2008–09 Toronto Maple Leafs season

The 2008–09 Toronto Maple Leafs season was the franchise's 92nd, and their 82nd as the Maple Leafs. The Leafs did not qualify for the playoffs for the fourth consecutive season, and have not qualified for the post-season since the 2003–04 season.

Offseason

The Leafs faced an off-season challenge to hire a general manager. Brian Burke was a favourite for the position held by Interim General Manager Cliff Fletcher, but Burke decided to stay with the Anaheim Ducks. He was not given permission to talk to the Leafs about their vacancy by Ducks owner Henry Samueli.^[1] Burke had one more year left on his contract as the general manager of the Ducks, and those close to him say he was interested in the Maple Leafs' job.

On May 7, the Leafs fired Head Coach Paul Maurice, along with two assistant coaches, after missing the playoffs in back-to-back seasons.^[2] On May 8, the Leafs asked the Vancouver Canucks permission to speak to Dave Nonis about hiring him for a position with the club.^[3]

In mid-May, there were rumours that Wayne Gretzky was in the running for a position with the Maple Leafs. Gretzky responded to the rumours linking him to the Toronto Maple Leafs by stating that his focus was on the Phoenix Coyotes and developing their young talent.^[4]

On June 10, Ron Wilson was hired as the new head coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs. Wilson was fired in May by the San Jose Sharks after the Sharks lost to the Dallas Stars in the second round of the NHL playoffs. Wilson has also coached the Anaheim Ducks and the Washington Capitals. The former U.S. college player spent parts of three NHL seasons with the Leafs in the 1970s.^[5]

The Toronto Maple Leafs hired Al Coates as their player-personnel director on June 16.^[6] Coates comes to Toronto after spending the previous six seasons with Anaheim. Coates has spent more than 30 years in pro hockey and has been part of two Stanley Cup-winning teams (2007 with the Anaheim Ducks and 1989 with the Calgary Flames).

The move perpetuated speculation that Anaheim General Manager Brian Burke would become the Maple Leafs' GM once his deal with the Ducks expired in 2009. The fact that new head coach Ron Wilson played hockey with Burke at the Providence College sparked further rumors about Burke potentially joining the club.

Former NHL star Joe Nieuwendyk was named as General Manager Cliff Fletcher's special assistant on July 8.^[7] While playing for the Florida Panthers, Nieuwendyk gained experience as a special consultant to GM Jacques Martin.

Throughout the off-season, the Maple Leafs have been involved in numerous transactions. On June 24, the Toronto Maple Leafs put goaltender Andrew Raycroft and forward Kyle Wellwood on waivers.^[8] Morever, Interim GM Cliff Fletcher informed Darcy Tucker that he is to be bought out of his three-year contract; however, this decision was not made official until June 25.^[9]

The Maple Leafs bought out goaltender Andrew Raycroft on June 28, making him eligible for free agency on July 1. When the free agent signing period began on July 1, Toronto signed defenceman Jeff Finger, goaltender Curtis Joseph and former Dallas Stars forward Niklas Hagman. Another transaction was made on July 3 when Toronto traded for former Montreal Canadiens forward Mikhail Grabovski in exchange for the rights to Greg Pateryn and a second-round draft pick in 2010. The Leafs also re-signed forwards Dominic Moore, John Mitchell and Greg Scott. On July 14, the Maple Leafs acquired forward Ryan Hollweg in a trade with the New York Rangers for a fifth-round draft pick in 2009.

Regular season

With a young roster, the Maple Leafs were expected to have a lacklustre season. This proved to be correct, as they fell out of the playoff race relatively early and showed little sign of recovery. However, they showed signs of improvement in February and March 2009, during which they had a stretch of seven consecutive games that went into overtime. The Leafs lost the first two in shootouts, then won four in a row with two overtime wins and two shootout wins, followed by an overtime loss.

In November 2008, Brian Burke obtained his release from the Anaheim Ducks and joined the Maple Leafs as president and general manager.

The Maple Leafs were mathematically eliminated from the playoffs on March 31, 2009, with six games remaining in the season.

The Maple Leafs finished the season with 286 goals allowed (excluding seven shootout goals), the most out of all 30 teams. The Maple Leafs also struggled on the penalty kill, finishing 30th overall in penalty-kill percentage, at 74.68%.^[10][11]

Divisional standings

Conference standings

bold – qualified for playoffs, y – division winner, z – placed first in conference (and division)

AT – Atlantic Division, NE – Northeast Division, SE – Southeast Division

Schedule and results

Overtime Statistics

Playoffs

The Toronto Maple Leafs failed to qualify for the 2009 Stanley Cup playoffs. If the Leafs had qualified for the playoffs, it would have been their first qualification since the 2003–04 NHL season.

Player statistics

Skaters

Goaltenders

^†Denotes player spent time with another team before joining Maple Leafs. Stats reflect time with Maple Leafs only.
^‡Traded mid-season.
Bold/italics denotes franchise record.

Note:

Pos = Position; GPI = Games played in; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; PIM = Penalty minutes; +/- = Plus/minus; PPG = Power-play goals; SHG = Short-handed goals; GWG = Game-winning goals

Min, TOI = Minutes played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T,T/OT = Ties; OTL = Overtime losses; GA = Goals-against; GAA = Goals-against average; SO = Shutouts; SA = Shots against; SV = Shots saved; SV% = Save percentage;

Awards and records

Milestones

Transactions

On October 6, the team placed Mark Bell on waivers.

Trades

Free agents

Claimed from waivers

Draft picks

Toronto's picks at the 2008 NHL Entry Draft^[14] in Ottawa, Ontario.

Round	Pick	Player	Position	Nationality	Club Team
1	5	Luke Schenn	(D)	Canada	Kelowna Rockets (WHL)
2	60 (from Pittsburgh)	Jimmy Hayes	(RW)	United States	Lincoln Stars (USHL)
4	98	Mikhail Stefanovich	(C)	Belarus	Quebec Remparts (QMJHL)
5	128	Greg Pateryn	(D)	United States	Ohio Junior Blue Jackets (USHL)
5	129 (from Phoenix)	Joel Champagne	(C)	Canada	Chicoutimi Sagueneens (QMJHL)
5	130 (from Florida)	Jerome Flaake	(LW)	Germany	Kolner Haie (DEL)
6	158	Grant Rollheiser	(G)	Canada	Trail Smoke Eaters (BCHL)
7	188	Andrew MacWilliam	(D)	Canada	Camrose Kodiaks (AJHL)

Roster

Updated March 30, 2009.^[15][16]

#	Nat	Player	Pos	S/G	Age	Acquired	Birthplace
55	United States !	Blake, JasonJason Blake	6.0 !LW	L	42	2007	Moorhead, Minnesota
56	Bahamas !	Deveaux, AndreAndre Deveaux	4.0 !C	R	31	2008	Freeport, Bahamas
22	Canada !	Devereaux, BoydBoyd Devereaux	4.0 !C	L	37	2006	Seaforth, Ontario
4	United States !	Finger, JeffJeff Finger	2.0 !D	R	36	2008	Houghton, Michigan
24	Sweden !	Frogren, JonasJonas Frogren	2.0 !D	L	35	2008	Falun, Sweden
29	Switzerland !	Gerber, MartinMartin Gerber	1.0 !G	L	41	2009	Burgdorf, Switzerland
84	Belarus !	Grabovski, MikhailMikhail Grabovski	4.0 !C	L	32	2008	Potsdam, East Germany
9	Finland !	Hagman, NiklasNiklas Hagman	6.0 !LW	L	36	2008	Espoo, Finland
51	United States !	Hamilton, JeffJeff Hamilton	4.0 !C	R	38	2009	Dayton, Ohio
20	United States !	Hanson, ChristianChristian Hanson	4.0 !C	R	29	2009	Venetia, Pennsylvania
43	Canada !	Harrison, JayJay Harrison	2.0 !D	L	33	2001	Oshawa, Ontario
	Canada !	Heward, JamieJamie Heward	2.0 !D	R	44	2009	Regina, Saskatchewan
31	Canada !	Joseph, CurtisCurtis Joseph	1.0 !G	L	48	2008	Keswick, Ontario
15	Czech Republic !	Kaberle, TomasTomas Kaberle (A)	2.0 !D	L	37	1996	Rakovník, Czechoslovakia
	Germany !	Kolzig, OlafOlaf Kolzig	1.0 !G	L	45	2009	Johannesburg, South Africa
77	Czech Republic !	Kubina, PavelPavel Kubina (A)	2.0 !D	R	38	2006	Čeladná, Czechoslovakia
41	Russia !	Kulemin, NikolaiNikolai Kulemin	7.0 !RW	L	29	2006	Magnitogorsk, U.S.S.R.
10	Canada !	May, BradBrad May (A)	6.0 !LW	R	44	2009	Toronto, Ontario
21	Canada !	Mayers, JamalJamal Mayers (A)	7.0 !RW	R	41	2008	Toronto, Ontario
39	Canada !	Mitchell, JohnJohn Mitchell	4.0 !C	L	31	2003	Oakville, Ontario
40	Canada !	Oreskovic, PhilPhil Oreskovic	2.0 !D	R	29	2005	North York, Ontario
1	Canada !	Pogge, JustinJustin Pogge	1.0 !G	L	29	2004	Fort McMurray, Alberta
23	Ukraine !	Ponikarovsky, AlexeiAlexei Ponikarovsky	6.0 !LW	L	35	1998	Kiev, U.S.S.R.
3	USA !	Reitz, ErikErik Reitz	2.0 !D	R	33	2009	Detroit, Michigan
2	Canada !	Schenn, LukeLuke Schenn	2.0 !D	R	26	2008	Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
14	Canada !	Stajan, MattMatt Stajan	4.0 !C	R	32	2002	Mississauga, Ontario
12	United States !	Stempniak, LeeLee Stempniak	7.0 !RW	R	32	2008	West Seneca, New York
35	Finland !	Toskala, VesaVesa Toskala	1.0 !G	L	38	2007	Tampere, Finland
26	Canada !	Van Ryn, MikeMike Van Ryn	2.0 !D	R	36	2008	London, Ontario
7	Canada !	White, IanIan White	2.0 !D	R	31	2002	Steinbach, Manitoba

See also

• 2008–09 NHL season

Farm teams

• The Maple Leafs continue their affiliation with the Toronto Marlies of the American Hockey League.

References