2008–09 Toronto Maple Leafs season
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "2008–09_Toronto_Maple_Leafs_season".

This article or section contains information about a future hockey season. It is likely to contain information of a speculative nature and the content may change as the event approaches and more information becomes available.

The 2008–09 Toronto Maple Leafs season will be the franchise's 91st, and their 81st as the Maple Leafs. The Leafs will look to qualify for the postseason for the first time since the 2003–04 season.

Offseason

A challenge for the Maple Leafs will be to find a General Manager. Brian Burke was a favorite for the Leafs vacant position but decided to stay with the Anaheim Ducks. Burke was not given permision 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 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 8th, 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 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 San Jose 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 Monday, 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 ('07 with Anaheim and '89 with Calgary). The move perpetuated speculation that Anaheim Ducks general manager Brian Burke will become the Leafs' GM once his deal with the Ducks expires in 2009, but this speculation is premature. New head coach Ron Wilson played hockey with Burke at Providence, but this is largely considered moot and mildly coincidental.

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 offseason, 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] Also, Interim GM Cliff Fletcher informed Darcy Tucker that he is to be bought out of his three-year contract, however it will not be official until June 25th. ^[9]

The Maple Leafs bought out goaltender Andrew Raycroft on June 28th, making him eligible for free agency on July 1st. When the free agent signing period began on July 1st, the Toronto Maple Leafs signed on defenceman Jeff Finger, goaltender Curtis Joseph to back up current starting goaltender Vesa Toskala and former Dallas Stars forward Niklas Hagman. Another transaction was made on July 3rd, as Cliff Fletcher was busy again as he traded for former Montreal Canadiens forward Mikhail Grabovski in exchange for the rights to Greg Pateryn and a 2nd round draft choice in 2010. The Leafs also resigned forwards Dominic Moore, John Mitchell, and Greg Scott.

Regular season

Divisional standings

Conference standings

Game log

Playoffs

Player stats

Skaters

Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/- = Plus/Minus; PIM = Penalty Minutes

Goaltenders

Note: GP = Games Played; TOI = Time On Ice (minutes); W = Wins; L = Losses; OT = Overtime Losses; GA = Goals Against; SO = Shutouts; Sv% = Save Percentage; GAA = Goals Against Average

Awards and records

Records

Milestones

Transactions

Trades

Free Agents

Claimed from Waivers

Draft picks

Toronto's picks at the 2008 NHL Entry Draft^[10] in Ottawa, Ontario.

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 Sagueneens (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)

Roster

As of July 10, 2008. [1]

Goaltenders
#		Player	Catches	Acquired	Place of Birth
35		Vesa Toskala	L	2007	Tampere, Finland
—		Curtis Joseph	L	2008	Keswick, Ontario

Defencemen
#		Player	Shoots	Acquired	Place of Birth
7		Ian White	R	2002	Steinbach, Manitoba
8		Carlo Colaiacovo	L	2001	Toronto, Ontario
15		Tomas Kaberle – A	L	1996	Rakovník, Czechoslovakia
24		Bryan McCabe – A	L	2001	St. Catharines, Ontario
31		Pavel Kubina	R	2006	Čeladná, Czechoslovakia
36		Anton Stralman	R	2005	Tibro, Sweden
—		Jeff Finger	R	2008	Houghton, Michigan
—		Jonas Frogren†	L	2008	Falun, Sweden

Forwards
#		Player	Position	Shoots	Acquired	Place of Birth
9		Mark Bell	LW	L	2007	St. Pauls Station, Ontario
10		Alexander Steen	C	L	2002	Winnipeg, Manitoba
11		Jiri Tlusty	LW	L	2007	Slaný, Czechoslovakia
13		Mats Sundin‡ – C	C	R	1994	Bromma, Sweden
14		Matt Stajan	C	L	2002	Mississauga, Ontario
19		Dominic Moore	C	L	2008	Thornhill, Ontario
21		Jamal Mayers	RW	R	2008	Toronto, Ontario
22		Boyd Devereaux	C	L	2006	Seaforth, Ontario
23		Alexei Ponikarovsky	LW	L	1998	Kiev, Ukrainian SSR
48		Jeremy Williams	C	R	2003	Regina, Saskatchewan
50		Darryl Boyce	LW	L	2007	Summerside, PEI
54		Mikhail Grabovski	C	L	2008	Potsdam, East Germany
55		Jason Blake	LW	L	2007	Moorhead, Minnesota
80		Nik Antropov	C	L	1998	Ust-Kamenogorsk, Kazakh SSR
—		Niklas Hagman	LW	L	2008	Espoo, Finland
—		Ryan Hollweg	LW/C	L	2008	Downey, California

† Contract under dispute

‡ Unrestricted free agent

See also

• 2008–09 NHL season

Farm teams

• The Maple Leafs continue their affiliation with the Toronto Marlies of the American Hockey League.

References