Leafs, Reversing Course, retire all honoured numbers and Dave Keon’s No. 14

The Toronto Maple Leafs turned the page at the outset of their centennial season, wiping away a long-standing policy of not retiring sweater numbers.

The changes were revealed during a ceremony before Saturday’s home opener against the Boston Bruins with a new set of banners unfurled.

Previously, only Bill Barilko’s No. 5 and Ace Bailey’s No. 6 had officially been retired by the organization.

The 10 honoured numbers belonging to 16 players were taken immediately out of circulation. It forced James van Riemsdyk to switch to No. 25 after wearing Borje Salming’s No. 21 for his first four seasons in Toronto.

None of the other suddenly retired numbers belonged to any current member of the team: No. 1 (Turka Broda, Johnny Bower), No. 4 (Hap Day, Red Kelly), No. 7 (King Clancy, Tim Horton), No. 9 (Ted Kennedy, Charlie Conacher), No. 10 (Syl Apps, George Armstrong), No. 13 (Mats Sundin), No. 17 (Wendel Clark), No. 27 (Frank Mahovlich, Darryl Sittler) or No. 93 (Doug Gilmour).

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