30 Years of Toronto Maple Leafs All-Stars-Part 2: 1994-2016
By Dan Rankin
With the 2015-2016 All-Star Game set to take place in Nashville for the first time on January 31, we look back at 30 years of Toronto Maple Leafs All-Stars.
Part 2: 1994-2016
1994 – Gone were the titles of “Campbell Conference” and “Wales Conference” at Madison Square Garden in New York. Toronto’s stars, now representing the West, found themselves on the losing side as the East won 9-8.
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Felix Potvin – selected by fan vote – started in net for the West in place of an injured Ed Belfour, while reserves from Toronto included left-winger Dave Andreychuk and Doug Gilmour. Wendel Clark was also selected to the Western team but did not play.
Yes, following their 1993 Conference Final run, four Maple Leafs got All-Star nods. That’s something that hadn’t happened since 1968 when the whole team played in the All-Star game as defending Cup champs. St. Louis Blues goalie and future Leaf Curtis Joseph got the loss in net for the West. Andreychuk had a goal, while he and Gilmour both assisted on a goal by Paul Coffey.
1994 Playoffs: Third-seeded Toronto, who started the season with a 10-game winning streak, knocks off Chicago and San Jose on its way back to the Western Conference Finals. The Vancouver Canucks then soundly stomp them out, four games to one.
1995 – No All-Star Game is held due to a lockout-shortened season, though Toronto’s 1993 12th overall pick, blueliner Kenny Jönsson, is named to the All-Rookie Team for the year.
1995 Playoffs: In the first round, Toronto loses in seven games to Chicago.
1996 – Boston hosts, with another Toronto vet taking home a notable Skills Competition honour; Mike Gartner is named Fastest Skater. There are no Leafs starters, although Gartner, Larry Murphy, Potvin and Mats Sundin are all named to the Western squad – which lost 5-4.
Sundin had an assist in his first of nine All-Star selections, but no other Leafs wound up on the scoresheet… besides Potvin, who got the loss.
1996 Playoffs: It takes six games for St. Louis to best Toronto in the opening round.
1997 – San Jose’s All-Star Game was the beginning of a lonely stretch of All-Star representation by Sundin. As a reserve member of the squad, the stoic Swede picked up an assist. The East beat the West 11-7.
The day before, in the Rapid-Fire Relay skills contest, Florida’s John Vanbiesbrouck had shutout 10 shots by Sundin and Derian Hatcher to beat out Patrick Roy, who only made nine saves. Former 10th round pick Sergei Berezin was an NHL All-Rookie Team member.
1997 Playoffs: Toronto finished sixth out of six in a tough Central Division, out of contention. They watch the Phoenix Coyotes make their inaugural playoff run, as someone somewhere realizes it’s now been 30 years since they have won the Stanley Cup.
1998 – Vancouver is the site of the first All-Star Game to pit players from North America against players from the rest of the world (Europe). North America beat Team World 8-7, with reserve All-Star Sundin chalking up his traditional single assist.
This year, Mike Johnson, who had been signed by the Leafs as an undrafted free agent, is named to the All-Rookie squad. Two years, two rookies that are the class of the league. It seemed a sign that there was definitely some young talent building up in the ranks.
1998 Playoffs: Again, Toronto is at the bottom of the Central, nine points back of a playoff spot.
1999 – Tampa hosts as North America wins for the second consecutive time, 8-6. A reserve for Team World, and the only Leaf on the ice since Joseph opted out, Sundin notches four points with a goal and three assists.
Sundin might’ve been the consensus MVP if not for the Team North America captain. Wayne Gretzky had two goals and two assists, including a helper on the game-winner, in his final All-Star game appearance.
1999 Playoffs: Now in the northeast division, the Leafs make their deepest run in five years, topping Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, before getting dropped by Buffalo. Recent All-Rookie Team members Berezin and Johnson combine for nine goals and eight assists in 17 postseason games.
2000 – For the second time on this list, four Maple Leafs are All-Stars – sort of, if you count Pat Quinn, who coached the North American side. And not for nothing, but the game was hosted by Toronto, so take that for what it’s worth.
Also present were Joseph and Sundin, who both started for their respective sides, and blueliner Dmitry Yushkevich. With Quinn behind the bench and the home crowd at the new Air Canada Centre fired up, naturally, Team World won for the first time, 9-4.
Yushkevich had a goal and an assist in the game, both in the first period. There haven’t been four Maple Leafs named All-Stars in one year since.
2000 Playoffs: The Leafs finished the season on top of the Northeast division (still the franchise’s last division title) with their first 100-point season. They fell in six games to the eventual Stanley Cup champion New Jersey Devils in the conference semi-finals.
2001 – Denver, Colorado hosts a high-scoring affair as North America wins 14-12. Sundin makes his fourth consecutive appearance on Team World, but not as a starter this time around.
Sundin records two goals and two assists, tallying in all three periods, but Bill Guerin is named MVP for his three-goal, two-assist performance. Also notable, Sundin was named centre on the league’s 2000-2001 Second Team All-Stars.
2001 Playoffs: The Leafs squeak into the playoffs in seventh place in the East. After completing an upset sweep of Ottawa, Toronto is once more bested by New Jersey, this time in seven games.
2002 – Los Angeles hosted the final Team North America versus Team World game. World won 8-5, making the final record for those games 3-2 in favour of North America.
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Teammates on the winning side, like solo Maple Leafs All-stars passing in the night, were Sundin and Tomas Kaberle. Combined, the two men were selected as Toronto’s sole All-Star six times, three each (though CuJo opting out of 1999’s game made it so Sundin was the only Leaf at four All-Star Games). However, this was the only time they would play in the showcase together.
Sundin was captain for the World team and had two assists, including on Markus Naslund’s game-winner. Kaberle also notched an assist. Leafs coach Quinn returned as bench boss for North America in the loss.
2002 Playoffs: Surprisingly, their rival the New Jersey Devils were knocked out of the first round by the Carolina Hurricanes, so the Leafs were able to make it through the first two rounds, with seven-game victories over the Islanders and Senators. They lost in the Conference Finals to Carolina in six games.
2003 – Two Maple Leafs were selected to appear at the 2002-2003 All-Star Game in Sunrise, Florida – but neither Sundin nor Belfour were able to take part. They were replaced due to injury by Olli Jokinen and Patrick Lalime, respectively.
Mario Lemieux, Brian Leetch and Saku Koivu also all had to bow out for the East side. The West won 6-5 in OT.
2003 Playoffs: Toronto can’t get the job done and loses its first-round matchup with the Flyers in seven games.
2004 – St. Paul, Minnesota hosts as the East evens the score with a 6-4 win. Pat Quinn finally earns a win as head coach of an All-Star team, while two of his forwards, Sundin and Gary Roberts, both lend a hand.
The second period saw a goal by Roberts (assisted by Daniel Alfredsson and Sundin), followed by Alfredsson’s game-winner, assisted by Sundin and Roberts. Senators and Leafs fans enjoyed the brief cease fire.
Meanwhile, defenceman Bryan McCabe and Sundin were both named to the NHL’s 2003-2004 Second Team All-Stars. No Maple Leafs player has been named as First or Second Team All-Stars since.
2004 Playoffs: The Leafs versus Sens rivalry was renewed in the first round, with Toronto coming out on top. However, the Flyers got the best of the Leafs in Round 2.
2007 – After two years without an All-Star Game (due to the 2005 lockout and the 2006 Winter Olympics) Kaberle arrived in Dallas as Toronto’s only representative. He did not figure into the scoring as the West won 12-9.
2007 Playoffs: The Leafs finish ninth in the Eastern Conference, one point out of a playoff spot. Oh, and don’t worry about 2006; they finished ninth then too. 40 years? That can’t be right, can it?
2008 – Kaberle packed his bags; he knew what time it was: All-Star time. Atlanta hosts as the East wins 8-7. Kaberle, who doesn’t start, also does not figure into the scoring.
2008 Playoffs: Finishing 12th this time, the Leafs are 11 points behind the playoff pace.
2009 – The All-Star Game was back in Montreal for 2009, and the East repeated as victors, besting the West 12-11. Kaberle was, naturally, the lone member of the All-Star team for the Leafs, as a reserve, but he still chipped in with two assists this time, including one to game MVP Alex Kovalev.
It was Kaberle’s last All-Star appearance. Elsewhere that weekend, young Toronto blueliner Luke Schenn was on the Luc Robitaille-coached rookie squad that topped Pete Mahovolich’s sophomore team.
2009 Playoffs: The Leafs rung in the 2009 postseason stuck, once again, in 12th place in the East.
2011 – Following the Vancouver Winter Olympics, the All-Star Game resumed in 2011 in Raleigh, North Carolina. Gone were the passé conference or player birth-place delineations.
This time, team captains Eric Staal and Nicklas Lidstrom chose the teams. Neither, it seems, was a big fan of new lone Toronto Maple Leafs All-Star Phil Kessel, as he was the last All-Star chosen.
To remove some of the sting for being picked last, Kessel was given a new car and $20,000 to go towards the charity of his choice. Team Lidstrom went on to win 11-10, though Kessel did not wind up on the scoresheet.
Earlier in the weekend, Kessel fell to Rick Nash in the Shooting Accuracy Competition. At 17.9 seconds, theirs was the preliminary round’s longest matchup.
2011 Playoffs: The Maple Leafs improve two spots in the standings, but still finish 10th in the East and watch the postseason for the sixth straight year.
2012 – Three Leafs are named to appear at the All-Star Game, which is conveniently right down the road in Ottawa for the first time. They are Kessel, Joffrey Lupul and Dion Phanuef, who was voted onto the team by fan selection.
They all wind up as members of Team Chara, which wins the game 12-9. Lupul scores twice, while Kessel gets a goal and two assists. No Maple Leafs rookies are among the 12 selected to take part in the Skills Competition.
2012 Playoffs: Toronto finishes the regular season 13th in the East; 12 points behind eighth place Ottawa.
2015 – All-Star Games were a rare commodity for a while there weren’t they? The 2013 lockout and 2014 Sochi Olympics put the ASG back on ice (or, in this case, off ice) until last year in Columbus. That’s convenient, because the less said about Toronto’s 2013 playoff run the better.
During the All-Star draft, Captain Nick Foligno made a trade that sent Tyler Seguin to Jonathan Toews’ team in exchange for Kessel – much like how the Maple Leafs had traded Boston a 2010 first round pick (which became Seguin) in exchange for the same player.
So the Leafs’ only All-Star for two years was essentially a laughing stock. Team Toews won the game 17-12. Seguin had a goal and two assists, while Kessel was left pointless.
2015 Playoffs: Toronto finishes the season second-last in the Eastern Conference.
2016 – This year under a new format in Nashville, each division will be represented by its own team, which will compete in a mini 3-on-3 tournament. The Atlantic Division squad features three Florida Panthers and two Tampa Bay Lightning, while featuring one member each from the Senators, Bruins, Canadiens, Red Wings and, of course, the Maple Leafs. Leo Komarov makes his debut All-Star appearance for Toronto on Jan. 31.
2016 Playoffs: This news about James van Riemsdyk can’t help, can it?
Well, that was a little bit hard to take. At least there’s this promising news from the AHL?