Leafs pay tribute to Doug Gilmour

There were 20 players wearing Maple Leafs uniforms with No. 93 during warmups for Toronto's game against Pittsburgh on Saturday night. They did so to honor the last Leaf to wear that number -- Doug Gilmour, whose number was raised to the rafters of the Air Canada Centre in a pregame ceremony.

After watching the banner-raising, Gilmour dropped the puck in a ceremonial faceoff between Toronto forward Nik Antropov and Pittsburgh captain Sidney Crosby.

In a short but emotional speech, Gilmour, flanked by his family and parents, thanked several people, including former Toronto coach Pat Burns and former Leafs general manager (and current team executive) Cliff Fletcher, the man who brought Gilmour to Toronto in a 10-player trade with the Calgary Flames in 1992.

"I want to say thank you to the fans. You guys cheered us each and every night. You inspired our hockey club to make us that much better. … I love you, God bless you all, thank you," Gilmour told the crowd.

Gilmour, 45, is the 17th player to have his jersey raised to the rafters by the Maple Leafs. Other notable players who have been honored include Johnny Bower (1), Red Kelly (4), King Clancy (7), Tim Horton (7), George Armstrong (10), Wendel Clark (17), Borje Salming (21), and Darryl Sittler (27). Only two numbers, Bill Barilko's No. 5 and Ace Bailey's No. 6, are officially retired and not issued.

Gilmour was a seventh-round pick (No. 134) by the St. Louis Blues in the 1982 NHL Entry Draft, but is perhaps best known for his time with the Leafs. He played with Toronto from 1991-97 and twice helped the club reach the conference finals (1993 and 1994).

Gilmour, who earned the nickname "Killer" for his relentlessness and intensity, had 452 points in 392 games with the Maple Leafs. He set team records for career playoff points (77) and assists (60) in just 52 postseason games, established single season-records for points (127) and assists (95) in 1992-93, and collected a club-record six assists in one regular-season game.



The Kingston, Ont., native retired with 450 goals and 1,414 points with 1,299 penalty minutes in 1,474 games during 23 NHL seasons with St. Louis, Calgary, Toronto, New Jersey, Chicago, Buffalo and Montreal. He won a Stanley Cup with the Flames in 1989 and was awarded the Frank J. Selke Trophy as the NHL's best defensive forward in 1993, during his time with the Maple Leafs.
 
Gilmour retired in September 2003 after his second tenure in Toronto was cut short by injury. He took a front-office job with the Maple Leafs after his playing career and currently coaches the Ontario Hockey League's Kingston Frontenacs.

During a conference call on Thursday, Gilmour was especially was proud of the time he spent in Toronto, especially playing for Burns, who's now battling cancer.

"Burnsie was so mentally prepared going into (the 1992-93 season) because of his focus and what he expected from us," Gilmour said. "Look at Wendel (Clark's) performance on the ice, his commitment and the guts that he had. You look at Mike Foligno, Mike Krushelnyski, Glenn Anderson, Sylvain Lefebvre, Bob Rouse and Jamie Macoun, great in the room and great people as well.

"We all had a role. We knew when we had to play. Ken Baumgartner had a role that was so important to our hockey club. Look at Bill Berg and Mark Osbourne, what they did for us. My linemates, 90 percent of the time I played with Dave Andreychuk and Nikolai Borschevsky, but in the third period, it might be Anderson and Clark. Burnsie put the guys together, we just went with it."

Gilmour arrived in Toronto on Jan. 2, 1992, with Macoun, Ric Nattress, Kent Manderville and Rick Wamsley in a trade with the Flames for Gary Leeman, Craig Berube, Michel Petit, Jeff Reese and Alexander Godynyuk.

The trade was engineered by Fletcher, who had been fired by Calgary the previous year and was in his first season as Leafs GM. While running the Flames, Fletcher had traded with St. Louis to get Gilmour in 1988.

Gilmour set three Maple Leafs records in 1992-93, posting 95 assists and 127 points, plus his six-assist single-game performance.

He led the Leafs to the Campbell Conference finals after seven-game series victories against the Detroit Red Wings and the Blues. The Maple Leafs fell to the Los Angeles Kings and Wayne Gretzky in one of the greatest non-Stanley Cup Final playoff series of all time.

The next season, Gilmour led the Maple Leafs back to the conference finals, where they lost to Vancouver after defeating Chicago and San Jose.

Gilmour had 27 goals and 111 points that season, and 28 points in 18 Stanley Cup Playoff games.

"I think it was the lunch-box work ethic we had as a team," Gilmour said. "We were all young, most of us in our mid-to-late 20s, and it was an awesome time to be part of it.

"It was one team I can say that there was no animosity or jealousy. We hung together off the ice and on the ice. The leadership of the players and coaching staff was just amazing."

Fletcher's first move as general manager was to hire Burns as coach. Gilmour immediately was impressed.

"Before training camp, I had the opportunity to meet Pat Burns and he told me what he wanted from me. It was point blank and I went into that season mentally prepared," Gilmour said. "I think that's what made my time there uplifting. ... He did make me overachieve."