2005–06 Toronto Maple Leafs season

2005–06 Toronto Maple Leafs
Division	4th Northeast
Conference	9th Eastern
2005–06 record	41–33–8
Goals for	254
Goals against	263
Team information
General manager	John Ferguson, Jr.
Coach	Pat Quinn
Captain	Mats Sundin
Alternate captains	Tomas Kaberle Bryan McCabe
Arena	Air Canada Centre
Team leaders
Goals	Mats Sundin (31)
Assists	Bryan McCabe (49)
Points	Mats Sundin (78)
Penalty minutes	Bryan McCabe (116)
Wins	Ed Belfour (22)
Goals against average	Jean-Sebastien Aubin (2.21)
← 2004–05 2006–07 →

The 2005–06 Toronto Maple Leafs season was the 89th season of the franchise, 79th season as the Maple Leafs.

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 July 1.

Regular season[]

• October 5, 2005 – The Toronto Maple Leafs and the Ottawa Senators participate in the first NHL shootout. Daniel Alfredson 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.
• 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.^[1] 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[]

Northeast Division

No.	CR		GP	W	L	OTL	GF	GA	Pts
1	1	Ottawa Senators	82	52	21	9	314	211	113
2	4	Buffalo Sabres	82	52	24	6	281	239	110
3	7	Montreal Canadiens	82	42	31	9	243	247	93
4	9	Toronto Maple Leafs	82	41	33	8	257	270	90
5	13	Boston Bruins	82	29	37	16	230	266	74

^[2] Note: CR = Conference rank; GP = Games played; W = Wins; L = Losses; OTL = Overtime/Shootout loss; GF = Goals for; GA = Goals against; Pts = Points
         Bolded teams qualified for the playoffs.

Eastern Conference^[3]

R		Div	GP	W	L	OTL	GF	GA	Pts
1	Z- Ottawa Senators	NE	82	52	21	9	314	211	113
2	Y- Carolina Hurricanes	SE	82	52	22	8	294	260	112
3	Y- New Jersey Devils	AT	82	46	27	9	242	229	101
4	X- Buffalo Sabres	NE	82	52	24	6	242	239	110
5	X- Philadelphia Flyers	AT	82	45	26	11	267	259	101
6	X- New York Rangers	AT	82	44	26	12	257	215	100
7	X- Montreal Canadiens	NE	82	42	31	9	243	247	93
8	X- Tampa Bay Lightning	SE	82	43	33	6	252	260	92
8.5
9	Toronto Maple Leafs	NE	82	41	33	8	257	270	90
10	Atlanta Thrashers	SE	82	41	33	8	281	275	90
11	Florida Panthers	SE	82	37	34	11	240	257	85
12	New York Islanders	AT	82	36	40	6	230	278	78
13	Boston Bruins	NE	82	29	37	16	230	266	74
14	Washington Capitals	SE	82	29	41	12	237	306	70
15	Pittsburgh Penguins	AT	82	22	46	14	244	316	58

Divisions: AT – Atlantic, NE – Northeast, SE – Southeast

Z – Clinched Conference; Y – Clinched Division; X – Clinched Playoff spot

Torino Olympics[]

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.

Playoffs[]

This marked the first time since the Maple Leafs joined the Eastern Conference in the 1998–99 season that the team did not make the playoffs.

Schedule and results[]

No.	R	Date	Score	Opponent	Record
1	L	October 5, 2005	2–3 SO	Ottawa Senators (2005–06)	0–0–1
2	L	October 8, 2005	4–5	Montreal Canadiens (2005–06)	0–1–1
3	L	October 10, 2005	5–6 SO	@ Ottawa Senators (2005–06)	0–1–2
4	W	October 11, 2005	4–2	Philadelphia Flyers (2005–06)	1–1–2
5	W	October 14, 2005	9–1	@ Atlanta Thrashers (2005–06)	2–1–2
6	W	October 15, 2005	3–2	@ Montreal Canadiens (2005–06)	3–1–2
7	W	October 20, 2005	5–4 OT	Carolina Hurricanes (2005–06)	4–1–2
8	L	October 22, 2005	2–5	Philadelphia Flyers (2005–06)	4–2–2
9	W	October 24, 2005	5–4 SO	Boston Bruins (2005–06)	5–2–2
10	L	October 27, 2005	1–2	@ Boston Bruins (2005–06)	5–3–2
11	L	October 29, 2005	0–8	Ottawa Senators (2005–06)	5–4–2
12	W	October 31, 2005	2–1	Florida Panthers (2005–06)	6–4–2
13	L	November 3, 2005	3–4	@ Carolina Hurricanes (2005–06)	6–5–2
14	W	November 5, 2005 †	5–3	Tampa Bay Lightning (2005–06)	7–5–2
15	L	November 6, 2005	4–5	@ Washington Capitals (2005–06)	7–6–2
16	W	November 8, 2005	6–4	Washington Capitals (2005–06)	8–6–2
17	L	November 11, 2005	2–5	@ Buffalo Sabres (2005–06)	8–7–2
18	W	November 12, 2005	5–4 OT	@ Montreal Canadiens (2005–06)	9–7–2
19	W	November 15, 2005	2–1	New York Rangers (2005–06)	10–7–2
20	W	November 17, 2005	4–1	@ Boston Bruins (2005–06)	11–7–2
21	W	November 19, 2005	5–1	Atlanta Thrashers (2005–06)	12–7–2
22	L	November 23, 2005	1–5	Boston Bruins (2005–06)	12–8–2
23	L	November 25, 2005	3–4 SO	@ Carolina Hurricanes (2005–06)	12–8–3
24	W	November 26, 2005	4–3 OT	Montreal Canadiens (2005–06)	13–8–3
25	W	November 28, 2005	2–1	@ Florida Panthers (2005–06)	14–8–3
26	L	November 30, 2005	1–2	@ Tampa Bay Lightning (2005–06)	14–9–3
27	W	December 1, 2005	4–0	@ Atlanta Thrashers (2005–06)	15–9–3
28	L	December 3, 2005	4–5	San Jose Sharks (2005–06)	15–10–3
29	L	December 6, 2005	1–2	Los Angeles Kings (2005–06)	15–11–3
30	L	December 10, 2005	1–2	Dallas Stars (2005–06)	15–12–3
31	W	December 12, 2005	3–2	Mighty Ducks of Anaheim (2005–06)	16–12–3
32	L	December 17, 2005	2–8	@ Ottawa Senators (2005–06)	16–13–3
33	W	December 19, 2005	9–6	New York Islanders (2005–06)	17–13–3
34	L	December 22, 2005	1–4	@ Boston Bruins (2005–06)	17–14–3
35	W	December 23, 2005	2–1	Boston Bruins (2005–06)	18–14–3
36	W	December 26, 2005	2–1	New Jersey Devils (2005–06)	19–14–3
37	W	December 27, 2005	3–2 OT	@ Pittsburgh Penguins (2005–06)	20–14–3
38	W	December 29, 2005	4–3 SO	Buffalo Sabres (2005–06)	21–14–3
39	W	December 31, 2005	6–3	@ New Jersey Devils (2005–06)	22–14–3
40	W	January 2, 2006	3–2 OT	Pittsburgh Penguins (2005–06)	23–14–3
41	L	January 6, 2006	0–1	@ Calgary Flames (2005–06)	23–15–3
42	W	January 7, 2006	3–2	@ Edmonton Oilers (2005–06)	24–15–3
43	L	January 10, 2006	3–4	@ Vancouver Canucks (2005–06)	24–16–3
44	L	January 14, 2006	3–4	Phoenix Coyotes (2005–06)	24–17–3
45	L	January 17, 2006	3–5	@ Colorado Avalanche (2005–06)	24–18–3
46	L	January 18, 2006	3–5	@ Minnesota Wild (2005–06)	24–19–3
47	L	January 21, 2006	0–7	@ Ottawa Senators (2005–06)	24–20–3
48	L	January 23, 2006	3–4	@ Ottawa Senators (2005–06)	24–21–3
49	L	January 26, 2006	4–8	Buffalo Sabres (2005–06)	24–22–3
50	L	January 28, 2006	3–4 OT	Montreal Canadiens (2005–06)	24–22–4
51	W	January 30, 2006	4–2	@ Florida Panthers (2005–06)	25–22–4
52	L	January 31, 2006	2–3 SO	@ Tampa Bay Lightning (2005–06)	25–22–5
53	L	February 3, 2006	1–4	@ Washington Capitals (2005–06)	25–23–5
54	W	February 4, 2006	4–2	New Jersey Devils (2005–06)	26–23–5
55	W	February 7, 2006	4–1	Atlanta Thrashers (2005–06)	27–23–5
56	L	February 10, 2006	2–4	@ New York Rangers (2005–06)	27–24–5
57	L	February 11, 2006	2–4	New York Rangers (2005–06)	27–25–5
58	L	February 28, 2006	3–5	Washington Capitals (2005–06)	27–26–5
59	L	March 3, 2006	2–6	@ Buffalo Sabres (2005–06)	27–27–5
60	L	March 4, 2006	2–4	Ottawa Senators (2005–06)	27–28–5
61	W	March 7, 2006	5–3	Montreal Canadiens (2005–06)	28–28–5
62	L	March 10, 2006	1–2 SO	@ New York Islanders (2005–06)	28–28–6
63	W	March 11, 2006	5–1	Tampa Bay Lightning (2005–06)	29–28–6
64	W	March 14, 2006	5–4 SO	Boston Bruins (2005–06)	30–28–6
65	L	March 16, 2006	1–3	@ Buffalo Sabres (2005–06)	30–29–6
66	L	March 18, 2006	2–5	@ New York Rangers (2005–06)	30–30–6
67	W	March 19, 2006	1–0	@ Pittsburgh Penguins (2005–06)	31–30–6
68	W	March 21, 2006	3–2	Carolina Hurricanes (2005–06)	32–30–6
69	L	March 23, 2006	1–5	@ Montreal Canadiens (2005–06)	32–31–6
70	L	March 25, 2006	2–6	@ Montreal Canadiens (2005–06)	32–32–6
71	W	March 26, 2006	4–3	@ New Jersey Devils (2005–06)	33–32–6
72	W	March 28, 2006	3–2	@ Philadelphia Flyers (2005–06)	34–32–6
73	W	April 1, 2006	7–0	Buffalo Sabres (2005–06)	35–32–6
74	L	April 3, 2006	2–3 SO	Buffalo Sabres (2005–06)	35–32–7
75	W	April 5, 2006	3–2	New York Islanders (2005–06)	36–32–7
76	L	April 6, 2006	2–3 SO	@ Boston Bruins (2005–06)	36–32–8
77	W	April 8, 2006	5–2	@ Philadelphia Flyers (2005–06)	37–32–8
78	W	April 11, 2006	6–5 OT	Florida Panthers (2005–06)	38–32–8
79	W	April 13, 2006	4–3 OT	@ New York Islanders (2005–06)	39–32–8
80	W	April 15, 2006	5–1	Ottawa Senators (2005–06)	40–32–8
81	L	April 16, 2006	0–6	@ Buffalo Sabres (2005–06)	40–33–8
82	W	April 18, 2006	5–3	Pittsburgh Penguins (2005–06)	41–33–8

• † Hockey Hall of Fame Game

Player statistics[]

Regular season[]

Scoring

Player	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM	+/-	PPG	SHG	GWG
Mats Sundin	70	31	47	78	58	7	16	2	2
Bryan McCabe	73	19	49	68	116	-1	13	0	6
Tomas Kaberle	82	9	58	67	46	-1	6	0	2
Darcy Tucker	74	28	33	61	100	-12	18	0	4
Jason Allison	66	17	43	60	76	-18	9	0	2
Alexander Steen	75	18	27	45	42	-9	9	1	3
Kyle Wellwood	81	11	34	45	14	0	3	0	0
Alexei Ponikarovsky	81	21	17	38	68	15	2	4	3
Jeff O'Neill	74	19	19	38	64	-19	14	0	6
Nik Antropov	57	12	19	31	56	13	2	1	0
Chad Kilger	79	17	11	28	63	-6	1	1	2
Matt Stajan	80	15	12	27	50	5	3	4	5
Eric Lindros	33	11	11	22	43	-3	4	0	2
Tie Domi	77	5	11	16	109	-10	1	0	0
Ken Klee	56	3	12	15	66	-1	1	0	1
Alexander Khavanov	64	6	6	12	60	-11	2	1	0
Clarke Wilm	60	1	7	8	43	-15	0	0	0
Aki Berg	75	0	8	8	56	-5	0	0	0
Carlo Colaiacovo	21	2	5	7	17	0	1	0	0
Ian White	12	1	5	6	10	2	0	0	0
Mariusz Czerkawski	19	4	1	5	6	-2	1	0	0
John Pohl	7	3	1	4	4	2	1	0	0
Wade Belak	55	0	3	3	109	-13	0	0	0
Luke Richardson	21	0	3	3	41	-1	0	0	0
Jeremy Williams	1	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0
Ed Belfour	49	0	1	1	12	0	0	0	0
Jay Harrison	8	0	1	1	2	5	0	0	0
Staffan Kronwall	34	0	1	1	14	-3	0	0	0
Andy Wozniewski	13	0	1	1	13	-8	0	0	0
Jean-Sebastien Aubin	11	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Brendan Bell	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Ben Ondrus	22	0	0	0	18	-10	0	0	0
Nathan Perrott	3	0	0	0	2	-5	0	0	0
Aleksander Suglobov	2	0	0	0	0	-1	0	0	0
Mikael Tellqvist	25	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Goaltending

Player	MIN	GP	W	L	OTL	GA	GAA	SO	SA	SV	SV%
Ed Belfour	2897	49	22	22	4	159	3.29	0	1476	1317	.892
Mikael Tellqvist	1399	25	10	11	2	73	3.13	2	697	624	.895
Jean-Sebastien Aubin	677	11	9	0	2	25	2.22	1	330	305	.924
Team:	4973	82	41	33	8	257	3.10	32503	2246	.897

^[4]

Awards and records[]

• Mats Sundin, Molson Cup (Most game star selections for Toronto Maple Leafs)

Records[]

Milestones[]

Regular Season
Player	Milestone	Reached
Ed Belfour	Passes Terry Sawchuk for second all-time in wins by a goaltender	December 19, 2005
Jay Harrison	1st NHL Assist	January 30, 2006
Staffan Kronwall	1st NHL Game	October 29, 2005
Staffan Kronwall	1st NHL Assist	February 7, 2006
Alexei Ponikarovsky	1st 20 Goal Season
Alexander Steen	1st NHL Goal	October 8, 2005
Mats Sundin	1,150th NHL Point	-
Mikael Tellqvist	1st NHL Shutout	December 1, 2005
Kyle Wellwood	1st NHL Multi-Point Game	October 14, 2005

• Jason Allison, Fifth Time in Career, 40 Assists in a Season
• Bryan McCabe, Highest Season Point Total in Career
• Mats Sundin, Fourth Consecutive Season, 30 Goals or More

Transactions[]

The Maple Leafs have been involved in the following transactions during the 2005–06 season.

Trades[]

July 30, 2005	To Carolina Hurricanes 4th round pick in 2006 (Reto Berra)	To Toronto Maple Leafs Jeff O'Neill
August 24, 2005	To St. Louis Blues Future Considerations	To Toronto Maple Leafs John Pohl
November 6, 2005	To Dallas Stars Nathan Perrott	To Toronto Maple Leafs 6th round pick in 2006 (Leo Komarov)
March 8, 2006	To New Jersey Devils Ken Klee	To Toronto Maple Leafs Aleksander Suglobov
March 8, 2006	To Columbus Blue Jackets 5th round pick in 2006 ()	To Toronto Maple Leafs Luke Richardson
June 15, 2006	To Boston Bruins Petr Tenkrat	To Toronto Maple Leafs 7th round pick in 2006 (Chris Frank)
June 24, 2006	To Boston Bruins Tuukka Rask	To Toronto Maple Leafs Andrew Raycroft
June 24, 2006	To Chicago Blackhawks 3rd round pick in 2006 (Tony Lagerstrom)	To Toronto Maple Leafs 4th round pick in 2006 (James Reimer) 4th round pick in 2006 (Korbinian Holzer)
June 24, 2006	To Phoenix Coyotes 7th round pick in 2006 ()(Chris Frank) 7th round pick in 2006 (Benn Ferriero)	To Toronto Maple Leafs 6th round pick in 2006 (Viktor Stalberg)

Waivers[]

March 8, 2006

To Boston Bruins Mariusz Czerkawski

Free agents[]

Player Former Team Jason Allison Los Angeles Kings Alexander Khavanov St. Louis Blues Eric Lindros New York Rangers Jean-Sebastien Aubin Pittsburgh Penguins Mariusz Czerkawski New York Islanders Brad Brown Buffalo Sabres Alex Foster Undrafted free agent

Player New Team Alexander Mogilny New Jersey Devils Brian Leetch Boston Bruins Gary Roberts Florida Panthers Joe Nieuwendyk Florida Panthers Jason MacDonald Boston Bruins Bryan Marchment Calgary Flames

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.

Round	#	Player	Position	Nationality	College/Junior/Club Team (League)
1	21	Tuukka Rask	Goaltender	Finland	Ilves Jr. (Finland)
3	82	Phil Oreskovic	Defence	Canada	Brampton Battalion (OHL)
5	153	Alex Berry	Right Wing	United States	Bruins Jr. (EJHL)
6	173	Johan Dahlberg	Left Wing	Sweden	Modo Hockey Jr. (Sweden)
7	216	Anton Stralman	Defence	Sweden	Skovde (Sweden 2)
7	228	Chad Rau	Centre	United States	Des Moines Buccaneers (USHL)

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.^[5]

Roster[]

2005–06 Toronto Maple Leafs
Goaltenders 20 – Ed Belfour  30 – Jean-Sebastien Aubin  32 – Mikael Tellqvist		Defensemen 8 – Aki Berg  15 – Tomas Kaberle  - A 22 – Ken Klee  22 – Luke Richardson  24 – Bryan McCabe  - A 25 – Alexander Khavanov  36 – Brendan Bell  37 – Ian White  43 – Jay Harrison  44 – Staffan Kronwall  45 – Carlo Colaiacovo  56 – Andy Wozniewski		Wingers 3 – Wade Belak  9 – Aleksander Suglobov  16 – Darcy Tucker  18 – Chad Kilger  21 – Mariusz Czerkawski  23 – Alexei Ponikarovsky  26 – Nathan Perrott  28 – Tie Domi  46 – Ben Ondrus  92 – Jeff O'Neill		Centres 10 – Alexander Steen  13 – Mats Sundin  - C 14 – Matt Stajan  39 – Clarke Wilm  41 – Jason Allison  42 – Kyle Wellwood  48 – Jeremy Williams  53 – John Pohl  80 – Nik Antropov  88 – Eric Lindros  GM: John Ferguson, Jr. Coach: Pat Quinn

See also[]

• 2005–06 NHL season

References[]

• Toronto Maple Leafs on Hockey Database
• Toronto Maple Leafs Game Log on Database Hockey