Issued under the NHL licensing agreement that the Royal Canadian Mint secured in the mid-2000s, this piece belongs to a broader series of hockey-themed commemoratives that leaned heavily into team iconography during a period when the Mint was aggressively expanding its collector coin program. The Maple Leafs had not won the Stanley Cup since 1967, a drought already four decades long by the time this coin was struck.
The goalie mask as a subject has its own pointed history: Jacques Plante first wore one in regular-season NHL play in November 1959, over his coach's explicit objections.
Issued under the NHL licensing agreement that the Royal Canadian Mint secured in the mid-2000s, this piece belongs to a broader series of hockey-themed commemoratives that leaned heavily into team iconography during a period when the Mint was aggressively expanding its collector coin program. The Maple Leafs had not won the Stanley Cup since 1967, a drought already four decades long by the time this coin was struck.
The goalie mask as a subject has its own pointed history: Jacques Plante first wore one in regular-season NHL play in November 1959, over his coach's explicit objections.