Paired with Swedish Hall of Famer Borje Salming, Ian Turnbull was one half of an offensive tandem from the blueline that was one of the best in the National Hockey League.
Turnbull was a First Round Pick in 1973 and would make the Maple Leafs roster as a rookie with a 35 Point year. The Defenseman was injured for most of his sophomore year, but he bounced back as one of the top offensive Defenseman in hockey. From 1976-77 to 1980-81, Turnbull scored at least 60 Points in four of those five years, and in that period, he had a five-goal game which remains a record for an NHL Defenseman.
An All-Star in 1977, Turnbull was traded to Los Angeles in 1981, leaving Toronto with 414 Points and a PPG of .71, which is among the best of any Defenseman in franchise history.
Tod Sloan signed with the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1946 and was called up for one game that year and 29 the year after. The Leafs won the Cup that year, though Sloan was not on the roster, the following season, he was there to stay.
A versatile forward who played at both Center and Right Wing, Sloan had his break-out season in 1950-51 with 31 Goals. Sloan was on the post-season roster for Toronto that year, and he got his name engraved on the Stanley Cup that year. Sloan remained strong the year after, leading the NHL in Power Play Goals in 1951-52, but he would struggle in the two seasons after, failing to come close to 20 Goals.
Sloan rebounded in 1955-56, with 37 Goals and a league-leading 28 on Even Strength. He was named a Second Team All-Star and was the runner-up to Montreal's Jean Beliveau for the Hart. He played two more years in Toronto before he was traded to Chicago.
As a Leaf, Sloan had 346 Points.
Bobby Baun reminds us a lot of Paul Henderson in that he is best known for one game. Baun fractured his ankle early in Game 3 of the 1964 Stanley Cup Championship but returned to the ice to score the game-winning goal against the Detroit Red Wings and would help Toronto win the Cup that year.
Overall, Bob Baun had an excellent stay-at-home blueline career in the National Hockey League, where he was a five-time All-Star, four-time Stanley Cup winner, and was the NHL leader in Defensive Point Shares (1960-61). He is also a five-time All-Star.
Dick Duff began his career with the Maple Leafs in 1954, where he showed his gritty two-way play quickly as an asset.
Duff would be one of the players in which Toronto was rebuilt around. While he was not a scoring machine, he was a glue guy who was capable of digging his skates in where necessary and doing the grinding necessary to win games. The Left Wing had three straight seasons (1956-57 to 1958-59) where he had at least 26 Goals, and he would play a large part in Toronto’s 1962 and 1963 Stanley Cup wins.
Duff was traded late in the 1963-64 Season to New York in a deal that sent over Andy Bathgate. Duff missed out on the Maple Leafs’ Stanley Cup that year, but he won four more with Montreal. As a Leaf, Duff scored 342 Points.
Duff entered the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2006.