TORONTO -- The Toronto Maple Leafs’ centennial season kicks off in earnest on Saturday with all the pomp and circumstance of the team’s home opener against the Boston Bruins.

But even though it was 100 years in the making, the milestone has still approached too quickly for some.

“I remember when Mike [Babcock] first came on board with the team, I told him about the anniversary coming up and he almost felt it was too soon. He wanted the team to be a little bit more developed at this time,” president Brendan Shanahan said Friday. “I actually think, and I believe he thinks now, this is the perfect time to have that transition from 100 to 001 with the amount of young players we have.”

Honouring the past and writing a new chapter for the future - that’s what the Maple Leafs’ hope their centennial year will be about. To start, the team unveiled three new Legends Row statues on Thursday, immortalizing Turk Broda, Tim Horton and Dave Keon.

On Friday, the franchise’s top-100 players of all-time were revealed, as voted on a by a media contingent and 300,000 fan votes. Keon, who played 15 seasons with Toronto and helped bring them four Stanley Cup championships, was voted number one. Given Keon’s contentious past with the organization, that he returned to Toronto and spoke glowingly of his tenure is a testament to how the Maple Leafs’ new era continues to expunge some difficult history.

“I really can’t speak to the past. I just know I think [Keon]'s enjoying himself,” Shanahan said. “It was a phone call and he accepted. It was quite simple. He wanted to come back, he wanted to be a part of this. I think he likes the direction that we’re going.” 

With one regular-season game under their belt, there are signs the Leafs are headed upwards. Auston Matthews’ historic four-goal debut is already part of Maple Leafs’ lore. He and his young teammates will be cornerstones of the franchise for years to come, embodying the promise Shanahan and the front office made when they embarked on a painful rebuild. 

“It’s not just one guy, we’re building a team here,” Shanahan said. “[Auston] knows it, and he says all the right things and it’s about a process. The cast of players, not just the rookies, but the veterans who have really bought into what Mike and Lou [Lamoriello] are doing here.”

But when one guy stuns the hockey world in less than 40 minutes of playing time, it’s not about to be overlooked either.

“We were all impressed [with Auston],” Shanahan said. “Forget about the fact we’re with Toronto. If you’re just a fan of hockey and you see a young person do that, I think it was impressive. At the end of the day, what impressed me most was how he took responsibility at the end of the game as well for a mistake that he had made [on Kyle Turris’ overtime-winning goal].”

Saturday night will feature an elaborate pregame ceremony, the details of which are heavily guarded. It could well include the many Maple Leafs alumni — including Darryl Sittler, Wendel Clark and Johnny Bower — who have gathered in recent days. As they can attest, the franchise has seen exhilarating times before. Slowly, steadily, the Maple Leafs are finding a path back to them.