#1. Doug Gilmour Joins Leafs in Blockbuster Deal
The Trade:
- Toronto Maple Leafs acquire: Doug Gilmour, Jamie Macoun, Kent Manderville, Ric Nattress and Rick Wamsley
- Calgary Flames acquire: Craig Berube, Alexander Godynyuk, Gary Leeman, Michel Petit and Jeff Reese
There was a lot of moving parts in this trade, but the main focus is that the Toronto Maple Leafs acquired Doug Gilmour, who is arguably more loved than any other player in team history.
To this day, the Gilmour #93 jersey is probably the most-worn sweater at Scotiabank Arena of a player not currently on the roster, and it makes sense why. Once Gilmour arrived in Toronto, he instantly become a superstar.
His first two full seasons in the Blue-and-White are two of the best seasons in Toronto Maple Leafs history. Gilmour finished with 127 points in his first full season, which is still the highest single-season point total in Leafs history.
During those two years from 1992-1994, Gilmour was on-top of the hockey world. He was one of the top-five players in the NHL and put the team on his back, all the way to the Western Conference Finals. Gilmour kept his incredible regular season going into the playoffs, finishing with 35 points in 21 playoff games, as his team came ever so close to making the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time since 1967.
The buzz around the city was electric and Gilmour was the reason for it. The team had some good players, but he was the best by a mile, finishing with 53 more points than the second-highest scoring player on the team. To put him into comparison, he was kind of like Nathan MacKinnon with the Colorado Avalanche this season, putting the team on his back.
The ability to get Gilmour for those two magical seasons alone, makes this the greatest trade in team history.