# 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.

## 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 opted to stay with the Anaheim Ducks. He was not given permission to talk to the Leafs about their vacancy by Ducks owner Henry Samueli. 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. On May 8, the Leafs asked the Vancouver Canucks permission to speak to Dave Nonis about hiring him for a position with the club.
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.
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.
The Toronto Maple Leafs hired Al Coates as their player-personnel director on June 16. 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. 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. Moreover, 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.
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%.

### Divisional standings

Northeast Division :
| | | GP | W | L | OTL | GF | GA | Pts |
| 1 | z – Boston Bruins | 82 | 53 | 19 | 10 | 274 | 196 | 116 |
| 2 | Montreal Canadiens | 82 | 41 | 30 | 11 | 249 | 247 | 93 |
| 3 | Buffalo Sabres | 82 | 41 | 32 | 9 | 250 | 234 | 91 |
| 4 | Ottawa Senators | 82 | 36 | 35 | 11 | 217 | 237 | 83 |
| 5 | Toronto Maple Leafs | 82 | 34 | 35 | 13 | 250 | 293 | 81 |

### Conference standings

Eastern Conference :
| R | | Div | GP | W | L | OTL | GF | GA | Pts |
| 1 | z – Boston Bruins | NE | 82 | 53 | 19 | 10 | 274 | 196 | 116 |
| 2 | y – Washington Capitals | SE | 82 | 50 | 24 | 8 | 272 | 245 | 108 |
| 3 | y – New Jersey Devils | AT | 82 | 51 | 27 | 4 | 244 | 209 | 106 |
| 4 | Pittsburgh Penguins | AT | 82 | 45 | 28 | 9 | 264 | 239 | 99 |
| 5 | Philadelphia Flyers | AT | 82 | 44 | 27 | 11 | 264 | 238 | 99 |
| 6 | Carolina Hurricanes | SE | 82 | 45 | 30 | 7 | 239 | 226 | 97 |
| 7 | New York Rangers | AT | 82 | 43 | 30 | 9 | 210 | 218 | 95 |
| 8 | Montreal Canadiens | NE | 82 | 41 | 30 | 11 | 249 | 247 | 93 |
| 8.5 ||||||||||
| 9 | Florida Panthers | SE | 82 | 41 | 30 | 11 | 234 | 231 | 93 |
| 10 | Buffalo Sabres | NE | 82 | 41 | 32 | 9 | 250 | 234 | 91 |
| 11 | Ottawa Senators | NE | 82 | 36 | 35 | 11 | 217 | 237 | 83 |
| 12 | Toronto Maple Leafs | NE | 82 | 34 | 35 | 13 | 250 | 293 | 81 |
| 13 | Atlanta Thrashers | SE | 82 | 35 | 41 | 6 | 257 | 280 | 76 |
| 14 | Tampa Bay Lightning | SE | 82 | 24 | 40 | 18 | 210 | 279 | 66 |
| 15 | New York Islanders | AT | 82 | 26 | 47 | 9 | 201 | 279 | 61 |
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

2008–09 Game Log :
October 4–3–3 (Home 1–2–2, Road 3–1–1)
GameDateOpponentScoreLocationAttendanceRecordPoints
1October 9, 2008@ Detroit Red Wings3–2Joe Louis Arena20,0661–0–02
2October 11, 2008Montreal Canadiens1–6Air Canada Centre19,3701–1–02
3October 13, 2008St. Louis Blues4–5 (SO)Air Canada Centre19,0451–1–13
4October 17, 2008@ New York Rangers0–1 (SO)Madison Square Garden18,2001–1–24
5October 18, 2008@ Pittsburgh Penguins1–4Mellon Arena17,0331–2–24
6October 21, 2008Anaheim Ducks2–3 (SO)Air Canada Centre19,2221–2–35
7October 23, 2008@ Boston Bruins4–2TD Banknorth Garden12,2742–2–37
8October 25, 2008Ottawa Senators3–2Air Canada Centre19,2323–2–39
9October 28, 2008Tampa Bay Lightning2–3Air Canada Centre19,3483–3–39
10October 29, 2008@ New Jersey Devils6–5 (SO)Prudential Center14,1194–3–311 :
November 4–6–3 (Home 3–2–2, Road 1–4–1)
GameDateOpponentScoreLocationAttendanceRecordPoints
11November 1, 2008New York Rangers5–2Air Canada Centre19,1795–3–313
12November 2, 2008@ Carolina Hurricanes4–6RBC Center15,6355–4–313
13November 4, 2008Carolina Hurricanes4–5 (OT)Air Canada Centre19,2665–4–414
14November 6, 2008@ Boston Bruins2–5TD Banknorth Garden15,3915–5–414
15November 8, 2008 †Montreal Canadiens6–3Air Canada Centre19,5126–5–416
16November 11, 2008@ Calgary Flames3–4Pengrowth Saddledome19,2896–6–416
17November 13, 2008@ Edmonton Oilers5–2Rexall Place16,8397–6–418
18November 15, 2008@ Vancouver Canucks2–4General Motors Place18,6307–7–418
19November 17, 2008Boston Bruins2–3Air Canada Centre19,4107–8–418
20November 22, 2008Chicago Blackhawks4–5 (OT)Air Canada Centre19,4747–8–519
21November 25, 2008Atlanta Thrashers3–6Air Canada Centre19,2977–9–519
22November 27, 2008@ Ottawa Senators1–2 (SO)Scotiabank Place19,7037–9–620
23November 29, 2008Philadelphia Flyers4–2Air Canada Centre19,3878–9–622 :
December 7–7–0 (Home 3–2–0, Road 4–5–0)
GameDateOpponentScoreLocationAttendanceRecordPoints
24December 1, 2008@ Los Angeles Kings3–1Staples Center15,0529–9–624
25December 2, 2008@ San Jose Sharks2–5HP Pavilion at San Jose17,4969–10–624
26December 4, 2008@ Phoenix Coyotes3–6Jobing.com Arena13,7779–11–624
27December 6, 2008Washington Capitals1–2Air Canada Centre19,4169–12–624
28December 8, 2008New York Islanders4–2Air Canada Centre19,30910–12–626
29December 12, 2008@ Buffalo Sabres2–1HSBC Arena18,21111–12–628
30December 16, 2008New Jersey Devils3–2 (SO)Air Canada Centre19,31512–12–630
31December 18, 2008@ Boston Bruins5–8TD Banknorth Garden17,56512–13–630
32December 20, 2008@ Pittsburgh Penguins7–3Mellon Arena17,05313–13–632
33December 22, 2008@ Atlanta Thrashers6–2Philips Arena16,41314–13–634
34December 23, 2008Dallas Stars2–8Air Canada Centre19,26914–14–634
35December 26, 2008@ New York Islanders1–4Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum15,17314–15–634
36December 28, 2008@ Washington Capitals1–4Verizon Center18,27714–16–634
37December 30, 2008Atlanta Thrashers4–3 (OT)Air Canada Centre19,26015–16–636 :
January 4–7–2 (Home 2–4–1, Road 2–3–1)
GameDateOpponentScoreLocationAttendanceRecordPoints
38January 1, 2009Buffalo Sabres1–4Air Canada Centre19,17615–17–636
39January 3, 2009Ottawa Senators3–1Air Canada Centre19,40616–17–638
40January 6, 2009Florida Panthers2–4Air Canada Centre19,19716–18–638
41January 8, 2009@ Montreal Canadiens2–6Bell Centre21,27316–19–638
42January 10, 2009@ Philadelphia Flyers1–4Wachovia Center19,78716–20–638
43January 13, 2009Nashville Predators0–2Air Canada Centre19,22316–21–638
44January 15, 2009@ Carolina Hurricanes6–4RBC Center18,03717–21–640
45January 16, 2009@ Atlanta Thrashers3–4 (OT)Philips Arena15,61917–21–741
46January 19, 2009Carolina Hurricanes0–2Air Canada Centre19,01817–22–741
47January 21, 2009Boston Bruins3–4 (SO)Air Canada Centre19,25817–22–842
48January 27, 2009@ Minnesota Wild1–6Xcel Energy Center18,56817–23–842
49January 29, 2009@ Colorado Avalanche7–4Pepsi Center15,21618–23–844
50January 31, 2009Pittsburgh Penguins5–4Air Canada Centre19,57019–23–846 :
February 6–3–4 (Home 2–1–3, Road 4–2–1)
GameDateOpponentScoreLocationAttendanceRecordPoints
51February 3, 2009Florida Panthers3–4 (OT)Air Canada Centre19,09519–23–947
52February 4, 2009@ Buffalo Sabres0–5HSBC Arena17,35519–24–947
53February 7, 2009@ Montreal Canadiens5–2Bell Centre21,27320–24–949
54February 10, 2009@ Florida Panthers4–5 (OT)BankAtlantic Center13,76420–24–1050
55February 12, 2009@ Tampa Bay4–6St. Pete Times Forum16,52620–25–1050
56February 14, 2009Pittsburgh Penguins6–2Air Canada Centre19,36521–25–1052
57February 17, 2009Buffalo Sabres1–4Air Canada Centre19,28721–26–1052
58February 19, 2009Columbus Blue Jackets3–4 (SO)Air Canada Centre19,17921–26–1153
59February 21, 2009Vancouver Canucks2–3 (SO)Air Canada Centre19,50421–26–1254
60February 22, 2009@ New York Rangers3–2 (OT)Madison Square Garden18,20022–26–1256
61February 25, 2009New York Rangers2–1 (SO)Air Canada Centre19,38323–26–1258
62February 26, 2009@ New York Islanders5–4 (SO)Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum12,20124–26–1260
63February 28, 2009@ Ottawa Senators4–3 (OT)Scotiabank Place20,05025–26–1262 :
March 6–6–1 (Home 3–3–1, Road 3–3–0)
GameDateOpponentScoreLocationAttendanceRecordPoints
64March 3, 2009New Jersey Devils2–3 (OT)Air Canada Centre19,38925–26–1363
65March 5, 2009@ Washington Capitals2–1Verizon Center18,27726–26–1365
66March 7, 2009Edmonton Oilers1–4Air Canada Centre19,36426–27–1365
67March 9, 2009@ Ottawa Senators1–2Scotiabank Place18,89826–28–1365
68March 10, 2009New York Islanders3–2 (OT)Air Canada Centre19,04127–28–1367
69March 12, 2009Tampa Bay Lightning1–4Air Canada Centre19,20927–29–1367
70March 14, 2009Calgary Flames8–6Air Canada Centre19,35628–29–1369
71March 17, 2009@ Tampa Bay Lightning4–3 (SO)St. Pete Times Forum18,79329–29–1371
72March 19, 2009@ Florida Panthers1–3BankAtlantic Center15,46729–30–1371
73March 21, 2009@ Montreal Canadiens5–2Bell Centre21,27330–30–1373
74March 24, 2009Washington Capitals3–2 (SO)Air Canada Centre19,36231–30–1375
75March 27, 2009@ Buffalo Sabres3–5HSBC Arena18,62031–31–1375
76March 28, 2009Boston Bruins5–7Air Canada Centre19,36031–32–1375 :
April 3–3–0 (Home 2–2–0, Road 1–1–0)
GameDateOpponentScoreLocationAttendanceRecordPoints
77April 1, 2009Philadelphia Flyers3–2Air Canada Centre19,34032–32–1377
78April 3, 2009@ Philadelphia Flyers5–8Wachovia Center19,72732–33–1377
79April 4, 2009Montreal Canadiens2–6Air Canada Centre19,51632–34–1377
80April 7, 2009@ New Jersey Devils4–1Prudential Center15,04633–34–1379
81April 8, 2009Buffalo Sabres1–3Air Canada Centre19,51633–35–1379
82April 11, 2009Ottawa Senators5–2Air Canada Centre19,37034–35–1381 :
† Hockey Hall of Fame Game :
Schedule :

### Overtime statistics

| | Games | Won | Lost | Goal scorers |
| Overtime | 10 | 4 | 6 | Pavel Kubina (2), Niklas Hagman, Mikhail Grabovski |
| Shootout | 13 | 6 | 7 | |
| | 23 | 10 | 13 | |

### Playoffs

The Toronto Maple Leafs failed to qualify for the 2009 Stanley Cup playoffs.

## Player statistics

Final stats

### Skaters

Regular Season :
| Player | GP | G | A | Pts | +/- | PIM |
| Jason Blake | 78 | 25 | 38 | 63 | −2 | 40 |
| Alexei Ponikarovsky | 82 | 23 | 38 | 61 | +6 | 38 |
| Matt Stajan | 76 | 15 | 40 | 55 | −4 | 54 |
| Mikhail Grabovski | 78 | 20 | 28 | 48 | −8 | 92 |
| Nik Antropov$^‡$ | 63 | 21 | 25 | 46 | −13 | 24 |
| Niklas Hagman | 65 | 22 | 20 | 42 | −5 | 4 |
| Dominic Moore$^‡$ | 63 | 12 | 29 | 41 | −1 | 69 |
| Pavel Kubina | 82 | 14 | 26 | 40 | −15 | 94 |
| Tomas Kaberle | 57 | 4 | 27 | 31 | −8 | 8 |
| Nikolai Kulemin | 73 | 15 | 16 | 31 | −8 | 18 |
| Lee Stempniak$^†$ | 61 | 11 | 20 | 31 | −9 | 31 |
| John Mitchell | 76 | 12 | 17 | 29 | −16 | 33 |
| Ian White | 71 | 10 | 16 | 26 | +6 | 57 |
| Jeff Finger | 66 | 6 | 17 | 23 | −7 | 43 |
| Jamal Mayers | 71 | 7 | 9 | 16 | −7 | 82 |
| Luke Schenn | 70 | 2 | 12 | 14 | −12 | 71 |
| Anton Stralman | 38 | 1 | 12 | 13 | −2 | 20 |
| Boyd Devereaux | 23 | 6 | 5 | 11 | +3 | 2 |
| Mike Van Ryn | 27 | 3 | 8 | 11 | +2 | 14 |
| Jeremy Williams | 11 | 5 | 2 | 7 | +2 | 2 |
| Jonas Frogren | 41 | 1 | 6 | 7 | 0 | 28 |
| Jeff Hamilton | 15 | 3 | 3 | 6 | +2 | 4 |
| Alexander Steen$^‡$ | 20 | 2 | 2 | 4 | −4 | 6 |
| Jiri Tlusty | 14 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| Brad May$^†$ | 38 | 1 | 1 | 2 | −5 | 61 |
| Ryan Hollweg | 25 | 0 | 2 | 2 | −7 | 38 |
| Phil Oreskovic | 10 | 1 | 1 | 2 | −2 | 21 |
| Jaime Sifers | 23 | 0 | 2 | 2 | −4 | 18 |
| Christian Hanson | 5 | 1 | 1 | 2 | −1 | 2 |
| Carlo Colaiacovo$^‡$ | 10 | 0 | 1 | 1 | −2 | 6 |
| Andre Deveaux | 21 | 0 | 1 | 1 | −3 | 75 |
| Jay Harrison | 7 | 0 | 1 | 1 | −2 | 10 |
| Tim Stapleton | 4 | 1 | 0 | 1 | −3 | 0 |
| Ben Ondrus | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −4 | 34 |
| Kris Newbury | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |

### Goaltenders

Regular Season :
| Player | GP | GS | TOI | W | L | OT | GA | GAA | SA | SV% | SO | G | A | PIM |
| Vesa Toskala | 53 | 52 | 3056 | 22 | 17 | 11 | 166 | 3.26 | 1518 | .891 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Curtis Joseph | 21 | 11 | 841 | 5 | 9 | 1 | 50 | 3.57 | 383 | .869 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Martin Gerber$^†$ | 12 | 12 | 705 | 6 | 5 | 0 | 38 | 3.23 | 402 | .905 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Justin Pogge | 7 | 6 | 372 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 27 | 4.36 | 173 | .844 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
$^†$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.

## Awards and records
### Milestones

Regular Season :
| Player | Milestone | Reached |

## Transactions

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

### Trades

| June 19, 2008 | To Toronto Maple Leafs Jamal Mayers | To St. Louis Blues 3rd-round pick in 2008 – James Livingston |
| June 20, 2008 | To Toronto Maple Leafs 1st-round (5th overall) pick in 2008 – Luke Schenn | To New York Islanders 1st-round (7th overall) pick in 2008 – Colin Wilson Two conditional picks – Shawn Lalonde and Mat Clark |
| July 3, 2008 | To Toronto Maple Leafs Mikhail Grabovski | To Montreal Canadiens Greg Pateryn 2nd-round pick in 2010 – Jared Knight |
| July 14, 2008 | To Toronto Maple Leafs Ryan Hollweg | To New York Rangers 5th-round pick in 2009 – Andy Bathgate |
| September 2, 2008 | To Toronto Maple Leafs Mike Van Ryn | To Florida Panthers Bryan McCabe 4th-round pick in 2010 – Sam Brittain |
| November 24, 2008 | To Toronto Maple Leafs Lee Stempniak | To St. Louis Blues Alexander Steen Carlo Colaiacovo |
| January 7, 2009 | To Toronto Maple Leafs Brad May | To Anaheim Ducks Conditional 6th-round draft pick in 2010 (condition not satisfied) |
| January 21, 2009 | To Toronto Maple Leafs Ryan Hamilton | To Minnesota Wild Robbie Earl |
| March 4, 2009 | To Toronto Maple Leafs 2nd-round draft pick in 2009 – Kenny Ryan Conditional draft pick | To New York Rangers Nik Antropov |
| March 4, 2009 | To Toronto Maple Leafs 2nd-round draft pick in 2009 – Jesse Blacker | To Buffalo Sabres Dominic Moore |
| March 4, 2009 | To Toronto Maple Leafs Olaf Kolzig Jamie Heward Andy Rogers 4th-round pick in 2009 | To Tampa Bay Lightning Richard Petiot |

### Free agents

| Player | Former team | Contract Terms |
| Curtis Joseph | Calgary Flames | 1 year, $700,000 |
| Jeff Finger | Colorado Avalanche | 4 years, $14 million |
| Niklas Hagman | Dallas Stars | 4 years, $12 million |
| Christian Hanson | University of Notre Dame | 2 years, $1.575 million |
| Tyler Bozak | University of Denver | 2 years, entry level |
| Player | New team |
| Darcy Tucker | Colorado Avalanche |
| Andrew Raycroft | Colorado Avalanche |
| Kyle Wellwood | Vancouver Canucks |
| Scott Clemmensen | New Jersey Devils |
| Andy Wozniewski | St. Louis Blues |

### Claimed from waivers

| Player | Former team | Date claimed off waivers |
| Martin Gerber | Ottawa Senators | March 4, 2009 |
| Erik Reitz | New York Rangers | March 4, 2009 |

## Draft picks

Toronto's picks at the 2008 NHL Entry Draft in Ottawa.
| 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 Saguenéens (QMJHL) |
| 5 | 130 (from Florida) | Jerome Flaake | (LW) | Germany | Kölner Haie (DEL) |
| 6 | 158 | Grant Rollheiser | (G) | Canada | Trail Smoke Eaters (BCHL) |
| 7 | 188 | Andrew MacWilliam | (D) | Canada | Camrose Kodiaks (AJHL) |