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Top 5 Most Hated Toronto Maple Leafs Members of All-Time

By Stephen Nixon

BOSTON, MA - APRIL 21: Jake Gardiner #51 of the Toronto Maple Leafs reacts after Sean Kuraly #52 of the Boston Bruins scored during the second period of Game Five of the Eastern Conference First Round in the 2018 Stanley Cup play-offs at TD Garden on April 21, 2018 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)
BOSTON, MA - APRIL 21: Jake Gardiner #51 of the Toronto Maple Leafs reacts after Sean Kuraly #52 of the Boston Bruins scored during the second period of Game Five of the Eastern Conference First Round in the 2018 Stanley Cup play-offs at TD Garden on April 21, 2018 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images) /
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Toronto Maple Leafs
WINNIPEG, MB – JANUARY 3: David Clarkson #71 of the Toronto Maple Leafs . (Photo by Marianne Helm/Getty Images) /

#3. David Clarkson

Is there a bigger fall from grace than the David Clarkson signing? Here’s a player that signed a seven-year contract worth $36.75M and ended up only playing 118 career games in the blue-and-white.

When he was first introduced, people were calling him the next Wendel Clark. Clarkson idolized #17 growing up and even wore #71 as a tribute to him. As one of the biggest free agent signings that off-season, Clarkson seemed like a great piece for a Leafs team that just made the playoffs the year prior.

Although Clarkson had once scored 30-goals in an NHL season, that wasn’t a typical season for him. 10-15 goals with 30 points was the normal year for Clarkson, which included multiple fights and a lot of hits. I really don’t know how the Toronto Maple Leafs thought Clarkson was worth $5.25M per season, or to compare it to a current player, $250K more than Morgan Rielly.

The narrative of the hometown kid who loves Wendel Clark was awesome, but he unfortunately wasn’t a very good hockey player. After getting suspended for the first 10 games of his Toronto Maple Leafs career for leaving the bench to fight, things continued to spiral out of control. He was essentially making $1M per goal, as he finished with five goals and 15 points in his first season in Toronto.

He may have doubled his goal-total one year later but that wasn’t enough for Toronto to keep him, as they traded him at the NHL deadline that year. It was sad to watch but fans went from loving him to hating him in only a few months.

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