No. 4 – Al Iafrate
Coming in at number 4 is Al Iafrate.
The Michigan native was scooped up by the Leafs at 4th overall in the 1984 NHL draft and immediately made an impact at the NHL level.
Throughout his seven year, 472 game tenure in Toronto, Iafrate scored 81 goals and 250 points, which is good for 8th all-time in Leafs history (for defenders) (via Quant Hockey and Hockey Reference ).
Not to be forgotten, the Leafs finished below .500 for 6 of Iafrate’s 7 years in Toronto (per NHL.com ,to be absolutely fair, it was a different era, in which the majority of the NHL were statistically terrible but still made the playoffs).
Overall Iafrate was able to become a game changing player on some of the least impressive rosters ever iced in Leafs history, which spear-heads him to this position on this list.
Iafrate played seven seasons for the Leafs, and it’s a shame that he left the club just as they were turning it around. In 1992-93, when the Doug Gilmour led Leafs were making a run to the Finals, Iafrate had a career year with the Capitals, scoring 25 goals and 66 points.