The Leafs By The Numbers: #2

 

25 players have donned the #2 for the Toronto Maple Leafs, most of them Defensemen. Probably all, I don’t know I didn’t click on everyone’s bio at hockeyreference. Unlike #1 there was no slam dunk Hall-of-Famer to make my life easy. And lord help me if I have to talk about Luke Schenn any more.

Turnbull wore #2 the longest out of anyone. He patrolled the Leafs blueline from 1973-1982 and spent a lot of time playing with Leafs legend Borje Salming. His best offensive season was in 76-77 when he scored 22G, 57A, and 79P in 80 games. During that season he became the first and only NHL D to score 5 goals in a game, even more impressive: he took only 5 shots. That’s sustainable, right? Turnbull was an offensive defenceman and played all but a handful of his NHL games with the Leafs. Apparently people labelled him as "soft", although I think anyone would look soft next to Salming. 

Gerald "Jerry" Diduck apparently played 26 regular season games for the Leafs during the 1999-2000 season. I have no recollection of this. You’d think I’d remember something like that. He also apparently appeared in 10 playoff games. He had 4 points in those 36 games. Let’s all be thankful he took the fall for Schenn.

Wade is a reminder of a bygone era for Leafs fans, which is insane because it was less than 10 years ago. Wade was a fan and teammate favourite. You could tell that he was having the time of his life on the ice. He was one of those players you were proud to have on the team. This passing was untimely and tragic but was not without meaning. His struggles after like in the NHL showed us the great mental, and physical toll that playing the roll of the enforcer can have on a person. This is not the time or place to get in a lenghty debate about the issue, suffice it to say that losing someone like Wade made us think a little harder about the players we saw on the ice. He is missed by his fans.