Toronto Maple Leafs Colors and Logo: A History and Color Codes
Why do the Toronto Maple Leafs wear blue and white? The story of the Toronto Maple Leafs colors, including full color codes
In this article, we look at the history and details of the Toronto Maple Leafs logo and colors.
We discuss the different colors and logos that the ice hockey team have used throughout the years- including full details of their CMYK, HEX, RGB and Pantone codes.
A brief history of the Toronto Maple Leafs
Did you know that the Toronto Maple Leafs were not always called the Maple Leafs?
Did you also know that they are the second oldest team in the National Hockey League?
The Toronto Maple Leafs were the second of the original six ice hockey teams formed in North America.
When they were first founded in 1917, they were initially called the Toronto Arenas. Their name then changed from the Arenas to the Saint Patricks in 1920.
In 1927, the team finally settled on the Toronto Maple Leafs.
With frequent team name changes in their early years, there were a lot of logo changes too.
Major honours and trophies
While the Maple Leafs haven’t won a Stanley Cup in over 50 years, they’ve still won thirteen of them over the years.
Those Stanley Cups were accomplished largely in the 1940s. They won in the years 1917-1918, 1921-1922, 1931-1932, 1941-1942, 1944-1945, 1946-1947, 1947, 1948, 1948-1949, 1950-1951, 1961-1962, 1962-1963, 1963-1964 and 1966-1967.
The Leafs have also had their share of star players. As a matter of fact, they currently have 70 players in the Hall of Fame and they’ve retired the numbers of seventeen players.
Most famous players
Find out about some of the most famous Toronto Maple Leafs players.
Mats Sundin
Mats Sundin, who initially came in as the league’s number one pick with the Quebec Nordiques, was a season veteran by the time he came to Toronto. He was entering his fifth year.
Sundin finished in the top 10 of the league in goals three times (10th place at 33 during the 1997-1998 season, 41 for 2nd place in the 2001-2002 season and 37 for 8th place in the 2002-2003 season).
Auston Matthews
Auston Matthews is on the current Toronto Maple Leafs team.
He may have only been in the league for seven years, but he already has a large number of accolades.
This includes a position on the 2016-2017 All Rookie Team, winning the 2016-2017 Calder award.
He also won the Maurice Richard award twice. He is a two time all-star, and he won the Pearson award in 2021-2022 season.
Matthews is the only US player to score 60 goals in a season, which happened during the 2021-2022 season.
Johnny Bower
Johnny Bower was also a Canadien soldier, and he was a consistent force in the goal for the Toronto Maple Leafs and New York Rangers.
However, Bower spent the bulk of his career with the Maple Leafs, where he played twelve of his fifteen seasons.
He was also the leader in save percentage for the bulk of the 1960s (more specifically from the 1959-1960 season up until the 1966-1967 season).
He also led the league in adjusted goals against average in four of his eleven seasons.
Why do the Toronto Maple Leafs play in blue and white?
The Toronto Maple Leafs started out in white uniforms with a green maple leaf, playing in these colors for their first game on February 17, 1927.
The color scheme changed to blue and white shortly after, on September 27, 1927. The team have worn these colors ever since.
The Toronto Maple Leafs supposedly wear blue and white to represent the Canadian skies and snow.
However, top-level teams in Toronto have always worn the color blue, ever since the Canadian football team, the Toronto Argonauts, adopted the color in 1873.
There are also theories that the owner of the team changed the colors to blue and white to represent his high school alma mater, Upper Canada College.
This is the case for many sports teams throughout the years.
Toronto Maple Leafs colors: CMYK, HEX, RGB and Pantone color codes
Below, find the full color codes for the Maple Leafs.
Maple Leafs Blue
HEX: #00205B
RGB: (0, 32, 91)
CMYK: (100, 85, 5, 36)
Pantone: PMS 281 C
Maple Leafs White
HEX: #FFFFFF
RGB: (255, 255, 255)
CMYK: (0, 0, 0, 0)
Maple Leafs logo and color history
In the early days of the Toronto Maple Leafs, it wasn’t uncommon for the team to change their logo every year or every other year.
This was because of their multiple name changes, mentioned earlier in the article.
Let’s look at the history of the Maple Leafs logo!
1917
The Maple Leafs first logo was as simple as you can get.
It was a blue capital “T” with sharp edges and it was “colored in.”
The purpose of the “T” was to represent the city of Toronto.
1918-1919
The team name changed to the Saint Patricks during this period, and Toronto opted to adjust their logo to reflect that.
While they kept the “T” the same, they added the word “Arenas”, which ran into the middle of the “T”.
1921-1922
The logo creator curved the word “Toronto” in a downward pattern with the word “Saint Pats” going across, and the word “Toronto” underneath.
1922-1925
While the graphic was the same, the “Toronto” was taken out completely and the logo had a green background with white lettering.
During the 1925 and 1926 seasons, Toronto opted to go back to the previous logo.
1926-1927
With the team name changed from Saint Patricks to Maple Leafs, they opted to also change their logo at the same time.
The lettering was no longer “colored in” but it still had the green outline.
1927-1938
With this logo change, the team color changed from green to blue. The logo was similar to the team’s most recent logo.
1938-1963
This logo has by far lasted the longest in its history.
It is a picture of a blue maple leaf with the team name on the inside of the leaf in white lettering.
It also has a picture of bare white trees in the indents of the leaf.
1963-1967
The creators of this logo attempted to make the leaf look more realistic. This was achieved by using white veins.
1967-1970
This logo was dark blue, with the white veins taken out.
The white lettering remained the same, but it changed to a different font.
1971-1982
Sharper edges were added to the leaf on the logo, and the lettering became much clearer.
1982-1987
The logo was blue and the leaf itself had a more detailed background. The lettering remained the same.
2016- Today
The current logo is a combination of historic and new features.
The logo’s leaf has 31 points. This represents the year that the Maple Leafs garden opened (1931).
The thirteen streaks of the logo represent Toronto’s thirteen Stanley Cups, and seventeen additional points represent the year they were founded, 1917.
