Maple Leafs adding Stanley Cup champs Apps and Armstrong to Legends Row
Career-long Leafs recognized by franchise
As the Toronto Maple Leafs of the present embark on a rebuilding project, the team continues to honour its past as part of the Legends Row statue outside Air Canada Centre.
The club announced Saturday night that the next two legends being added to that monument are career-long Leafs players Syl Apps and George Armstrong. Apps won three Cups and Armstrong four, including the franchise's last in 1967.
Leafs president and Toronto native Brendan Shanahan said the decision to add the two former captains was unanimous.
"Both Syl and George led their respective teams through two different eras of the team's glory days with Hall of Fame careers and left a lasting legacy for future generations of Maple Leaf players to look up to," Shanahan said.
Apps played 10 seasons in Toronto from 1936-37 to 1947-48 and had 432 points in 423 games. He was part of Cup-winning teams in 1942, 1947 and 1948 and was the leading scorer in the 1942 playoffs.
He died in 1998 and was represented by son Syl Apps Jr., who said his father was "always proud to have been a member of the Leafs organization."
Armstrong played 1,187 games over parts of 21 seasons with the Leafs from 1949-50 to 1970-71. He had 713 points and was part of Cup winners in 1962, 1963, 1964 and 1967.
Apps and Armstrong will join Ted Kennedy, Johnny Bower, Darryl Sittler and Bjorge Salming on Legends Row. Kennedy, Bower and Sittler already have their statues in place, while Apps, Armstrong and Salming will be added for the 2015 fan fest in September.
"I must have been better than I thought I was," Armstrong said. "Borje Salming and Syl Apps, I can't believe who I'm going in with."
Others will be added leading up to the Leafs' centennial season in 2016-17.