‘One of a kind.’ Maple Leafs legend George Armstrong dead at 90

The Toronto Maple Leafs lost a legend with the passing of long-time captain George Armstrong. His death at age 90 was announced by the team on Sunday.

The Hockey Hall of Famer, one of the NHL’s first players of Indigenous descent, signed with the Leafs in 1946 and remained a part of the organization for 75 years — as a prolific forward, then later as coach, assistant general manager, scout and community ambassador.

Said former teammate Bobby Baun: “No one you will ever meet will have an unkind thing to say about him.”

Armstrong spent all of his 21-year NHL career with the Leafs, including 12 seasons as captain, and won four Stanley Cups — including their last one in 1967.

He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1975 and had his No. 10 retired by the club. His bronze likeness has a prominent place on Legends Row outside Scotiabank Arena.

“George is part of the very fabric of the Toronto Maple Leaf organization and will be deeply missed,” team president Brendan Shanahan said in a statement. “A proud yet humble man, he loved being a Maple Leaf but never sought the spotlight even though no player played more games for Toronto or captained the team longer. Always one to celebrate his teammates rather than himself, George couldn’t even bring himself to deliver his speech the day he was immortalized on Legends Row.”

The final paragraph of that undelivered speech said a lot about the man: “Hockey is a great game and I love it. I am part of a fading generation that you will never have again. Every one of us is one of a kind, that will never be repeated. To all of my friends and acquaintances, thank you for your advice and direction, that helped make me who I am today … a very, very happy person.”

Baun said Armstrong, who scored 296 NHL goals, was simply the perfect captain for those Cup-winning teams.

“It was a great group of guys on those teams, and George grew up and changed a lot of things in his life from when he started,” said Baun, “He worked so hard to get there.”

Armstrong was born in Bowland’s Bay, Ont., to an Iroquois mother and Irish father, who worked in the Sudbury nickel mines. The future Leaf honed his hockey skills on the rinks of nearby Falconbridge.

After interest from the Boston Bruins, the Leafs put him on their protected list and he soon joined their junior affiliate, the Toronto Marlboros, following a brief stint with Stratford. In 1949, he earned promotion to the senior Marlies, who went on to win the Allan Cup. That led to the start of a long career in the NHL.

In a statement, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman called Armstrong “a humble man and revered leader … Our game will miss him dearly.”

Baun recalled meeting Armstrong for the first time: “Back in 1956, I was only 17 at the time, and we were in training camp in St. Catharines … He looked after the rookies. He always had a smile on his face for us, and he pointed us in the right direction.”

Hall of Famer Dave Keon shared similar memories.

“When there was a big game, he’s just say we’ve got to buckle down and get the job done,” Keon said. “He didn’t single anyone out. He’d just say we all have to play better. He was the last Leaf to hold the Cup and the last Leaf to score a Cup goal.”

One of the most famous moments in Leafs lore has Armstrong scoring into an empty net to clinch that 1967 Cup against the Montreal Canadiens.

Armstrong and Keon also formed one of the top penalty-killing duos in the league at the time. Baun said Armstrong had an innate sense of how to play with everyone on the ice.

“I always knew that he knew what I was going to do out there,” the longtime defenceman said. “My game was aggressive, and other players used to tell me they never knew where I was going to come from. I was a big body-checker, and I could do that because my forwards (Armstrong included) let me do that. They played at both ends of the ice.”

Off the ice, Armstrong was also known for his sense of humour.

Armstrong and goaltending legend Johnny Bower were roommates on many road trips. “Bower was a favourite target of George’s,” said Baun. Former Star hockey writer Frank Orr recalled one example, from a trip to Boston.

“The story goes that Bower liked it hot and George liked it cold,” Orr said. “There was an overnight snowstorm in Boston, and George got up in the middle of the night to open the hotel room window … Johnny woke up looking like a snow drift.”

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Armstrong lived in Leaside, where he and his wife Betty raised four children: Brian, Betty-Ann, Fred and Lorne.

“The way he looked after his family was incredible,” said Baun. “To me, that is (the) ultimate in life: you lead by example and you try to pass along what you have learned.

“That’s who George was. He set the example for all of us.”