Dave Keon has received the recognition he so richly deserved leading up to the home opener of the Toronto Maple Leafs centennial season.
The four-time Stanley Cup champion was immortalized with a bronze statue on Legend’s Row along with fellow Hockey Hall-of-Famers Walter “Turk” Broda and Tim Horton on Thursday.
On Friday, the native of Rouyn-Noranda, QC was selected by 31-member committee made up of prominent members of the hockey community and fans as the greatest Leafs player of the past 100 years.
The top five players on the club’s all-time list were centers; Keon, Syl Apps, Ted “Teeder” Kennedy, Darryl Sittler and Mats Sundin.
Horton was acknowledged as the highest ranked defenseman in team history(#6), just ahead of Borje Salming(#8). Johnny Bower was the top goaltender (#7), with five-time Cup winning netminder Broda ranked #10. The only winger in top 10 was Frank Mahovlich at #9.
Only two players in the top 20 of the list are not currently members of the Hockey Hall of Fame; wingers Wendel Clark(#15) and Rick Vaive (#20).
Prominent players who played in Toronto during their period of playoff futility also made the list. Tomas Kaberle was ranked #37, Phil Kessel #48, Bryan McCabe #63, Darcy Tucker #70, Dion Phaneuf #88 and Tie Domi #93.
Winger James van Riemsdyk is the only current member of the Maple Leafs on the list, at #100.
Bower (who won four Cups from 1962 – 1967) was listed atop a group of 10 goaltenders at #7, with Broda at #10, Curtis Joseph (#35), Terry Sawchuk (#43), Felix Potvin (#45), Harry Lumley (#47), Lorne Chabot (#51), Mike Palmateer (#58), Ed Belfour (#71), George Hainsworth (#81).
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