Update on the Sons of Toronto Maple Leafs Legend Doug Gilmour

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The Gilmour family has been entrenched in all of hockey for decades, not just the Toronto Maple Leafs.

While Toronto Maple Leafs fans may only recognize the name of the man who was once a hero in the city, Doug Gilmour, there are other Gilmours who have paved their own hockey paths.

Doug actually took up the sport after his brother Dave Gilmour was well established within it.

Dave is 12 years older and was already playing Tier I Junior A hockey for the Peterborough Petes when Doug was just four years old. When Doug was seven, Dave was drafted to the Vancouver Canucks. He was a sixth-round draft pick in 1970, going 72nd overall. (That’s an early third round selection today.)

Though Dave did play professionally, he didn’t ever dress for a contest with the Canucks. The height of his career came in 1973-74 when he played for the Baltimore Clippers in the AHL. In 73 regular season games, he recorded 34 goals and 31 assists for a total of 65 points.

Killer and the Toronto Maple Leafs

Doug was drafted to the NHL later than his brother. He was a seventh-round selection in 1982. The St. Louis Blues took him 134th overall. Doug, however, was significantly more successful.

Doug played 20 years in the NHL, seven of them were with the Toronto Maple Leafs, the most of any of the seven franchises he spent time with. Known as “Killer”, he played a total of 393 games for the Leafs where he collected 452 points on 131 goals and 321 assists.

The Leafs recognized Gilmour’s greatness when they named him to their top 100 players of all-time in 2016. He was ranked as the organization’s 13th best player to ever wear the blue and white. The team recognized Gilmour with their highest honour in 2009. That’s when they raised his number 93 to the rafters of the arena. In 2011, Gilmour was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame.

Though he has been retired for many years, the Gilmour legacy continues with Doug’s sons.

2011 Hall of Fame inductee Doug Gilmour takes part in a photo opportunity at the Hockey Hall Of Fame on November 14, 2011 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images) /

Jake Gilmour

Doug has four children. His two boys took to hockey and have played competitively.

His older son, Jake, was born in 1996 while Doug was playing in Toronto. Jake was six months old when Doug was traded to the New Jersey Devils along with Dave Ellett in exchange for Jason Smith, Steve Sullivan, and the rights to Alyn McCauley.

Jake made it to the OHL, where he was drafted by his father, the GM of the Kingston Frontenacs. Doug, made an interesting transaction that brought a lot of attention.

He traded Jake away to the Niagara IceDogs. It was a move to give his son a better opportunity to crack an OHL lineup. Jake was fortunate to return to his dad and the Kingston Frontenacs a year later.

When the elder Gilmour son was finished with junior hockey, he spent a year scouting for the Frontenacs. He then went to Australia to play professionally. That lasted one season with the Perth Thunder. Jake then went a different direction with the sport entirely.

Jake began coaching children. He worked with the Mississauga Reps and North York Knights. He also traded in his playing jersey for a striped one, as he patrolled the ice as a referee.

According to Linked In, today, Jake works as a film lighting specialist. As a grip, he is responsible for operating and overseeing the equipment that lifts or hoists cameras and lighting. Jake is also a member of ACTRA, which means he spends time in front of the camera as well.

Doug Gilmour #93 of the Toronto Maple Leafs Alumni (Photo by Claus Andersen/Getty Images) /

Tyson Gilmour

Tyson is Jake’s younger brother. He was born during the offseason when Doug transitioned between playing for the Devils and the Chicago Blackhawks. Despite his father being employed in America, Tyson was born in East York, Ontario, a borough of Toronto.

Now, age 24, turning 25 at the end of August, he is still active in the sport.

Unlike Jake, Tyson played his junior hockey outside the OHL. However, it may not be surprising that like his brother, Tyson’s general manager father drafted him as well. Tyson’s name was called in the 2014 OHL Priority Selection. He was a ninth round pick,178th overall.

Instead of joining his dad in Kingston, Tyson played in the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League (NOJHL) for the Powassan VooDoos. By staying out of Major Junior, he was eligible to play in the NCAA.

Tyson capitalized on his hockey talent and went to pursue a degree at SUNY Geneseo in Geneseo, NY (south of Rochester). There, he plays for the school’s tier III NCAA men’s hockey team, the Knights.

In his first season at Geneseo, Tyson won the State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) championships. The Knights repeated the feat again two years later. (There was no champion in 2020-21 due to the closure caused by COVID-19.) The school captured four SUNYAC title victories in five years.

In his three seasons in Geneseo, Tyson has played a total of 76 games. He’s recorded 20 goals and 42 assists for a sum of 62 points. Time will tell where Tyson goes next with the sport.

Evan McGrath

Doug’s oldest child is his daughter Maddison. Even she couldn’t stray from the family business. She has shared a photo of herself on the ice as a child wearing a hockey helmet and gloves with a stick in hand and figure skates.

While hockey wasn’t Maddison’s chosen vocation, it is her husband’s. She is married to hockey player, Evan McGrath. That makes McGrath Doug’s son-in-law.

Unlike Gilmour’s biological sons, McGrath was drafted to the NHL. That came in 2004, when he was a Detroit Red Wings fourth round draft choice, going 128th overall. The 37-year-old center didn’t make it beyond the AHL.

After four years of trying to break through the AHL ceiling, McGrath went to play in Sweden. He was there for five years before spending a year in Switzerland. In 2016-17 McGrath moved to the ICE Hockey League in Austria and then continued his tour of Europe the following season playing in Germany. 2018-19 was McGrath’s final season overseas when he played in the British Elite League in the United Kingdom.

According to Linked In, McGrath came back to Niagara, ON and began working in a very different industry. He started to and continues to offer his clients assistance as a wealth advisor. Despite the work he does, McGrath remains closely connected to hockey. He returned to the OHL this year for the first time since he played for the Kitchener Rangers.

McGrath was hired by Jake’s former team, the IceDogs. They hired him to join their Operations team in a Player Development role.

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Hopefully for Niagara, McGrath can help them win a Memorial Cup, just like he did with the Rangers.

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