On This Day February 1st.

Conn Smythe

February 1: On this day in 1895, the legendary Conn Smythe was born in Toronto, Ontario. In February of 1927, Smythe purchased the Toronto St. Pats of the NHL and renamed the team the Maple Leafs. He presided as head coach of the Leafs for four seasons until early in the 1930 season when he hired Art Duncan as his replacement. Smythe and fellow financier J. P. Bickell (second from the right below) raised the money needed to build Maple Leaf Gardens which opened in 1931. Conn Smythe ran the Leafs operation through to the early 1960's as coach, General Manager, President and

Art John Arthur Duncan

Owner-Governor. A trophy was presented to the NHL by the Maple Leafs in 1964 in honor of Conn Smythe and is awarded to the MVP in the playoffs. Jean Beliveau of the Montreal Canadiens was its first winner in 1965 and as of 2008, Dave Keon has been the only Leaf to win the Conn Smythe trophy which he earned in 1967. Conn Smythe was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1958.

Dignitaries gathered to lay the cornerstone of Maple Leaf Gardens. Left to right: William MacBrien (former president of the Maple Leafs), Ed Bickle (vice-president of Maple Leaf Gardens), W.D. Ross (lieutenant-governor of Ontario), Reverend Dr. John Inkster, J.P. Bickell (president of Maple Leaf Gardens), and Victor Ross (a director of Maple Leaf Gardens). Source: The Mail and Empire, September 21, 1931. (side note - The Mail and Empire was formed from the 1895 merger of The Toronto Mail and Toronto Empire newspapers, both conservative newspapers in Toronto, Canada. The paper then merged with The Globe to form the The Globe and Mail in 1936). Photo by arc23 from the Torontoist Flickr Pool.

February 1: On this day in 1955,Hap Day appointed only the second general manager in team history. He would become the only man to serve as team captain, coach, and general manager.

Dick Frank Gamble

February 1: On this day in 1967, Dick Gamble played his first and only NHL game of the 1966-67 season on left wing for the Leafs as a replacement for the injured Frank Mahovlich. It was also his last game in the NHL. The Leafs were hammered 7-1 by the Canadiens. A former Stanley Cup champion with the Canadiens, Gamble played a total of 3 games as a Leaf over two seasons. He had one goal.

Bernie Parent

February 1: On this day in 1971, the Leafs acquired goaltender Bernie Parent from the Philadelphia Flyers with a 2nd round draft choice for Bruce Gamble, Mike Walton and Toronto's 1st round choice (Pierre Plante) in the 1971 Amateur Draft. Parent played 65 games with the Leafs over the next year with a record of 24-25-12 and a 2.59 G.A.A. before leaving the Leafs in 1972 to become the first Leaf to defect from the NHL and jump to the World Hockey Association.

WHA Logo 1972/73 - 1978/79

After a brief stint in the now defunct WHA he wanted to return to the NHL but did not wish to play for Toronto who still held his rights. He was accomodated with a trade back to Philly where he won two consecutive Vezina trophies, two consecutive Stanley Cups and two consecutive Conn Smythe trophies in 1974 and 1975. Bernie Parent was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1984.

On This Day January 2nd.

Jim Harrison 4 assists in a 13-0 romp over Detroit. Photo by Mike Moore private collection.

January 2: On this day in 1971, the Leafs inflicted the worst defeat that the Detroit Red Wings ever suffered in their history. The Leafs scored 13 unanswered goals and came within one of tying a team record for the most goals in one game (14) set in 1957. They did set a team record with 7 goals in the third period. most assists (11) in one period. most points (18). Final score - Leafs 13, Wings 0. Jacques Plante and Bruce Gamble shared the shutout in nets. Former Wings, Norm Ullman and Paul Henderson each had two goals and two assists. Jim Harrison had four assists, two of them on goals scored by a rookie named Darryl Sittler.

January 2: On this day in 1980, the Leafs began a new decade with a 3-1 loss to the New York Islanders. The 1979-80 season was the first of ten consecutive seasons that the Leafs would finish with a losing record in the 21-team NHL. In the calendar 10 year period between January 1, 1980 and December 31, 1989, the Leafs compiled a dismal regular season record of W-228, L-410, T-87 for a winning percentage of just .374 and better than only the Colorado Rockies/New Jersey Devils. In the 1980's, the Leafs allowed 593 more goals than they scored.

Doug Gilmour (aka) "Killer"

January 2: On this day in 1992, the Leafs and the Calgary Flames conducted the largest regular season trade in NHL history. The Leafs sent Gary Leeman, Michel Petit, Jeff Reese, Craig Berube and Alexander Godynyuk to Calgary in exchange for Doug Gilmour, Jamie Macoun and Rick Wamsley. The key prize in the deal turned out to be Doug Gilmour who led the Leafs in scoring for the next three straight seasons including an all-time Leaf record high of 127 points in 1992-93. Gilmour also had an all-time high of 77 career playoff points as a Leaf.

Jeff Brown

January 2: On this day in 1998, the Leafs acquired defenseman Jeff Brown from Carolina for a 4th round draft choice. Brown played in just 19 games as a Leaf before being traded a couple of months later to Washington where he ended his NHL career of 747 regular season games and a very respectable total of 584 points, 9 of which were with the Leafs.

Brian McCabe

January 2: On this day in 2006, Chad Kilger scored the first two Leaf goals of the new calendar year and Bryan McCabe scored the overtime winner as the Leafs defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins 3-2. As at the end of the 2006-07 season, the Leafs have an all-time winning record against the Penguins of W-64, L-62, T-17, O/L-0. The Leafs have a perfect series record of 3-0 in the three times the two teams have met in the playoffs.