Despite their many years away from the game, Toronto Maple Leafs legends Darryl Sittler and Doug Gilmour know that hockey clubs don’t hang banners in the rafters to celebrate regular-season records.

No matter how well a team plays between opening night and early April, it’s what happens in the NHL playoffs that cements legendary status on the ice, the Canadian Hockey Hall of Famers say.

“Fans and media do not remember the regular season, they remember the playoffs,” Gilmour said this week as he and Sittler met fans inside the Leafs dressing room. “People want to see what you do in the playoffs … You step on the ice, everyone’s got zero points. The teams that have success, everyone has to accept their role. Whatever your role is, whatever the coach wants you to do, you do it.”

Gilmour

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