendel Clark, 260 Goals
A first-overall pick by the Maple Leafs, former captain, and a long-time fan favourite, Clark is perhaps the Maple Leafs’ best power forward of all-time.
Clark was known for being extremely tough while still being capable of putting up respectable scoring numbers (when he wasn’t in the penalty box). He is third all-time in Maple Leafs PIMs, with 1535 PIMs in 608 games.
He scored 34 goals in his rookie season and improved on that with 37 in his sophomore year. Following that, he became the victim of injuries, playing in just 28, 15, and 38 games over the next three seasons. His best season came in 1993-94 when he scored 46 goals. He has not been inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame.
No. 9: Bob Pulford, 251 Goals
Pulford spent 14 seasons with the Maple Leafs, and perhaps his most famous moment was when he scored the 2OT winner in Game 3 of the 1967 Stanley Cup Final to give his team the 2-1 series lead.
Like a few others on this list, Pulford was not a very prolific goal scorer, but his time spent with the team is why he lands on the list. His best season came in 1965-66, when he scored 28 goals. He reached the 20-goal plateau four times with the Maple Leafs, but never scored below 11 in a season. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1991.
No. 10: Ted Kennedy, 230 Goals
At the halfway point of this list, we find Kennedy. The captain of the Maple Leafs throughout perhaps their greatest competitive era, he helped the team become the NHL’s second dynasty when they won four Stanley Cups in five years.
Known as an incredibly hard-working player, he spent his entire NHL career, 14 seasons, with the blue and white. His best season saw him score 29 goals in 1944-45, and he reached the 20-goal plateau five times.
He was the first NHL player (alongside teammate Turk Broda) to win five Stanley Cups. He is also the last Maple Leafs’ player to win the Hart Trophy, back in 1955. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1966.
No. 11: Lanny McDonald, 219 Goals
Known for his famous moustache, Lanny spent his NHL career split between the Calgary Flames and the Maple Leafs, including a brief stint with the Colorado Rockies in between.
His most consistent seasons came in the front half of his career with the Maple Leafs. His highest scoring season with the team came in 1977-78 when he netted 47 goals. That season was the second of three consecutive 40-goal campaigns and his second-best season production-wise outside of his 66-goal season with the Flames in 1982-83.
He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1992, and still sports the moustache to this day.
No. 12: Syl Apps, 201 Goals
The first Maple Leafs player to ever win the Calder Memorial Trophy, Apps spent his entire 10-year NHL career playing in Toronto.
Consistency was the name of the game for Apps, who registered six 20-goal seasons and three 15-goal seasons. His best, scoring-wise came during his last in the league, when he potted 26 goals.
A three-time Stanley Cup champion with the Maple Leafs, Apps was also a player of great character. He was awarded the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy in 1942 for his demeanour, and he only registered 56 PIMs throughout his career. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1961.
No. 13: Charlie Conacher, 200 Goals
Seen by many as one of, if not the greatest player to ever play for the Maple Leafs, Conacher played for the team for nine years. In an era of low scoring, he regularly scored 30 or more goals, registering four such seasons throughout his tenure.
In fact, with era-adjusted scoring, Conacher holds four of the top-10 spots in goals scored by a Maple Leafs player. His best season came in 1934-35 when he scored 36 goals. Adjusted for the era, however, his best season was in 1930-31 when he scored 62 era-adjusted goals.
He led the NHL in goal-scoring five times while with the Maple Leafs and led the league in points twice. He won the Stanley Cup once, in 1932. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1961.
No. 14: John Anderson, 189 Goals
Anderson spent eight seasons with the Maple Leafs in the late 70s and early 80s after being selected by the team in the first round of the 1977 Draft.
Throughout this high-scoring era, he registered four consecutive seasons of 30 goals or more. His best season came in 1983-84, when he scored 37 goals, finding success with teammates Rick Vaive and Bill Derlago on their acquisition by the Maple Leafs. He has not been inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame.
No. 15 (Tie): Busher Jackson, 186 Goals
Of the three ties, Jackson needed the fewest games to reach 186 goals. Known mostly in modern days for his off-ice struggles, he was a great player for the Maple Leafs throughout his 10 seasons with the team.
Consistency was key for Jackson, who put up five 20-goal seasons, including four consecutively. His best season came in 1931-32 when he scored 28 goals (era adjusted: 49), led the NHL in points with 53, and won the Stanley Cup. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1971.
No. 15 (Tie): Sid Smith, 186 Goals
Of the three tiies, Smith took the second-fewest games to reach 186 goals. He spent his entire NHL career with the Maple Leafs, spanning nine full seasons and three shortened seasons split with the Pittsburgh Hornets of the AHL and the Quebec Aces of the QSHL.
Regularly putting up 20-goal seasons, Smith’s best came in 1954-55 when he scored 33 goals. He reached the 30-goal plateau one other time, while reaching the 20-goal plateau for six consecutive seasons. He is a three-time Stanley Cup champion. He has not been inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame.
No. 15 (Tie): Ron Stewart, 186 Goals
Of the three ties, Stewart needed the most games to reach 186 goals. He spent over half of his NHL career with the Maple Leafs, totalling 13 full seasons.
Not a particularly skilled goal scorer, Stewart broke the 20-goal mark with the Maple Leafs just once, in 1958-59, scoring 21 goals. In spite of this, he still managed to score at least 13 goals in all but one season in Toronto. He is a three-time Stanley Cup champion with the team. He has not been inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame.
No. 18: Phil Kessel, 181 Goals
The only American and the most recent member of the Maple Leafs to grace this list, Kessel was an enigma from the moment he landed in Toronto. Perhaps one of the only bright spots through many miserable Maple Leafs seasons, Kessel was often criticized for his lack of defensive play.
In the six seasons he played with the team, he reached the 30-goal plateau four times. If not for the lockout-shortened season in 2012-13, he would’ve reached 30 that season as well. His best seasons scoring-wise came in 2011-12 and 2013-14 when he scored 37 goals.
Kessel was a two-time All-Star with the Maple Leafs, and never missed a game while playing with the team. He is still an active player in the NHL with the Arizona Coyotes, and as a result, he has not been inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame.
No. 19: Gary Leeman, 176 Goals
A first-round pick by the Maple Leafs in 1982, Leeman spent eight and a half seasons with the Maple Leafs in the 80s and early 90s before being traded to the Flames. By far, his most productive season with the team came in 1989-90 when he scored 51 goals (almost a third of his production with the team).
Outside of that season, he only managed to reach the 20-goal plateau three other times, in two of those he reached the 30-goal mark. He has not been inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame.
No. 20: Dick Duff, 176 Goals
The last player in our countdown, Duff spent roughly half of his hockey career playing with the Maple Leafs. He spent eight full seasons with the team, before being traded midway through his ninth season to the New York Rangers.
Duff reached the 15-goal plateau in all eight of the full seasons he played with the team and eclipsed 20 goals three times. His best season came when he scored 29 in 1958-59. He won two Stanley Cups with Toronto, in 1962 and 1963. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2006.
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