Rigamarole - A Foot In The Crease - Episode 4.20

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On Saturday night, for the second time this season, the Toronto Maple Leafs will enshrine another player in the rafters of Air Canada Centre by raising the banner of Doug Gilmour, officially honouring number 93 for his years with the team – years that were quite clearly his best as a National Hockey League player.

Unlike earlier in the season when the same honour was bestowed upon Wendel Clark, there really is little room to argue Gilmour’s place among the other Leaf legends whose banners also hang from the ACC rafters. Not only was Gilmour a hugely popular player during his tenure in Toronto, his numbers over his first two seasons with the Maple Leafs stand in a league of their own when compared with other Leaf greats. No other Leafs numbers can equal the 301 points Gilmour racked up during 1993 and 1994 campaigns through any other two year stretch. To reach a total that lofty, most other Leafs needed at least four seasons to achieve a similar mark.

Before coming to the Maple Leafs midway through the 1991-1992 season in one of the most lopsided trades in NHL history, Gilmour was a good but not great player. The same applies following his departure. But for those two springs in 1993 and 1994 that saw the Leafs go on two magical playoff runs, Gilmour was just that himself: magical, arguably the best player the NHL had to offer.

The next player to join Gilmour and the other honoured Maple Leafs should be Rick Vaive. Three consecutive fifty goal seasons and one of the best players during a very dark decade in Maple Leaf history, today the team longs for a player to have three consecutive thirty goal seasons. Following that, don’t expect any more players to be honoured until…can you say Mats Sundin? Whenever it is the Maple Leafs have decided enough time as passed. But hey, all that was just rigamarole.