Querrie lost a lawsuit to Livingstone and decided to put the St. Pats up for sale. He gave serious consideration to a $200,000 bid from a Philadelphia group. However, Toronto Varsity Graduates coach Conn Smythe put together an ownership group of his own and made a $160,000 offer for the franchise. With the support of St. Pats shareholder J. P. Bickell, Smythe persuaded Querrie to reject the Philadelphia bid, arguing that civic pride was more important than money.

After taking control on Valentine’s Day 1927 Smythe immediately renamed the team the Maple Leafs. The Toronto Maple Leafs baseball team had won the International League championship a few months earlier and had been using that name for 30 years. There have been numerous reasons cited for Smythe’s decision to rename the team. The Maple Leafs say that the name was chosen in honor of the Maple Leaf Regiment from World War I. Another story says that Smythe named the team after a team he’d once scouted, called the East Toronto Maple Leafs.

Stanley Cup – 1949
The 1949 Stanley Cup Final was a best-of-seven series between the Detroit Red Wings and the defending champion Toronto Maple Leafs, the second straight final series between Detroit and Toronto. The Maple Leafs won the series in four straight games to win their third consecutive Stanley Cup and eighth in the history of the franchise.

Stanley Cup – 1948
he 1948 Stanley Cup Final was a best-of-seven series between the Detroit Red Wings and the defending champion Toronto Maple Leafs. The Maple Leafs won the series in four straight games to win their second consecutive Stanley Cup.

Stanley Cup – 1942
The 1942 Stanley Cup Final was a best-of-seven series between the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Detroit Red Wings. After losing the first three games, the Maple Leafs won the next four to win the series 4–3, winning their fourth Stanley Cup. It was the first Cup Final in history to go seven.

Stanley Cup – 1932
The 1932 Stanley Cup Finals was a best-of-five series between the New York Rangers and the Toronto Maple Leafs. Toronto would win the series in three straight to win their first Stanley Cup.

Stanley Cup – 1947
The 1947 Stanley Cup Final was a best-of-seven series between the Toronto Maple Leafs and the defending champion Montreal Canadiens. The Maple Leafs would win the series four games to two. This was the first all-Canadian finals in 12 years.

Stanley Cup – 1945
The 1945 Stanley Cup Final was a best-of-seven series between the Detroit Red Wings and the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Maple Leafs won the series by 4 games to 3.

The 1951 Stanley Cup Final NHL championship series was contested by the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Montreal Canadiens. The Maple Leafs would win the series 4–1, with all five games going into overtime. It was the Toronto franchise’s ninth Stanley Cup win and the last in a series of six wins starting in 1942. It was the first appearance in a string of ten consecutive appearances by the Canadiens.

Stanley Cup – 1963
The 1963 Stanley Cup Final was contested by the defending champion Toronto Maple Leafs and the Detroit Red Wings. The Maple Leafs would win the best-of-seven series four games to one to win the Stanley Cup, their second straight NHL championship.

Stanley Cup – 1962
The 1962 Stanley Cup Final was contested by the defending champion Chicago Black Hawks and the Toronto Maple Leafs who had last appeared in the Final in 1960. The Maple Leafs would win the best-of-seven series four games to two to win the Stanley Cup, their first since 1951.

Stanley Cup – 1967
The 1967 Stanley Cup Final was a best-of-seven series played between the Montreal Canadiens and the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Maple Leafs would win the series four games to two to win their thirteenth Stanley Cup. As of 2015, this is Toronto’s most recent Stanley Cup championship, most recent appearance in the championship final, and with the Chicago Blackhawks ending a 49-year Cup drought with their victory in the 2010 Stanley Cup Finals, is tied for the longest-active championship drought in the NHL with the St. Louis Blues who have never won since joining the NHL in 1967. The 1967 Stanley Cup Final was also the last Stanley Cup Final in the Original Six Era.

Stanley Cup – 1964
The 1964 Stanley Cup Final was contested by the defending champion Toronto Maple Leafs and the Detroit Red Wings for the second straight year. The Maple Leafs would win the best-of-seven series four games to three to win the Stanley Cup, their third-straight championship. There would not be another Game 7 at Maple Leaf Gardens for almost three decades.