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Was still working for Toronto this past season and for several years as a senior adviser
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Published Jun 05, 2026 • Last updated 1 day ago • 4 minute read
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Former Leafs general manager Cliff Fletcher smiles as he is being introduced as the club’s interim GM in 2008. Toronto Sun filesArticle content
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‘Trader’ Cliff Fletcher, who managed the Calgary Flames to a championship and came nearer than any Maple Leafs executive to returning them to the Stanley Cup final for the first time since 1967, has died.
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The team released a statement Friday afternoon.
Fletcher, who was about to turn 91 in August, was still working diligently for the club this past season and for several years as a senior adviser, out of his home near Phoenix, Ariz.
WINNING A CUP, REVIVING THE LEAFS
He left Calgary in 1991, a couple of seasons after completing his mission of making the expansion Atlanta Flames a contender, moving them to a new northern home and in 1989, finally bettering their Alberta nemesis, the Edmonton Oilers, for the championship, beating the Montreal Canadiens in the last all-Canadian Cup final.
Joining Toronto as president in 1991 after years of neglect under the late Harold Ballard, Fletcher worked several deals in short order to restore the Leafs to prominence. In early 1992, he added former Flame Doug Gilmour to the roster, centrepiece of a record 10-player deal with his Flames’ replacement, Doug Risebrough, and hired Pat Burns, Montreal’s coach, whom he’d long admired.
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Fletcher, Burns and Gilmour became revered in Leafs Nation, leading two spring runs to the Western Conference final. The first was ‘93, when the Leafs played three straight seven-game series in 42 days.
Former Toronto Maple Leafs GM Cliff Fletcher covers his mouth while talking on the phone. Toronto Sun files
“Cliff brought so much joy to so many people that year,” said assistant GM Bill Watters in a previous Toronto Sun interview.
But the Leafs lost Game 6 in Los Angeles, influenced by a controversial non-call of a high stick on Gilmour by Kings’ star Wayne Gretzky, who then factored in the deciding match for L.A. at Maple Leaf Gardens.
“The toughest thing is you don’t know when you’ll get this close again,” Fletcher told reporters after the loss. Prophetic words as the Leafs indeed have yet to make a third-round elimination game the ensuing 33 years.
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Play VideoMOVING ON FROM TORONTO
In ‘94, Fletcher’s Leafs made it to the cusp of the Cup final again, losing to Pat Quinn’s Vancouver Canucks, with Quinn later coming to the Leafs as GM.
Toronto qualified for playoffs twice more as Fletcher wheeled and dealed, notably acquiring future franchise scoring leader Mats Sundin from the Quebec Nordiques for fan favourite/captain Wendel Clark. He was in later talks to make Gretzky a Leaf, in a potential centre rotation with Gilmour and Sundin, but the team’s board rejected the contract cost.
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The ‘94 NHL lockout had already stalled the Leafs’ progress. Many high draft picks were lost in failed deals to create more post-season runs — Fletcher’s dismissive “draft, schmaft” comment getting plenty of ink. He eventually fell out with team chairman Steve Stavro in 1997.
Fletcher was soon working again with the Tampa Bay Lightning in a senior advisory role, before another chance as executive vice-president of the Phoenix Coyotes between 2001-07. He did return as the Leafs interim GM in 2008 between John Ferguson Jr.’s firing and the hiring of Brian Burke, notably trying to facilitate a Sundin trade as the Leafs went through difficult times. But Fletcher had to honour the latter’s no-trade clause as Sundin, ironically now an executive adviser, maintained belief the Leafs’ roster of the day could still win before he departed with no payback.
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Play VideoWHY FLETCHER WAS IMPACTFUL IN THE GAME
Also nicknamed ‘The Silver Fox’, Montreal native Fletcher’s career began with the Canadiens in 1956 as a scout under Sam Pollock, later named the GM of their Verdun juniors. He joined the expansion St. Louis Blues as Eastern Canadian scout, then became assistant GM as they made the Cup final three times their first three years.
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In 1972, he got the chance to run his own show in Atlanta, While the non-traditional market had its attendance challenges, the move to Calgary saw the Flames make the Cup final in ‘86. Fletcher was always trying to gain an upper hand on the Oilers and others by doing the unconventional, drafting Swedes such as Kent Nilsson, Hakan Loob and signing one of the first players from the dissolving Soviet Union, Sergei Priakin.
Beating the Habs on home ice for the Cup in his hometown in ‘89 brought things full circle for Fletcher’s hockey experience.
“This victory was the biggest thrill in someone’s life, making the city, the province and especially that person, very happy,” he said. “Reflecting on this win brings a sense of pride for each team member.”
In a 12-year stretch, he traded for Lanny McDonald, Joey Mullen, Gilmour and Sundin, all Hall of Famers.
The full haul from the Gilmour trade was the future Leaf playoff point leader with defencemen Jamie Macoun, Ric Nattress, forward Kent Manderville and goalie Rick Wamsley, for winger Gary Leeman, future Leaf coach Craig Berube, defenceman Michel Petit, Alexander Godynyuk and goalie Jeff Reese.
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“This is a trade of great magnitude,” Fletcher said at the time, “which I felt had to be made with a team that had won 10 of its first 40 games.”
Fletcher was named Executive of the Year by The Hockey News in ‘93, when Burns won the Jack Adams and Gilmour the Frank Selke as top defensive forward.
He called the Clark trade at the ‘94 draft in Hartford the most difficult in his Toronto tenure, knowing the pugnacious winger’s beloved status in Toronto.
“Have the fans torn down the CN Tower yet,” he asked local media, only half joking.
In 2004, he was named to the builders’ wing of the Hall.
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