#2. Doug Gilmour (1982 NHL Entry Draft, 7th Round, 134th Overall)
Toronto’s Draft Pick: 7th Round, 129th Overall (Dominic Campedelli)
The Toronto Maple Leafs have had many future Hall-of-Famers from the 1980s NHL Entry Drafts play for them. They just never seem to start their career in Toronto, just like Gilmour.
Drafted in the seventh round, Gilmour is the biggest steal of the 1982 NHL Entry Draft. It’s a crime that there were 133 selections before him because Gilmour ended up leading the entire Draft Class in points.
The Leafs technically had 10 chances to draft Gilmour before St. Louis eventually took him with the 134th selection, but passed on him every time.
It wasn’t as if Gilmour came out of nowhere when he came into the NHL either. He made an impact right away with the Blues with three straight 20-plus goal seasons. From there, Gilmour would have three 100-plus point seasons, including two with the Maple Leafs.
Although Gilmour’s only Stanley Cup came in Calgary, he’ll be forever known as a Leaf. During a stretch from 1992-1994 when the Leafs went to back-to-back Conference Finals, Gilmour was one of the best players on the planet and finished second in Hart Trophy voting in the 1992-93 season.
Although the Leafs missed on Gilmour in the NHL Entry Draft, thankfully they eventually acquired him in a trade because he is one of the most beloved Leafs of all-time.
#1. Teemu Selanne (1988 NHL Entry Draft, 1st Round, 10th Overall)
Toronto’s Draft Pick: 1st Round, 6th Overall (Scott Pearson)
This one stings as the Leafs missed out on a future 684 career goal scorer in the 1988 NHL Entry Draft.
Selanne, or the “Finnish Flash”, burst on the scene in the 1992-93 season winning the Calder Trophy as rookie of the year. It was a season to remember, as Selanne scored 76 goals and 132 points. That season of 76 goals as a rookie is still the NHL record, and will be an almost impossible record to beat.
Now let’s take a seat back. In 1988, the Leafs missed out on Selanne in the first round, Blake in the second round and Mogilny in the fifth round. For a Leafs team that was already so powerful in the early 90s, these three players would have made the Leafs the most unstoppable team in the NHL.
Selanne and Mogilny both had 76 goals in the 92-93 season! The amount of firepower that the Leafs would have had possessed would have been incredible. They would have been the Harlem Globetrotters of the NHL at that point.
As his career continued, Selanne played a key part in Anaheim’s Stanley Cup victory in 2007 and was a 10-time NHL All-Star. Not only that, but the Hockey Hall-of-Fame came calling in 2017 where he became only the second Finnish-player inducted.
Although every name on this list would have been a huge contributor to the Leafs, Selanne was the biggest miss by the Leafs in the 1980s.