Since the start of the new year, the NHL has been releasing “quarter century teams” and even released one for the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Their format has taken the annual first/second-team all-star format with two lines worth of players; three forwards, two defensemen and a goalie. I understand and appreciate this but I thought about it and felt that I wanted to go a little deeper. So, I decided to create a full 23-man(ish) roster more reminiscent of a National Team.
This exercise has been a fun nostalgic trip for me, as someone who grew up and first fell in love with hockey in the mid-late 2000's. I saw the Muskoka Five as a child, lived through the Burke/Nonis years in elementary and into high school and then have been an adult for the Matthews years.
I attempted to put the forwards in accurate spots, so if one player happens to be lower in the lineup than you may have expected, that is because of their true position. I also tried to create lines based on the "eras" that each player played through. On the blueline, it was a little tougher to make true position-based pairings but I attempted to do this where possible.
Now that we have the housekeeping out of the way, here is my Toronto Maple Leafs quarter-century roster.
All stats and information via hockey-reference.com