Remembering Mike Gartner’s Short but Speedy Maple Leafs Stop

Every so often, I look at the back of my hockey cards. Today it was Mike Gartner 1988-89 #50. Although it was a card printed before he played for the Toronto Maple Leafs, it reminded me that he was a player who passed through Toronto and never quite got the long-term recognition he deserved. The fact is that Gartner was a player who was good when he suited up for blue & white.

Gartner Was a Deadline Deal That Actually Worked.

He arrived at the trade deadline in March of 1994, coming over from the New York Rangers in exchange for Glenn Anderson. Many people at the time wondered whether it was a lateral move. Then Gartner went on to score six goals in his first ten games. Suddenly it didn’t look so lateral anymore.

What a lot of fans forget is how good he was in that 1994 playoff run. The Maple Leafs went all the way to the Western Conference Final that spring. It was the deepest Gartner ever went in the postseason. He scored five goals and eleven points in eighteen games. He scored the series-winner against the Chicago Blackhawks in Game 6, which turned out to be the last goal he ever scored at the old Chicago Stadium. A few nights later, he scored an overtime winner against the San Jose Sharks that forced a Game 7. Those are the kind of moments that stick with you if you were watching at the time.

Gartner Was Still Scoring at 36.

The next two seasons were quieter, but still solid. The lockout-shortened 1994-95 season was interrupted by a collapsed lung, yet he still put up 20 points in 38 games. Then in 1995-96, at the age of thirty-six, he played all eighty-two games and scored thirty-five goals. Thirty-five goals. Not many players that age were still producing like that.

Gartner brought speed — real speed — and a heavy, accurate shot. Even late in his career, he was still winning fastest-skater contests at the All-Star Game. He wasn’t flashy in the dressing room, but he was steady, professional, and he showed up every night. For a team that was starting to transition away from the Gilmour peak years, that kind of veteran presence mattered.

The Maple Leafs Traded Him to the First-Year Coyotes.

They traded him in the summer of 1996 to the brand-new Phoenix Coyotes (who had just moved from Winnipeg) for a fourth-round pick. He scored 32 goals that season, too. Looking back, it feels like a quiet ending to a short but useful chapter in Toronto.

Gartner never won a Stanley Cup, and watching the Rangers — the team that dealt him — hoist the Cup in 1994 must have stung a little. Still, for those couple of seasons in Toronto, he gave the Maple Leafs exactly what they needed: goals, speed, and a pro’s approach.

Not a long stay, but a memorable one if you were paying attention. He was a good player to the end.