Toronto Maple Leafs - Logo, Uniform and Mascot

Logo, Uniform and Mascot

The jersey of the Toronto Maple Leafs has a long history and is one of the best-selling NHL jerseys among fans. Over the years the Leaf uniform has had four major incarnations and numerous minor alterations.

The original 1917 blue uniforms featured the letter “T” sometimes on a blue shield. The second version came in 1919 when they were renamed the St. Pats and wore green uniforms with “Toronto St. Pats” on the logo, lettered in green either on a white “pill” shape or stripes.

The third major change was for the 1927–28 season when the team’s name changed to the Maple Leafs, gaining a new logo and returning to the blue uniform. The logo was a 47-point maple leaf with “Toronto Maple Leafs” lettered in white. The home jersey was blue with alternating thin-thick stripes on the arms, legs and shoulders. The road uniform was white with three stripes on the chest and back, waist and legs. For 1933–34, the alternating thin-thick stripes were replaced with stripes of equal thickness. This would remain as the basic design for the next forty years.

Before the next major change came several minor changes. In 1937, veins were added to the leaf and “Toronto” curved downwards at the ends instead of upwards. In 1942, the 35-point leaf was introduced. In 1946, the logo added trimming to the Leaf with a white or blue border, while “C” for captain and “A” for alternate captain first appeared on the sweaters. In 1947, the logo’s “Toronto Maple Leafs” was lettered in red for a short time. In 1958, a six-eyelet lace and tie was added to the neck and a blue shoulder yoke was added. In 1961, player numbers added appeared on the sleeves.

The fourth major change came in the 1966–67 season. The leaf was changed to a blue 11-point leaf, similar to the leaf on the Canadian flag to commemorate the Canadian centennial. This was followed by many minor changes. In 1970, the League required home teams to wear white jerseys. Other changes to the sweater removed the arm stripes, extended the yoke to the end of the sleeves, added a solid stripe on the waist, three stripes on the stockings and a miniature Leaf crest added to shoulders. On the logo the lettering “Toronto” was no longer curved, but parallel to the “Maple Leafs” lettering. The Thin blue 11-point maple leaf had rounded corners. In 1973, the jersey’s neck was a lace tie-down design. In 1976, the V-neck returned. In 1977, player names were added to the away jerseys and in 1979 to the home jerseys, but not until after the Leafs were fined by the NHL for refusing to comply with a new rule requiring player names on the jerseys.

In more recent years, fans showed interest in past jersey designs. For the 1991–92 season, the Leafs wore uniforms that were styled after the “original six” era for some games. For the 1992–93 season, due to enthusiastic fan reaction for the previous season's classic uniforms, the first changes to the Leaf uniform in over 20 years were made. Two stripes on the arms and waist were added. A “TML” logo added to the shoulder. During the late 1990s, the lettering and numbers were taken from the font on the Maple Leafs logo, but they gradually returned to block lettering, which they fully integrated in the 2010–11 season. When the Reebok EDGE uniform system was introduced in the 2007–08 season, the tail stripes were absent from the change, but returned three years later. In addition, the veined leaf logo returned to the uniforms.

The team mascot is Carlton the Bear, an anthropomorphic polar bear whose name and number (#60) comes from the location of Maple Leaf Gardens at 60 Carlton Street, where they played throughout much of their history.