2. Eddie Shack
Eddie Shack had two stints with the Toronto Maple Leafs. The first began in the 1960-61 season and lasted seven years. When Shack was 23 for that first season with the club, he didn’t have his lip toupee yet. When he did grow in his mustache, it became an iconic look.
In his older age, now 83 years old, Shack has grown out a gunslinger mustache and paired it with a beard. In order to fully complete the look, Shack now also sports a cowboy hat.
1. Lanny McDonald
Lanny McDonald tops the list with the best flavor saver in franchise history. He was seen with his ‘stache styled two ways, with a style known as the wild west as well as the walrus. Now, at 67 years old, fans could get a glimpse of McDonald’s mouth mane at alumni events.
McDonald was a first-round, fourth overall pick in the 1973 NHL Amateur Draft for the Maple Leafs. He spent seven highly efficient seasons with the club before general manager Punch Imlach traded him away. It was an act that McDonald believed was done out of spite. Imlach and McDonald didn’t get along.
In response to seeing a beloved player sent to the Colorado Rockies, Leafs fans gathered in front of Maple Leaf Gardens to picket the injustice. His friend and teammate Darryl Sittler resigned his captaincy as his own form of protest.
There might be something about captains and mustaches as McDonald was given a “C” for his jersey while with the only other teams he played for, the Rockies and Calgary Flames. Once he retired from playing, the Flames hired him to work as an executive in the organization.
McDonald was the first player in Flames history to have his number retired. His number nine can be seen hanging from the rafters today in Calgary. He was also inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1992 after playing 1111 NHL games, scoring 500 goals and 506 assists for a total of 1006 points.
There has been a great deal of excellent face furniture in Leafs history. With Matthews making his pencil mustache popular, it’s possible that a whole new generation of future Toronto based players dress their lip with some muzzle fuzz when they go to the rink.