2005–06 Toronto Maple Leafs season

Off season

Key dates prior to the start of the season:

• The 2005 NHL entry draft took place in Ottawa on July 30, 2005.
• The free agency period began on August 1.

Regular season

• October 5, 2005 – The Toronto Maple Leafs and the Ottawa Senators participate in the first NHL shootout. Daniel Alfredsson of the Senators scores the first shootout goal in NHL history.
• October 14, 2005 – The Maple Leafs defeat the Atlanta Thrashers 9–1 at Philips Arena, scoring seven power-play goals on 16 opportunities (43.75%).
• December 19, 2005 – Ed Belfour passes Terry Sawchuk for second all-time in wins by a goaltender in a 9–6 Maple Leafs' victory over the New York Islanders. It was the highest-scoring game of 2005–06 regular-season.
• Six members of the Maple Leafs competed in Ice hockey at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin. Bryan McCabe represented Canada; Nik Antropov competed for Kazakhstan; Aki Berg competed for Finland; Tomas Kaberle for the Czech Republic; and Mats Sundin and Mikael Tellqvist captured the gold medal while representing Sweden. Sundin also held the distinction of serving as captain for Sweden.
• April 11, 2006 – Captain Mats Sundin scores four goals and adds two assists for six points in a 6–5 overtime win against the Florida Panthers at Air Canada Centre.

The Maple Leafs would go on to lead all 30 teams with most power-play goals scored during the regular season, with 107. Captain Mats Sundin, who scored only 13 goals in his first 49 games of the season, scored 18 goals in his final 21 games, for the 12th 30-goal season of his career. The 32-year-old veteran Eric Lindros, signed by the Maple Leafs on August 11, 2005, had a solid start to the season, scoring seven goals in his first eight games. However, wrist injuries would limit him to 33 games played for the year; he finished with 11 goals and 11 assists for 22 points. Tomas Kaberle, Bryan McCabe and Darcy Tucker would all have career years, finishing with 68, 67 and 61 points, respectively.

Defensively, the Maple Leafs finished 21st out of 30 in goaltending, allowing 263 goals (excluding seven shootout goals allowed). It was the most goals allowed by a Maple Leafs team since the 1996–97 squad allowed 273. Toronto finished 26th in power-play goals allowed, with 99 and 24th in penalty killing, with 80.04%. While goaltender Jean-Sebastien Aubin posted a 9–0–2 record with a .924 save percentage and a 2.22 goals against average (GAA), this was at the end of the season, and it proved too little too late to get the Leafs into the playoffs. Starter Ed Belfour finished with a .892 save percentage and a 3.29 GAA with one shutout, while Mikael Tellqvist posted a save percentage of 3.13, with a GAA of 3.13. Furthermore, for the first time since the 1988–89 season, Belfour did not record a shutout during the regular season.

The Maple Leafs finished the regular season with a 41–33–8 record for 90 points, two points behind the Tampa Bay Lightning, who captured the eighth spot in the Eastern Conference. Their ninth-place finish meant that the Maple Leafs would miss the playoffs for the first time since 1998. Throughout the season, Toronto struggled against their provincial and divisional rivals, the Ottawa Senators, winning only one game out of eight meetings with a 1–5–2 record. Excluding shootout goals, the Maple Leafs were outscored 39 to 19 and were shut-out twice. Goaltender Ed Belfour went 0–5–2 against the Senators with 34 goals allowed, a 5.20 GAA and a save percentage of .834.

Season standings

Schedule and results

|- |1||October 5, 2005||2–3 SO|| align="left"| Ottawa Senators (2005–06) ||0–0–1 || |- |2||October 8, 2005||4–5 || align="left"| Montreal Canadiens (2005–06) ||0–1–1 || |- |3||October 10, 2005||5–6 SO|| align="left"| @ Ottawa Senators (2005–06) ||0–1–2 || |- |4||October 11, 2005||4–2 || align="left"| Philadelphia Flyers (2005–06) ||1–1–2 || |- |5||October 14, 2005||9–1 || align="left"| @ Atlanta Thrashers (2005–06) ||2–1–2 || |- |6||October 15, 2005||3–2 || align="left"| @ Montreal Canadiens (2005–06) ||3–1–2 || |- |7||October 20, 2005||5–4 OT|| align="left"| Carolina Hurricanes (2005–06) ||4–1–2 || |- |8||October 22, 2005||2–5 || align="left"| Philadelphia Flyers (2005–06) ||4–2–2 || |- |9||October 24, 2005||5–4 SO|| align="left"| Boston Bruins (2005–06) ||5–2–2 || |- |10||October 27, 2005||1–2 || align="left"| @ Boston Bruins (2005–06) ||5–3–2 || |- |11||October 29, 2005||0–8 || align="left"| Ottawa Senators (2005–06) ||5–4–2 || |- |12||October 31, 2005||2–1 || align="left"| Florida Panthers (2005–06) ||6–4–2 ||

| Legend:

• † Hockey Hall of Fame Game

Player statistics

Scoring

• Position abbreviations: C = Centre; D = Defence; G = Goaltender; LW = Left wing; RW = Right wing
• • = Joined team via a transaction (e.g., trade, waivers, signing) during the season. Stats reflect time with the Maple Leafs only.*
• • = Left team via a transaction (e.g., trade, waivers, release) during the season. Stats reflect time with the Maple Leafs only.*

Goaltending

Awards and records

Awards

Milestones

Ed Belfour passed Terry Sawchuk for second on the all-time wins list on December 19, 2005.

Transactions

The Maple Leafs were involved in the following transactions from February 17, 2005, the day after the 2004–05 NHL season was officially cancelled, through June 19, 2006, the day of the deciding game of the 2006 Stanley Cup Finals.

Trades

Players acquired

Players lost

Signings

Draft picks

The 2005 NHL entry draft was the 43rd NHL entry draft. As a lockout cancelled the 2004–05 NHL season, the draft order was determined by lottery on July 22, 2005. Teams were assigned 1 to 3 balls based on their playoff appearances and first overall draft picks from the past three years. According to the draft order, the selection worked its way up to 30 as usual; then instead of repeating the order as in past years, the draft "snaked" back down to the team with the first pick. Therefore, the team with the first pick overall would not pick again until the 60th pick. The team with the 30th pick would also get the 31st pick. The draft was only seven rounds in length, compared to nine rounds in years past. The labor dispute caused the shortened draft.

• Toronto's picks at the 2005 NHL entry draft in Ottawa, Ontario.

Farm teams

American Hockey League

• The Maple Leafs farm club was the Toronto Marlies. In their first season, the Marlies had 41 wins, 29 losses, and posted 92 points for the season. The club finished in fourth place in the North Division. In the playoffs, the Marlies lost in the first round 4 games to 1 to Grand Rapids. Marc Moro was the team captain and Paul Maurice was the head coach.

The Maple Leafs were also affiliated with the Pensacola Ice Pilots of the ECHL.

Notes

References

References

1. "2005-06 NHL Summary".
2. "2005-06 Toronto Maple Leafs Schedule and Results".
3. (November 21, 2005). "McCabe, Sanford earn weekly NHL honours".
4. (November 21, 2005). "McCabe Player of the Week".
5. Toronto Maple Leafs 2015–16 Media Guide, p.373
6. (December 19, 2005). "NHL: Toronto 9, NY Islanders 6 - UPI.com".
7. "2005-06 NHL Debuts".
8. (March 3, 2006). "Double date".
9. "Hockey Transactions Search Results".
10. (July 30, 2005). "Leafs Acquire Jeff O'Neill".
11. (August 24, 2005). "Maple Leafs Acquire John Pohl".
12. (November 6, 2005). "Leafs Make Deal With Stars".
13. (March 8, 2006). "Leafs Obtain Richardson".
14. (March 8, 2006). "Maple Leafs Trade Ken Klee to Devils".
15. (June 15, 2006). "Leafs Obtain Pick for Tenkrat".
16. (August 5, 2005). "Maple Leafs Sign Allison".
17. (August 10, 2005). "Maple Leafs Sign Alexander Khavanov".
18. (August 11, 2005). "Leafs Sign Lindros".
19. (August 12, 2005). "Leafs Sign Hoffman".
20. (August 18, 2005). "Leafs Sign Aubin".
21. (September 9, 2005). "Leafs Sign Mariusz Czerkawski".
22. (September 10, 2005). "Leafs Sign Brown".
23. (March 8, 2006). "Maple Leafs Sign Alex Foster".
24. (April 18, 2006). "Maple Leafs Sign Chris Harrington".
25. (August 1, 2005). "Free Agents List".
26. (August 1, 2005). "Panthers ink former Leafs' duo".
27. {{eliteprospects. 9674. Owen Nolan, retrieved July 15, 2022
28. "OWEN NOLAN".
29. (September 16, 2005). "Report: NHLPA files grievance on Nolan's contract".
30. (August 3, 2005). "Leetch returns to familiar place, signs with Bruins".
31. (August 16, 2005). "TRANSACTIONS".
32. (August 17, 2005). "MOGILNY BACK WITH DEVILS".
33. "Die offizielle Seite des EHC Basel".
34. (September 21, 2005). "Kelly is the Steelers new man".
35. (September 22, 2005). "Norfolk announces training camp invitees, inks three to contracts".
36. (July 1, 2007). "NHL Releases Free Agent List".
37. (January 25, 2006). "HC Sparta Praha » Další podpisy pod rudým "S", Pilař a Marek se upsali".
38. (March 8, 2006). "Waive hello: RW Czerkawski returns to Bruins".
39. (April 26, 2006). "Aki Berg palaa Turkuun".
40. (July 28, 2005). "Maple Leafs Sign John Mitchell".
41. (August 5, 2005). "Leafs Agree To Terms With Domi".
42. (August 9, 2005). "Maple Leafs Sign Steen and Kronwall".
43. (August 10, 2005). "Leafs Sign Belak, Berg".
44. (August 12, 2005). "Antropov, Wilm Accept Qualifiers".
45. (August 12, 2005). "Leafs Sign Kukumberg".
46. (September 7, 2005). "Maple Leafs Sign Alexei Ponikarovsky".
47. "NATHAN PERROTT".
48. (December 19, 2005). "Leafs Ink Pogge".
49. (February 11, 2006). "Leafs and Kaberle Agree to Extension".
50. (April 12, 2006). "Maple Leafs Re-Sign J.S. Aubin".
51. (April 15, 2006). "Maple Leafs Sign Robbie Earl".
52. (April 17, 2006). "Leafs Re-sign Chad Kilger".
53. (June 8, 2006). "Leafs Pick Up Option on Tellqvist".
54. "2005 NHL Entry Draft Picks at hockeydb.com".
55. National Hockey League Official Guide and Record Book 2006, p.14, Dan Diamond & Associates, Toronto, Ontario, {{ISBN. 0-920445-98-5