It feels like every postseason brings about familiar foes – players returning to previous home cities to face former teammates who they used to battle alongside. In these playoffs, Mikko Rantanen is leading his Dallas Stars against his old Colorado Avalanche mates, hoping to gain a measure of revenge following a shocking mid-season trade. Marc-Andre Fleury could be on the precipice of wrapping up his illustrious NHL career against the same Vegas Golden Knights squad that helped him find rejuvenation in 2017.
For the Toronto Maple Leafs, their first round series against the Ottawa Senators also features its share of familiar faces. Behind the bench for the Senators is Travis Green, who spent 181 games of his playing career representing the blue and white. On the ice, Michael Amadio recorded an assist for Ottawa in a 6-2 Game 1 loss after a three-game cup of coffee with the Maple Leafs in 2021-22, while former Toronto Marlie Adam Gaudette played a central role in stoking the flames of animosity between the two teams in the series’ opening game and then scored in Game 2.
Such is the nomadic nature of the modern NHL that rampant player movement has yielded an environment where you are liable to find former teammates on just about any opposing roster. This means that while Toronto looks to forge their path into the second round against the Senators, many other former Maple Leafs are engaged in their own pursuit of the Stanley Cup. Let’s go around the league and look at which past members of Leafs Nation are involved in postseason Cup chases elsewhere:
Fans of the Maple Leafs may already have a vested interest in this series given the club’s storied Original Six rivalry with the Montreal Canadiens. In terms of past links to the team, however, there are more connections to be found on the Washington Capitals’ side of the ice, not to mention on their bench.
Prospective Jack Adams Award winner Spencer Carbery was an assistant on the Maple Leafs’ coaching staff for two seasons before becoming the Capitals’ head coach last season. Now in his second campaign in Washington, he is generating awards buzz thanks to the team’s 11-win improvement and surprise finish atop the Eastern Conference. Behind the opposing Montreal bench stands Stephane Robidas, a member of Martin St. Louis’ staff and, famously, the primary resident of ‘Robidas Island‘.
On the ice, the Capitals’ blue line is manned by Maple Leafs 2018 first-round pick Rasmus Sandin, who was dealt to Washington before the 2023 Trade Deadline. Sandin just turned 25, is locked up long-term and is a trusted part of the club’s top-four to the point that he averaged more than 23 minutes in a Game 1 overtime win. However, Toronto probably wouldn’t hesitate to make the same trade again after landing the draft pick that became prized prospect Easton Cowan.
The Maple Leafs are plenty familiar with both of these clubs, even without accounting for any former players. Both the Tampa Bay Lightning and Florida Panthers have served as recent playoff foes, and now the Panthers have long-time Toronto nemesis Brad Marchand along for the ride.
As far as those involved with the series with previous Maple Leafs connections go, however, any existing links are reserved for the respective coaching staffs. It’s been a whopping 17 years since Paul Maurice was fired after two consecutive playoff misses as Toronto’s head coach. His Cup victory with the Panthers last season marked the first of his 30-year NHL coaching career. On his staff is former Maple Leafs defenceman Sylvain Lefebvre, while Rob Zettler serves as an assistant to Tampa Bay head coach Jon Cooper.
We’ve already discussed the Maple Leafs’ connections to three other Eastern Conference playoff head coaches in Green, Carbery and Maurice without even talking about Sheldon Keefe. It was Keefe, after all, who oversaw Toronto’s past five playoff disappointments as part of a decade-long run in the organization (he won a Calder Cup as head coach of the Marlies in 2018). Now head coach of the New Jersey Devils, he will look to shake off that postseason track record with a new franchise.
Meanwhile, the Carolina Hurricanes still employ former Maple Leafs goaltender Frederik Andersen between the pipes. Getting the nod as something of a surprise Game 1 starter, Andersen offered a stellar 23-save performance in a 4-1 victory over New Jersey. Andersen was a fan favourite in Toronto for five years, but his tenure was marred by frustrating injury issues and a few playoff letdowns.
Playing against his brother Brayden and the St. Louis Blues, Luke Schenn is quickly making himself a fan favourite with the Winnipeg Jets in the same way that he did over two stints with the Maple Leafs. The trade deadline acquisition hasn’t been a major focus of the Jets’ blue line (he’s averaging under 17 minutes on the team’s third pairing alongside Logan Stanley), but he has contributed wherever possible. In Game 1 alone, he notched an assist, three blocked shots and a whopping 12 penalty minutes (PIM) in front of an appreciative, white-clad Winnipeg crowd.
In the coaching ranks, Jets assistant Dean Chynoweth was part of the Maple Leafs coaching staff that was let go once Keefe got fired. However, he found a soft landing spot with the Presidents’ Trophy winners. The Blues have no Toronto connections, despite the presence of one Michael Babcock on their coaching staff (it’s Mike’s son).
Although the Colorado Avalanche are pretty thin on former Maple Leafs (ex-Toronto forward Jimmy Vesey was a healthy scratch in Game 1), the Dallas Stars more than make up for it.
The Stars’ lineup includes three players who used to ply their trade in the Maple Leafs organization. Ilya Lyubushkin was acquired by the club at both the 2022 and 2024 Trade Deadlines, serving two stints in Toronto that included 14 playoff contests. Mason Marchment was on the outgoing end of a rather regrettable pre-pandemic trade that brought Denis Malgin into the fold. Finally, Colin Blackwell came over from Seattle alongside Mark Giordano at the 2022 Deadline.
There are even Toronto links on the Stars’ bench, where one-time Marlies head coach and Maple Leafs assistant Steve Spott remains a loyal assistant to long-time friend Pete DeBoer. The club’s goaltending coach is Jeff Reese, who suited up for 74 games in the crease between 1987 and 1992.
If the Maple Leafs require any further validation that Anthony Stolarz was the right choice in net last summer, they need only look at the season that the outgoing Ilya Samsonov had with the Vegas Golden Knights. In what was a thin goalie market last summer, few would have blamed general manager (GM) Brad Treliving for making the conservative choice to re-sign Samsonov on the cheap and bet on improvements from Joseph Woll. Instead, he took a swing on a career backup in Stolarz – and it has paid off.
While Stolarz went 21-8-3 this season with a 2.14 goals-against average (GAA) and .926 save percentage (SV%), Samsonov never quite found the right fit behind Adin Hill in Vegas, going 16-9-4 with a 2.82 GAA and a .891 SV%. Samsonov wasn’t bad in Toronto (especially in 2022-23), but he was never able to inspire the trust and belief that Stolarz has earned. While Samsonov appears unlikely to see any ice time for the Golden Knights this postseason barring an injury to Hill, Stolarz is fresh off a 31-save Game 1 win and would need to falter significantly to cede the crease at this point.
The rest of the Maple Leafs alumni in this series typically occupy depth roles. Zach Bogosian brings invaluable playoff experience to the Minnesota Wild blue line, albeit in a third-pairing capacity. Meanwhile, neither Minnesota’s Travis Boyd nor Vegas’ Ben Hutton saw game action in Game 1.
While they aren’t quite as loaded up on ex-Maple Leafs as they once were, the Edmonton Oilers could still ice a pretty good lineup of players who once laced up their skates for Toronto. Zach Hyman is, of course, ‘the one that got away’, arguably the most regrettable departure the organization has faced in recent history.
And Hyman has other Oilers cohorts who used to call Scotiabank Arena home. Connor Brown entered the NHL in the same 2015-16 season as Hyman and has called him a teammate for six of his 10 seasons in the league. Kasperi Kapanen reunited with his fellow forwards in Edmonton this season after being claimed off waivers. Meanwhile, goaltender Calvin Pickard played a large role on the Marlies’ Calder Cup-winning 2018 squad, and John Klingberg was a footnote in Maple Leafs’ history, playing 14 games in one injury-marred season.
The Los Angeles Kings, for their part, also aren’t lacking in former members of the blue and white. Trevor Moore has successfully found his footing in LA as a speedy, goal-scoring winger who notched 18 goals this season after scoring 31 last season. Defenceman Joel Edmundson proved to be an effective trade deadline acquisition for Toronto last season and now patrols the Kings’ blue line. Finally, if goaltender Darcy Kuemper were to get injured, it would be former Maple Leaf David Rittich stepping in. On the bench, they are also led by ex-Toronto assistant Jim Hiller and assistant coach D.J. Smith.
If we’re keeping track at home, that’s 15 of the 16 NHL playoff teams that boast at least one former or current member of the Maple Leafs, be it a player or coach. That means that it is highly likely, barring a 2019-like run by St. Louis, that someone with connections to Toronto will hoist the Cup this June. Not that such a scenario would soften the blow of the Maple Leafs falling short, mind you. It’s not like anyone in the city was rooting particularly hard for Maurice and the Panthers last spring.
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