# 1946–47 Toronto Maple Leafs season

The 1946–47 Toronto Maple Leafs season involved winning the Stanley Cup. During the season, Maple Leaf Gardens was the first arena in the NHL to have Plexiglas inserted in the end zones of the rink.

## Off-season

Frank Selke was involved in the wrong end of a power struggle with Conn Smythe and the club's board of directors. Selke was let go, and was immediately signed as the new general manager of the Montreal Canadiens. Frank McCool retired of his own volition due to his ulcers, while Lorne Carr, Dave Schriner, Mel Hill and Bob Davidson were asked to retire by the team. Babe Pratt was traded to Boston. The team brought in several rookies: Bill Barilko, Garth Boesch, Howie Meeker and Sid Smith.

## Regular season

Despite having a large number of rookies, the team won twenty of their first thirty-one games, led by the play of Meeker. Meeker set a rookie record, scoring five goals in a 10–4 win over Chicago on January 8, 1947. The team bounced back from a disappointing 1945–46 season to place second and qualify for the playoffs.

### Final standings

National Hockey League vte :
| | | GP | W | L | T | GF | GA | DIFF | Pts |
| 1 | Montreal Canadiens | 60 | 34 | 16 | 10 | 189 | 138 | +51 | 78 |
| 2 | Toronto Maple Leafs | 60 | 31 | 19 | 10 | 209 | 172 | +37 | 72 |
| 3 | Boston Bruins | 60 | 26 | 23 | 11 | 190 | 175 | +15 | 63 |
| 4 | Detroit Red Wings | 60 | 22 | 27 | 11 | 190 | 193 | −3 | 55 |
| 5 | New York Rangers | 60 | 22 | 32 | 6 | 167 | 186 | −19 | 50 |
| 6 | Chicago Black Hawks | 60 | 19 | 37 | 4 | 193 | 274 | −81 | 42 |

### Record vs. opponents

1946–47 NHL Records :
| Team | BOS | CHI | DET | MTL | NYR | TOR |
| Boston | — | 6–5–1 | 6–3–3 | 1–9–2 | 7–3–2 | 5–5–2 |
| Chicago | 5–6–1 | — | 4–7–1 | 3–8–1 | 4–8 | 3–8–1 |
| Detroit | 3–6–3 | 7–4–1 | — | 4–6–2 | 6–3–3 | 2–8–2 |
| Montreal | 9–1–2 | 8–3–1 | 6–4–2 | — | 6–5–1 | 5–3–4 |
| New York | 3–7–2 | 8–4 | 3–6–3 | 5–6–1 | — | 4–8 |
| Toronto | 5–5–2 | 8–3–1 | 8–2–2 | 3–5–4 | 8–4 | — |

## Schedule and results

| No. | R | Date | Score | Opponent | Record |
| 1 | T | October 16 | 3–3 | @ Detroit Red Wings (1946–47) | 0–0–1 |
| 2 | W | October 19 | 6–3 | Detroit Red Wings (1946–47) | 1–0–1 |
| 3 | T | October 23 | 3–3 | @ Boston Bruins (1946–47) | 1–0–2 |
| 4 | W | October 26 | 2–1 | Chicago Black Hawks (1946–47) | 2–0–2 |
| 5 | W | October 30 | 5–2 | @ Chicago Black Hawks (1946–47) | 3–0–2 |
| 6 | T | November 1 | 1–1 | @ Montreal Canadiens (1946–47) | 3–0–3 |
| 7 | L | November 2 | 0–5 | Boston Bruins (1946–47) | 3–1–3 |
| 8 | W | November 9 | 4–2 | New York Rangers (1946–47) | 4–1–3 |
| 9 | W | November 10 | 4–2 | @ Chicago Black Hawks (1946–47) | 5–1–3 |
| 10 | W | November 16 | 3–0 | Montreal Canadiens (1946–47) | 6–1–3 |
| 11 | W | November 17 | 5–4 | @ New York Rangers (1946–47) | 7–1–3 |
| 12 | L | November 20 | 1–4 | @ Boston Bruins (1946–47) | 7–2–3 |
| 13 | L | November 23 | 2–4 | Detroit Red Wings (1946–47) | 7–3–3 |
| 14 | W | November 24 | 5–0 | @ Detroit Red Wings (1946–47) | 8–3–3 |
| 15 | L | November 27 | 2–5 | @ Chicago Black Hawks (1946–47) | 8–4–3 |
| 16 | W | November 30 | 11–0 | Chicago Black Hawks (1946–47) | 9–4–3 |
| 17 | T | December 4 | 2–2 | @ Boston Bruins (1946–47) | 9–4–4 |
| 18 | W | December 7 | 5–1 | Boston Bruins (1946–47) | 10–4–4 |
| 19 | W | December 8 | 5–4 | @ Detroit Red Wings (1946–47) | 11–4–4 |
| 20 | L | December 11 | 2–3 | Montreal Canadiens (1946–47) | 11–5–4 |
| 21 | W | December 14 | 3–2 | New York Rangers (1946–47) | 12–5–4 |
| 22 | W | December 15 | 4–3 | @ Chicago Black Hawks (1946–47) | 13–5–4 |
| 23 | W | December 19 | 3–1 | Detroit Red Wings (1946–47) | 14–5–4 |
| 24 | W | December 21 | 3–1 | Chicago Black Hawks (1946–47) | 15–5–4 |
| 25 | W | December 22 | 3–1 | @ New York Rangers (1946–47) | 16–5–4 |
| 26 | W | December 25 | 2–1 | @ Detroit Red Wings (1946–47) | 17–5–4 |
| 27 | L | December 26 | 1–4 | @ Montreal Canadiens (1946–47) | 17–6–4 |
| 28 | W | December 28 | 4–3 | Boston Bruins (1946–47) | 18–6–4 |
| 29 | W | January 1 | 2–1 | Detroit Red Wings (1946–47) | 19–6–4 |
| 30 | W | January 2 | 5–4 | @ New York Rangers (1946–47) | 20–6–4 |
| 31 | L | January 4 | 0–2 | New York Rangers (1946–47) | 20–7–4 |
| 32 | W | January 8 | 10–4 | Chicago Black Hawks (1946–47) | 21–7–4 |
| 33 | W | January 11 | 4–3 | Boston Bruins (1946–47) | 22–7–4 |
| 34 | L | January 12 | 2–3 | @ New York Rangers (1946–47) | 22–8–4 |
| 35 | W | January 15 | 2–1 | Montreal Canadiens (1946–47) | 23–8–4 |
| 36 | T | January 16 | 1–1 | @ Montreal Canadiens (1946–47) | 23–8–5 |
| 37 | W | January 18 | 7–4 | Detroit Red Wings (1946–47) | 24–8–5 |
| 38 | L | January 19 | 2–3 | @ Boston Bruins (1946–47) | 24–9–5 |
| 39 | L | January 25 | 0–1 | New York Rangers (1946–47) | 24–10–5 |
| 40 | T | January 26 | 6–6 | @ Chicago Black Hawks (1946–47) | 24–10–6 |
| 41 | L | January 30 | 0–2 | @ Montreal Canadiens (1946–47) | 24–11–6 |
| 42 | L | February 1 | 4–5 | Chicago Black Hawks (1946–47) | 24–12–6 |
| 43 | L | February 6 | 2–8 | @ Montreal Canadiens (1946–47) | 24–13–6 |
| 44 | W | February 8 | 5–2 | Boston Bruins (1946–47) | 25–13–6 |
| 45 | T | February 15 | 4–4 | Montreal Canadiens (1946–47) | 25–13–7 |
| 46 | L | February 16 | 2–6 | @ New York Rangers (1946–47) | 25–14–7 |
| 47 | L | February 19 | 3–5 | @ Chicago Black Hawks (1946–47) | 25–15–7 |
| 48 | W | February 22 | 2–0 | New York Rangers (1946–47) | 26–15–7 |
| 49 | T | February 23 | 2–2 | @ Montreal Canadiens (1946–47) | 26–15–8 |
| 50 | L | February 26 | 0–1 | Montreal Canadiens (1946–47) | 26–16–8 |
| 51 | T | February 27 | 3–3 | @ Detroit Red Wings (1946–47) | 26–16–9 |
| 52 | L | March 1 | 4–5 | Detroit Red Wings (1946–47) | 26–17–9 |
| 53 | L | March 5 | 4–5 | @ Boston Bruins (1946–47) | 26–18–9 |
| 54 | W | March 8 | 12–4 | Chicago Black Hawks (1946–47) | 27–18–9 |
| 55 | W | March 9 | 4–2 | @ New York Rangers (1946–47) | 28–18–9 |
| 56 | T | March 15 | 5–5 | Boston Bruins (1946–47) | 28–18–10 |
| 57 | L | March 16 | 3–5 | @ Boston Bruins (1946–47) | 28–19–10 |
| 58 | W | March 19 | 5–4 | Montreal Canadiens (1946–47) | 29–19–10 |
| 59 | W | March 22 | 5–3 | New York Rangers (1946–47) | 30–19–10 |
| 60 | W | March 23 | 5–3 | @ Detroit Red Wings (1946–47) | 31–19–10 |

## Playoffs
### Stanley Cup Finals

Montreal Canadiens vs. Toronto Maple Leafs
| Date | Away | Score | Home | Score | Notes |
| April 8 | Toronto | 0 | Montreal | 6 | |
| April 10 | Toronto | 4 | Montreal | 0 | |
| April 12 | Montreal | 2 | Toronto | 4 | |
| April 15 | Montreal | 1 | Toronto | 2 | OT |
| April 17 | Toronto | 1 | Montreal | 3 | |
| April 19 | Montreal | 1 | Toronto | 2 | |
Toronto wins best-of-seven series 4–2.

## Player statistics
### Regular season
#### Scoring

| Player | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM |
| Ted Kennedy | 60 | 28 | 32 | 60 | 27 |
| Syl Apps | 54 | 25 | 24 | 49 | 6 |
| Howie Meeker | 55 | 27 | 18 | 45 | 76 |
| Bill Ezinicki | 60 | 17 | 20 | 37 | 93 |
| Bud Poile | 59 | 19 | 17 | 36 | 19 |
| Harry Watson | 44 | 19 | 15 | 34 | 10 |
| Gaye Stewart | 60 | 19 | 14 | 33 | 15 |
| Joe Klukay | 55 | 9 | 20 | 29 | 12 |
| Nick Metz | 60 | 12 | 16 | 28 | 15 |
| Vic Lynn | 31 | 6 | 14 | 20 | 44 |
| Wally Stanowski | 51 | 3 | 16 | 19 | 12 |
| Gus Mortson | 60 | 5 | 13 | 18 | 133 |
| Jimmy Thomson | 60 | 2 | 14 | 16 | 97 |
| Don Metz | 40 | 4 | 9 | 13 | 10 |
| Gus Bodnar | 39 | 4 | 6 | 10 | 10 |
| Bill Barilko | 18 | 3 | 7 | 10 | 33 |
| Garth Boesch | 35 | 4 | 5 | 9 | 47 |
| Sid Smith | 14 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 0 |
| Bob Goldham | 11 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 10 |
| Harry Taylor | 9 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| Turk Broda | 60 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Bob Dawes | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |

#### Goaltending

| Player | MIN | GP | W | L | T | GA | GAA | SA | SV | SV% | SO |
| Turk Broda | 3600 | 60 | 31 | 19 | 10 | 172 | 2.87 | | | | 4 |
| Team: | 3600 | 60 | 31 | 19 | 10 | 172 | 2.87 | | | | 4 |

### Playoffs
#### Scoring

| Player | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM |
| Ted Kennedy | 11 | 4 | 5 | 9 | 4 |
| Gaye Stewart | 11 | 2 | 5 | 7 | 8 |
| Syl Apps | 11 | 5 | 1 | 6 | 0 |
| Nick Metz | 6 | 4 | 2 | 6 | 0 |
| Howie Meeker | 11 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 6 |
| Vic Lynn | 11 | 4 | 1 | 5 | 16 |
| Harry Watson | 11 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 6 |
| Don Metz | 11 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 4 |
| Gus Mortson | 11 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 22 |
| Bill Barilko | 11 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 18 |
| Bud Poile | 7 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Garth Boesch | 11 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 6 |
| Bill Ezinicki | 11 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 30 |
| Joe Klukay | 11 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Jimmy Thomson | 11 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 22 |
| Gus Bodnar | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Turk Broda | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Wally Stanowski | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |

#### Goaltending

| Player | MIN | GP | W | L | T | GA | GAA | SA | SV | SV% | SO |
| Turk Broda | 680 | 11 | 8 | 3 | | 27 | 2.38 | | | | 1 |
| Team: | 680 | 11 | 8 | 3 | | 27 | 2.38 | | | | 1 |

## Transactions

* April 13, 1946: Signed Free Agent Howie Meeker
* April 30, 1946: Signed Free Agent Tod Sloan
* May 1, 1946: Signed Free Agent Harry Taylor
* June 1, 1946: Claimed Ray Powell from the Fort Worth Rangers of the USHL in inter-league draft
* September 21, 1946: Acquired Gerry Brown from the Detroit Red Wings for Doug Baldwin and Ray Powell
* September 21, 1946: Acquired Dutch Hiller and Vic Lynn from the Montreal Canadiens for Gerry Brown and John Mahaffy
* December 8, 1946: Signed Free Agent Sid Smith
* December 31, 1946: Traded Ross Johnstone to the Springfield Indians of the AHL for cash