# 1945–46 Toronto Maple Leafs season

The 1945–46 Toronto Maple Leafs season was the 29th season of play of the Toronto NHL franchise. Although the club was the defending Stanley Cup champion, the team's play declined and the club finished in fifth, missing the playoffs.

## Offseason

Cup hero goaltender Frank McCool held out. The Maple Leafs decided to play the tandem of Baz Bastien and Gordie Bell.

## Regular season

Without Frank McCool, the team only won three of the first thirteen games, and the Leafs and McCool came to terms. The club continued to struggle and only won eight of the first 28 games. Turk Broda returned from war-time duty in January, but the team continued to struggle. All-Star defenceman Babe Pratt was suspended, but was reinstated after nine games. The team won only two of the nine games and dropped out of playoff contention. The club finished in fifth place, out of the playoffs. The team was only the second team to miss the playoffs after winning the Cup.

### Final standings

National Hockey League vte :
| | | GP | W | L | T | GF | GA | DIFF | Pts |
| 1 | Montreal Canadiens | 50 | 28 | 17 | 5 | 172 | 134 | +38 | 61 |
| 2 | Boston Bruins | 50 | 24 | 18 | 8 | 167 | 156 | +11 | 56 |
| 3 | Chicago Black Hawks | 50 | 23 | 20 | 7 | 200 | 178 | +22 | 53 |
| 4 | Detroit Red Wings | 50 | 20 | 20 | 10 | 146 | 159 | −13 | 50 |
| 5 | Toronto Maple Leafs | 50 | 19 | 24 | 7 | 174 | 185 | −11 | 45 |
| 6 | New York Rangers | 50 | 13 | 28 | 9 | 144 | 191 | −47 | 35 |

### Record vs. opponents

1945–46 NHL Records :
| Team | BOS | CHI | DET | MTL | NYR | TOR |
| Boston | — | 4–6 | 4–3–3 | 4–5–1 | 6–3–1 | 6–1–3 |
| Chicago | 6–4 | — | 3–4–3 | 4–5–1 | 5–2–3 | 5–5 |
| Detroit | 3–4–3 | 4–3–3 | — | 6–3–1 | 4–4–2 | 3–6–1 |
| Montreal | 5–4–1 | 5–4–1 | 3–6–1 | — | 8–1–1 | 7–2–1 |
| New York | 3–6–1 | 2–5–3 | 4–4–2 | 1–8–1 | — | 3–5–2 |
| Toronto | 1–6–3 | 5–5 | 6–3–1 | 2–7–1 | 5–3–2 | — |

## Schedule and results

| No. | R | Date | Score | Opponent | Record |
| 1 | T | October 27 | 1–1 | Boston Bruins (1945–46) | 0–0–1 |
| 2 | L | November 1 | 2–4 | @ Montreal Canadiens (1945–46) | 0–1–1 |
| 3 | L | November 3 | 1–4 | New York Rangers (1945–46) | 0–2–1 |
| 4 | L | November 4 | 4–7 | @ Chicago Black Hawks (1945–46) | 0–3–1 |
| 5 | L | November 7 | 3–4 | Boston Bruins (1945–46) | 0–4–1 |
| 6 | L | November 8 | 2–3 | @ Detroit Red Wings (1945–46) | 0–5–1 |
| 7 | W | November 10 | 3–2 | Chicago Black Hawks (1945–46) | 1–5–1 |
| 8 | L | November 11 | 3–5 | @ Chicago Black Hawks (1945–46) | 1–6–1 |
| 9 | L | November 14 | 1–6 | Montreal Canadiens (1945–46) | 1–7–1 |
| 10 | L | November 17 | 5–6 | Detroit Red Wings (1945–46) | 1–8–1 |
| 11 | W | November 18 | 3–1 | @ New York Rangers (1945–46) | 2–8–1 |
| 12 | W | November 24 | 4–3 | New York Rangers (1945–46) | 3–8–1 |
| 13 | L | November 25 | 3–5 | @ Boston Bruins (1945–46) | 3–9–1 |
| 14 | L | December 1 | 2–8 | Chicago Black Hawks (1945–46) | 3–10–1 |
| 15 | W | December 2 | 5–3 | @ Chicago Black Hawks (1945–46) | 4–10–1 |
| 16 | L | December 8 | 0–1 | Montreal Canadiens (1945–46) | 4–11–1 |
| 17 | L | December 9 | 1–2 | @ New York Rangers (1945–46) | 4–12–1 |
| 18 | W | December 13 | 4–3 | @ Montreal Canadiens (1945–46) | 5–12–1 |
| 19 | W | December 15 | 3–1 | Detroit Red Wings (1945–46) | 6–12–1 |
| 20 | T | December 16 | 3–3 | @ Boston Bruins (1945–46) | 6–12–2 |
| 21 | T | December 22 | 5–5 | New York Rangers (1945–46) | 6–12–3 |
| 22 | W | December 23 | 4–3 | @ New York Rangers (1945–46) | 7–12–3 |
| 23 | L | December 25 | 3–6 | @ Detroit Red Wings (1945–46) | 7–13–3 |
| 24 | L | December 26 | 2–4 | Montreal Canadiens (1945–46) | 7–14–3 |
| 25 | L | December 29 | 3–4 | Boston Bruins (1945–46) | 7–15–3 |
| 26 | L | January 1 | 1–3 | @ Chicago Black Hawks (1945–46) | 7–16–3 |
| 27 | L | January 5 | 0–3 | Chicago Black Hawks (1945–46) | 7–17–3 |
| 28 | W | January 10 | 5–4 | @ Montreal Canadiens (1945–46) | 8–17–3 |
| 29 | W | January 12 | 9–3 | Detroit Red Wings (1945–46) | 9–17–3 |
| 30 | W | January 19 | 3–1 | New York Rangers (1945–46) | 10–17–3 |
| 31 | W | January 20 | 3–1 | @ Detroit Red Wings (1945–46) | 11–17–3 |
| 32 | L | January 23 | 1–7 | @ Boston Bruins (1945–46) | 11–18–3 |
| 33 | W | January 26 | 6–5 | Chicago Black Hawks (1945–46) | 12–18–3 |
| 34 | L | February 2 | 3–5 | Boston Bruins (1945–46) | 12–19–3 |
| 35 | T | February 3 | 6–6 | @ New York Rangers (1945–46) | 12–19–4 |
| 36 | T | February 6 | 3–3 | @ Boston Bruins (1945–46) | 12–19–5 |
| 37 | W | February 9 | 4–1 | Detroit Red Wings (1945–46) | 13–19–5 |
| 38 | T | February 10 | 2–2 | @ Detroit Red Wings (1945–46) | 13–19–6 |
| 39 | L | February 16 | 2–4 | Montreal Canadiens (1945–46) | 13–20–6 |
| 40 | W | February 23 | 7–2 | Boston Bruins (1945–46) | 14–20–6 |
| 41 | L | February 24 | 2–6 | @ Montreal Canadiens (1945–46) | 14–21–6 |
| 42 | L | February 27 | 4–6 | New York Rangers (1945–46) | 14–22–6 |
| 43 | W | March 2 | 9–4 | Chicago Black Hawks (1945–46) | 15–22–6 |
| 44 | W | March 3 | 5–2 | @ New York Rangers (1945–46) | 16–22–6 |
| 45 | W | March 6 | 5–2 | @ Chicago Black Hawks (1945–46) | 17–22–6 |
| 46 | L | March 9 | 1–2 | Montreal Canadiens (1945–46) | 17–23–6 |
| 47 | L | March 10 | 3–7 | @ Boston Bruins (1945–46) | 17–24–6 |
| 48 | T | March 14 | 2–2 | @ Montreal Canadiens (1945–46) | 17–24–7 |
| 49 | W | March 16 | 7–3 | Detroit Red Wings (1945–46) | 18–24–7 |
| 50 | W | March 17 | 11–7 | @ Detroit Red Wings (1945–46) | 19–24–7 |

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

| Player | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM |
| Gaye Stewart | 50 | 37 | 15 | 52 | 8 |
| Billy Taylor | 48 | 23 | 18 | 41 | 14 |
| Syl Apps | 40 | 24 | 16 | 40 | 2 |
| Gus Bodnar | 49 | 14 | 23 | 37 | 14 |
| Babe Pratt | 41 | 5 | 20 | 25 | 36 |
| Nick Metz | 41 | 11 | 11 | 22 | 4 |
| Bob Goldham | 49 | 7 | 14 | 21 | 44 |
| Sweeney Schriner | 47 | 13 | 6 | 19 | 15 |
| Bob Davidson | 41 | 9 | 9 | 18 | 12 |
| Jackie Hamilton | 40 | 7 | 9 | 16 | 12 |
| Lorne Carr | 42 | 5 | 8 | 13 | 2 |
| Wally Stanowski | 45 | 3 | 10 | 13 | 10 |
| Mel Hill | 35 | 5 | 7 | 12 | 10 |
| Bill Ezinicki | 24 | 4 | 8 | 12 | 29 |
| Bud Poile | 9 | 1 | 8 | 9 | 0 |
| Moe Morris | 38 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 10 |
| Ted Kennedy | 21 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 4 |
| Ernie Dickens | 15 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 6 |
| Don Metz | 7 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Doug Baldwin | 15 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 6 |
| Jimmy Thomson | 5 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| Baz Bastien | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Gordie Bell | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Turk Broda | 15 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Frank McCool | 22 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 |

#### Goaltending

| Player | MIN | GP | W | L | T | GA | GAA | SO |
| Frank McCool | 1320 | 22 | 10 | 9 | 3 | 81 | 3.68 | 0 |
| Turk Broda | 900 | 15 | 6 | 6 | 3 | 53 | 3.53 | 0 |
| Gordie Bell | 480 | 8 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 31 | 3.87 | 0 |
| Baz Bastien | 300 | 5 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 20 | 4.00 | 0 |
| Team: | 3000 | 50 | 19 | 24 | 7 | 185 | 3.70 | 0 |

## Transactions

* July 9, 1945: Traded Reg Hamilton to the Chicago Black Hawks for cash and Future Considerations
* September 22, 1945: Acquired Gordie Bell from the Buffalo Bisons of the AHL for cash
* October 16, 1945: Signed Free Agent Jimmy Thomson
* October 29, 1945: Traded Bingo Kampman to the Boston Bruins to complete a previous transaction
* November 6, 1945: Acquired Bingo Kampman from the Boston Bruins as Boston returned player