John Anderson

John Anderson is one of the few Toronto born and raised hockey players who played their junior hockey at Maple Leaf Gardens and did not escape the grasp of the Maple Leafs. It was a dream come true for the man with the unmistakable moustache.

Anderson played four years with his hometown Toronto Marlies of the OHL where he demonstrated great skill and goal scoring ability. After a final season in junior where he scored 57 goals and 199 points in 64 games, the Leafs grabbed Anderson with the 11th overall draft pick in the 1977 entry draft. Anderson was selected ahead of the likes of Ron Duguay, Mike Bossy, John Tonelli and Rod Langway.

While he may not have earned the status of those other draft picks, Anderson developed into one of the top left wingers in the game in 1980s. He had speed to burn, and the agility to go with it. He had great puck skills - able to softly lay a pass to a streaking teammate or power a slapshot from the top of the faceoff circle. He was a mainstay on the powerplay, and although he did not play aggressive defensive hockey, was a good penalty killer because of his skating abilities.

After an impressive year of apprenticeship in the minor leagues, John joined the Leafs full time in 1978-79. He had his ups and downs in his first three years in the league, but by 1981 he had found a home on the Leafs top line. Anderson's speed and puck skills were a perfect compliment for slippery center Bill Derlago and heavy shooter Rick Vaive.

Anderson, who operated several hamburger restaurants in Toronto as well, scored 30 or more goals for 4 consecutive seasons while on the top line. Yet playing in Toronto was not easy for Anderson, or for many star players either. Anderson came to this realization after being a key player for Canada in the 1985 World Championships in Prague.

"Over there, I realized how much the pressure in Toronto had hurt me. The fans at the Gardens are demanding, as they have every right to be, but it seems as though your problems are magnified. You try harder and that makes things worse. When I got to Europe, it was like having a weight lifted off of my shoulders."

Anderson's comments were one of the last he made as a Leaf, although the words played no role in his departure. He was traded late in the summer of 1985 to Quebec for solid defenseman Brad Maxwell. The red headed Anderson didn't last a full season in Quebec before landing in Hartford where he briefly enjoyed his best days in the NHL. He finished the 1985-86 season with 8 goals and 25 pints in just 14 games, and added 13 more points in 10 playoff games. He followed that up with a 31 goal, 7 5point season in 1986-87 before slowing down in his final two years in the league.

Although he was out of the NHL scene by 1989, Anderson continued to excel in the AHL, IHL and Italy until 1994. He then stepped behind the bench and became a top coach in the minor leagues, which led to a two year coaching stint with the NHL's Atlanta Thrashers.

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Russ Adam

An industrious winger who made the most of his skills, Russ Adam defied the odds and played in the National Hockey League.

The Windsor born center played junior hockey with the Kitchener Rangers in the late 1970s, earning a NHL draft selection by the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1980. He was picked 137th overall.

Adam would go onto play with the Leaf's affiliate teams, although he did get a 8 game look-see in 1982-83. He even scored a goal and 2 assists before disappearing to the minor leagues again.

Adam's vagabond hockey career would take him to Germany and to his now-adopted home of Newfoundland, where he starred and coached in the senior leagues. His career even came full circle when the Leafs hosted their top farm team in St. John's and Adam became an assistant coach.

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Doug Acomb

Doug Acomb was a hometown hero with the Toronto Marlboros, scoring 55 goals in 54 games in his last year of junior in 1968-69, and leading the Marlies to two Memorial Cup appearances before that. The Toronto Maple Leafs took notice, signing the diminutive center in the summer of 1969.
 
His professional career would be a short one, with two uninspiring years bouncing around the minor leagues. His highlight was his two game call up to the NHL in which he registered a single assist.

Acomb would return to southern Ontario in 1971 and star with the Barrie Flyers on the OHA senior circuit. In 1974 he led Barrie to the Allan Cup championship as Canada's top amateur team.

The following season he returned to professional hockey, although it was in Austria. After that interesting experience he returned to Barrie, played one more season of senior hockey and then hung up his blades.

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Art Duncan

Art Duncan was playing with the Vancouver Millionaires of the Pacfic Coast Hockey Association in the 1915-16 season when enlisted for the military in World War 1. When Duncan returned from the war, he came decorated with the military cross and returned to play for the Millionaires where he helped the team win 4 PCHA championships.

Duncan (seen here on the left, wearing funky pants and shaking King Clancy's hand) made the jump to the NHL in the 1926-27 campaign as a player/coach for the Detroit Cougars which later became known as the Detroit Falcons and the Detroit Red Wings. But after just one season with Detroit Duncan was replaced by Jack Adams. Art wasn't discouraged by that and he went on to play for the Toronto St. Pats. As Art arrived to Toronto Conn Smythe just bought the Toronto franchise. He renamed the team to the Toronto Maple Leafs.

In 1930-31 Smythe decided to go out and purchase King Clancy and Alex Levinsky to help out on their blueline. Since Duncan's main postion was defence and his skills were no longer needed he retired as a player and went on to coach. Duncan was again replaced as coach by Dick Irvin in the 1931-32 campain. That was the first year the Maple Leafs won their first Stanley Cup.

When Duncan retired he had played in 156 games. He scored 18 goals and 16 assists for 34 points, and he tallied up 225 PIM. It was too bad that after his career he wasn't able to make it as a head coach in the NHL. Then again if Duncan could see how quickly NHL head coaches change jobs nowadays he probably wouldn't feel that bad.

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Denis Dupere

Denise Dupere was born in Jonquiese, Quebec in June 21, 1948. Aside from playing in the NHL, Dupere could also claim fame in the fact that he was a cousin of professional wrestling legend Mad Dog Vachon.

Dupere was a penalty killing specialist and extraordinary faceoff expert for over 400 NHL games with 4 organizations. A large left winger at 6'1" 200lbs, Dupere was a very clean player, picking up only 66 penalty minutes in his 8 year NHL career.

Originally recruited by the New York Rangers, he was traded to Toronto to complete the Tim Horton trade. He spent most of his first two pro seasons in the CHL, but did play in 20 games with the Leafs in 1970-71.
By 1971-72 he had made the NHL on a regular basis. He enjoyed three seasons with the Leafs, including scoring 36 points in just 61 games in 1972-73. However when expansion came callin in 1974, the Washington Capitals snatched up the journeyman. Dupere's stay in Washington was short but successful. He scored 20 goals and 35 points in 53 games before he was traded to St. Louis where he added 3 more goals and 9 more points. Dupere would join Kansas City the next season and would move to Colorado when the franchise relocated and became the Rockies.

Dupere's stay in Colorado wasn't overly heartwarming. The team refused to trade Dupere, instead they banished him to the minors and told him they would terminate his contract at the end of year. Dupere did get recalled though, and made the most of his new lease on life. With the Rockies looking for a playoff spot and with scoring star Wilf Paiement in a slump, Dupere scored 20 points in 15 games to finish the season. The Rockies made the playoffs where Dupere scored 1 goal in the team's 2 games. Dupere's late season heroics earned him a verbal agreement with ownership over a new one-way deal, however the team was sold to new owners before a contract could be officially signed. The new owners refused to grant Dupere a one way contract, so he retired from hockey.

Dupere, who had a good wrist shot, scored 80 goals and 179 points in 421 NHL games. He rounded out his hockey career by playing and coaching in France.

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Alexander Godynyuk

The Toronto Maple Leafs were one the later teams to take advantage of the Soviet invasion of the NHL in the early 1990s. One of their earliest such acquisitions was a good sized Ukrainian defenseman named Alexander Godynyuk.

Godynyuk was hardly the best known Soviet player at the time. Born in Kiev, the defender played 5 seasons with Sokol Kiev. Most notable on his resume was the Directorate Award as best defenseman and all star team nod at the 1990 IIHF World Junior Championships.

The Leafs drafted Godynyuk later that year, taking him in the 6th round, 115th overall. He would join the Leafs half way through the following season.

The Leafs had hoped Godynyuk would blossom into an offensive presence. He had the tools - good size and skating, unafraid to handle the puck, and a strong break out pass.

But far too often he was an inconsistent enigma. He had wild swings in consistency, and that reportedly dated back to his years in Kiev. On one night he could be the best player on the ice, and the next he could be the worst. He was often caught out of position, especially on a turnover on one of his many end to end forays, or would forget about his defensive assignment.

The Leafs packaged Godynyuk and 4 others up to acquire Doug Gilmour. Gilmour adopted Godynyuk's #93 sweater number and became a legend. Godynyuk, meanwhile, was a bust, in Calgary. The Flames exposed him in the expansion draft, allowing Florida to take him, only to become a spare part there.

He was moved to Hartford in December, 1993,  and made a great first impression - recording three assists in his first game with the Whalers, and that came without the benefit of even one practice. But Godynyuk continued to underwhelm and even frustrate over the long term in Hartford.

After spending considerable time in the minor leagues, Godynyuk returned to Europe in 1998. He left the NHL with 223 career games and 10 goals, 29 assists and 39 points. He will always be remembered as an intriguing player who was haunted by consistency issues and ultimately an inability to adapt his game to the satisfaction of NHL coaches.

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