2011 - 12 Toronto Maple Leafs season The 2011 – 12 Toronto Maple Leafs season was the 95th season for the National Hockey League franchise that was established on November 22 , 1917 . The team failed to make the playoffs for the 7th straight season . Off - Season . At the 2011 NHL Draft , Brian Burke fulfilled his pledge to trade up in the First Round , trading the 30th ( Rickard Rakell ) and 39th ( John Gibson ) Picks to Anaheim in exchange for the 22nd Pick , which was used to select Tyler Biggs . The Leafs also selected Stuart Percy with 25th Pick . The Leafs made two key Free Agent additions , adding centers Tim Connolly from Buffalo and Philippe Dupuis from Colorado . The Leafs also added to their blue line by trading Brett Lebda and prospect Robert Slaney to the Nashville Predators in exchange for Cody Franson and center Matthew Lombardi . The Leafs suffered no major losses during the off - season , however Tim Brent , who had an impressive season with the Leafs was signed by the Carolina Hurricanes and veteran goalie Jean - Sebastien Giguere was acquired by the Colorado Avalanche . Other Leafs to go included Danny Richmond ( Washington ) , Christian Hanson , ( Washington ) and Fabian Brunnstrom ( Detroit ) . On October 4 the Leafs traded their 4th Round Pick at the 2012 Draft to the New Jersey Devils in exchange for center David Steckel . Prior to the beginning of the regular season , the Leafs unveiled new Alternate Jerseys , similar to the ones they used when they last won the Stanley Cup in 1967 . Pre - Season . They went 4 – 4 in preseason . Regular season . The Leafs got off to a fast start , winning their first three games and seven of their first ten , finishing October in first place in the Northeast Division , second in the Conference . Phil Kessel was the NHL ' s leading points scorer with 18 , and leading goal scorer with 10 . James Reimer was the starting goaltender for the first five games , but was injured in his next start when Montreal ' s Brian Gionta struck Reimer in the jaw while fighting for the puck . Early in the season the Leafs power play has dramatically improved , with a 21 . 6 % conversion rate , good for third in the league as of December 17 , 2011 . However , when shorthanded they had been less efficient with a 73 . 0 % kill rate , the worst in the NHL . On February 9 , 2012 , the NHL announced that the Leafs would play the Detroit Red Wings at Michigan Stadium for the 2013 NHL Winter Classic on January 1 , 2013 . With the Leafs falling out of the playoff race and in the midst of losing 10 of their last 11 games , including a 6 game losing streak , head coach Ron Wilson was fired and replaced by Randy Carlyle on March 2 , 2012 . Playoffs . The Maple Leafs attempted to finally qualify for the Stanley Cup playoffs for the first time since the 2003 – 04 NHL season . " The Hockey News " predicted that the Leafs will place tenth and miss the playoffs . The Maple Leafs have since been eliminated from playoff contention . Transactions . The Maple Leafs have been involved in the following transactions during the 2011 – 12 season . Draft picks . Toronto ' s picks at the 2011 NHL Entry Draft in St . Paul , Minnesota .