Leafs Stanley Cup hero Bobby Baun dead at 86

NHL.com

One of the most iconic Toronto Maple Leafs of all time has passed away.

As per the Toronto Sun‘s Lance Hornby, Bobby Baun passed away Monday night after having been in “poor health” in recent months.

A four-time Stanley Cup champion in the 1960s with the Leafs, Baun’s most iconic moment of his career — and one of the biggest drivers of his legacy in Toronto — was his overtime goal in Game 6 of the 1964 Stanley Cup Final against the Detroit Red Wings.

Leaving the game after taking a shot from Gordie Howe on the ankle, Baun later returned to score the overtime winner to force a Game 7 later that week. While the story and goal itself would be a big enough moment, it was revealed after the season that Baun actually played on a broken ankle as a result of that Howe shot.

“I asked, ‘Can I hurt myself even more?'” Baun recalled in a 2014 interview with the Toronto Star‘s Paul Hunter about the game. “And they said, ‘No.’ That was the answer. I’d been around a long time. I was fine with what they told me. They froze it and taped it.”

Baun would also suit up in Game 7, where Toronto won 4-0 for their second-most recent Stanley Cup.

Baun had 29 goals, 140 assists and a plus-minus of +125 in 739 games for the Maple Leafs in his career, playing for the team from 1956 through 1967. He joined the franchise again in 1971 through 1973 to close out his professional playing days. Leaving Toronto during expansion to join the Oakland Seals, Baun also played for the Red Wings before returning to Toronto.

The news tragically comes less than one day after the passing of Toronto prospect Rodion Amirov, who died Monday at just age 21 after battling a brain tumour over the last two years.

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