Who is your favourite Toronto Maple Leaf of all time?

We know there is not a lot going on these days as teams are pretty much stuck in neutral pending the outcome of the ongoing CBA dispute between the owners and players.  I know we have KHL, AHL, junior hockey options, of course, but NHL player movement has been shut down, aside from those who have scurried off to Europe.  (GM’s had no doubt been told weeks ago to hold back on anything too outlandish until we all see what the new CBA will look like, thus the relative lack of signings and roster action in August and early September- and not just in Toronto...)

That being the case, I asked yesterday for your thoughts on your current-day "favourite" Maple Leaf. I thought it might be a fun conversation to have.  Today is more up my alley:  whether you have been a Leaf fans for five years or fifty years (I'm in the latter category...), who was your favorite Leaf of all time, and why?

Not long ago in this space, I asked you to identify Leafs past and present who you thought of as truly "classy" Leafs on and off the ice.  Today I'm looking for your all-time “favourite”  as a Leaf follower. It does not have to be the best player on the team in whatever era they played—it just has to be your own personal favourite, no one else’s.

While you're at it, let me know why that player has remained your favourite.

I long ago declared here that mine was Dave Keon.  It just so happened that my falling in love with hockey  - and the Maple Leafs back in the late 1950s - nicely coincided with a number of really solid young players joining the blue and white as they were on the verge of becoming a really good team.  Ed Chadwick (see the great old late 1950s "posed" photo at left), the fine goaltender who I also mentioned yesterday, was probably my first real “favourite” player.  However names like Frank Mahovlich and Dickie Duff soon became important names to me as well.  And of course, like thousands of other kids, I jumped on the Dave Keon bandwagon as a 7 year-old when Keon, at the age of 20, joined the team for the 1960-’61 season and became an instant favourite (to thousands of Canadian kids, not just me) because of his speed, tenacity, and skill.

I’ve had other players through the years that were special to me.  However none, in all honesty, captured my passion and devoted rooting interest quite like the diminutive Leaf center, who sadly had to leave the Leafs after the 1974-’75 season because then owner Harold Ballard wanted to move he and Normie Ullman out.  Keon had contributed to those four Leaf Stanley Cups in the 1960s, and had become the distinguished captain of the franchise for several years.  But Ballard did not offer him a real contract in the summer of 1975 and Keon reluctantly had to leave for the World Hockey Association. (That's one of those fine old Harold Barkley game-action photos at right, showing a very young Keon in action with the Leafs...)

But I’ve had my say here before on this topic.  I want to hear from you!

(Quick aside:  after yesterday's post, I promised I would declare my "guy" today when it comes to the current Leaf team.  Well, Kulemin has been one for the past few seasons, as frustrating as the 2011-'12 season was for him.  But if I had to select only one current Leaf as my favourite, it would be Carl Gunnarsson.  I just like the way he plays, and he seems to be a good teammate and a solid citizen. And he's the closest thing we have to Lidstrom...)

We'd normally, in early October, be gearing up for the start of a new NHL season.  But we don't have that to chat about.  So today is really about going back through your own memory bank.  I’d really enjoy it if you took a moment to think back through your years as a Leaf fan and share who your favourite Leaf of all-time is- and why.