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 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] 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.^[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]

Schedule and results

Player statistics

Final stats^[12]

Awards and records

Transactions

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

Draft picks

Toronto's picks at the 2008 NHL Entry Draft^[15] 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	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.^[16][17]

#	Nat	Player	Pos	S/G	Age	Acquired	Birthplace
7001550000000000000♠55		Jason Blake	LW	L	45	2007	Moorhead, Minnesota
7001560000000000000♠56		Andre Deveaux	C	R	34	2008	Freeport, Bahamas
7001220000000000000♠22		Boyd Devereaux	C	L	40	2006	Seaforth, Ontario
7000400000000000000♠4		Jeff Finger	D	R	38	2008	Houghton, Michigan
7001240000000000000♠24		Jonas Frogren	D	L	38	2008	Falun, Sweden
7001290000000000000♠29		Martin Gerber	G	L	44	2009	Burgdorf, Switzerland
7001840000000000000♠84		Mikhail Grabovski	C	L	34	2008	Potsdam, East Germany
7000900000000000000♠9		Niklas Hagman	LW	L	38	2008	Espoo, Finland
7001510000000000000♠51		Jeff Hamilton	C	R	41	2009	Dayton, Ohio
7001200000000000000♠20		Christian Hanson	C	R	32	2009	Venetia, Pennsylvania
7001430000000000000♠43		Jay Harrison	D	L	35	2001	Oshawa, Ontario
		Jamie Heward	D	R	47	2009	Regina, Saskatchewan
7001310000000000000♠31		Curtis Joseph	G	L	51	2008	Keswick, Ontario
7001150000000000000♠15		Tomas Kaberle (A)	D	L	40	1996	Rakovník, Czechoslovakia
		Olaf Kolzig	G	L	48	2009	Johannesburg, South Africa
7001770000000000000♠77		Pavel Kubina (A)	D	R	41	2006	Čeladná, Czechoslovakia
7001410000000000000♠41		Nikolai Kulemin	RW	L	32	2006	Magnitogorsk, U.S.S.R.
7001100000000000000♠10		Brad May (A)	LW	R	46	2009	Toronto
7001210000000000000♠21		Jamal Mayers (A)	RW	R	43	2008	Toronto
7001390000000000000♠39		John Mitchell	C	L	33	2003	Oakville, Ontario
7001400000000000000♠40		Phil Oreskovic	D	R	31	2005	North York, Ontario
7000100000000000000♠1		Justin Pogge	G	L	32	2004	Fort McMurray, Alberta
7001230000000000000♠23		Alexei Ponikarovsky	LW	L	38	1998	Kiev, U.S.S.R.
7000300000000000000♠3		Erik Reitz	D	R	36	2009	Detroit, Michigan
7000200000000000000♠2		Luke Schenn	D	R	28	2008	Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
7001140000000000000♠14		Matt Stajan	C	R	34	2002	Mississauga, Ontario
7001120000000000000♠12		Lee Stempniak	RW	R	35	2008	West Seneca, New York
7001350000000000000♠35		Vesa Toskala	G	L	41	2007	Tampere, Finland
7001260000000000000♠26		Mike Van Ryn	D	R	39	2008	London, Ontario
7000700000000000000♠7		Ian White	D	R	34	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