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Toronto Maple Leafs All-Decade Team Roundtable

ByPhilip Van Riesen|
TORONTO, ON - MARCH 10: Kasperi Kapanen #24 of the Toronto Maple Leafs celebrates after scoring on Tristan Jarry #35 of the Pittsburgh Penguins during the first period at the Air Canada Centre on March 10, 2018 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Phil Kessel #81 of the Pittsburgh Penguins skates behind Kapanen. (Photo by Mark Blinch/NHLI via Getty Images)
TORONTO, ON - MARCH 10: Kasperi Kapanen #24 of the Toronto Maple Leafs celebrates after scoring on Tristan Jarry #35 of the Pittsburgh Penguins during the first period at the Air Canada Centre on March 10, 2018 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Phil Kessel #81 of the Pittsburgh Penguins skates behind Kapanen. (Photo by Mark Blinch/NHLI via Getty Images)
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WINNIPEG, CANADA – JANUARY 3: Phil Kessel #81 of the Toronto Maple Leafs plays the puck down the ice during second period action against the Winnipeg Jets on January 3, 2015 at the MTS Centre in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. The Jets defeated the Leafs 5-1. (Photo by Lance Thomson/NHLI via Getty Images)
WINNIPEG, CANADA – JANUARY 3: Phil Kessel #81 of the Toronto Maple Leafs plays the puck down the ice during second period action against the Winnipeg Jets on January 3, 2015 at the MTS Centre in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. The Jets defeated the Leafs 5-1. (Photo by Lance Thomson/NHLI via Getty Images)

Joseph Zita

The reasoning behind this specific lineup for the all-decade team of the 2010s for the Toronto Maple Leafs is simply because the Toronto Maple Leafs were not known for having countless superstars on their team, and these specific guys, in my opinion, are the best in my eyes.

JVR – Matthews – Kessel

MacArthur – Tavares – Marner

Kulemin – Kadri – Nylander

Marleau/Grab – Bozak – Lupul

Rielly – Franson

Phaneuf – Gardiner

Gunnarsson- Hainsey

Andersen

Reimer

Forwards:

The list of these forwards from this past decade has been the most successful in my eyes, every single one of them has had at least 1 season where they scored 20+ goals and also contributed on the score sheet in other ways as well.

A lot of these players have also been a part of the Leafs towards the latter part of the decade and also include some current players on the team right now. You got guys like Matthews, Tavares, and JVR who are and were pure goal scorers for this Maple Leafs team.

Looking at the D core that I have picked for the decade, similar to the forwards these are the most successful D men in my opinion.

Either being successful on the scoresheet or just played a factor on the team being a leader and being liked around the locker room. The likes of Rielly, Gardiner, Franson, and Phaneuf are your guys who put up monster numbers as a defenceman.

Guys such as Gunnarsson were your depth guy but still played a big factor for this team. Lastly, guys like Hainsey and I’ll throw Phaneuf in their too, those guys were your leaders, Phaneuf as captain for a couple of years and Hainsey as a veteran leader for the team for the last couple of years before signing in Ottawa as a free agent in 2019.

Lastly, for the goalies, I had to include Frederik Andersen in my all-decade team, although he is only in his fourth year with the team he is already one of the best Leaf goalies in recent memories.

Fastest European goalie to reach 200 wins as well, and the amount of workload he takes while playing for this team and he is so calm, cool, and collected, I had to add him.

James Reimer as well, he came in as a young goalie and played great while he was here in Toronto, unfortunately, he wasn’t on any good Maple Leaf teams but we did make the playoffs with him in 2012-13.

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