1940–41 Toronto Maple Leafs season explained

League:	NHL
Season:	1940–41
Year:	1940
Team:	Toronto Maple Leafs
Record:	28–14–6
Division:	NHL
Divisionrank:	2nd
Goalsfor:	145
Goalsagainst:	99
Goalsleader:	Gordie Drillon (23)
Assistsleader:	Syl Apps (24)
Pointsleader:	Gordie Drillon (44) Syl Apps (44)
Pimleader:	Reg Hamilton (59)
Winsleader:	Turk Broda (28)
Gaaleader:	Turk Broda (2.00)

The 1940–41 Toronto Maple Leafs season was the Toronto franchise's 24th season of play.

Offseason

Conn Smythe was making preparations for his eventual tour of duty in Europe. He felt that Dick Irvin would not be strong enough to deal with player issues while he was gone and Smythe convinced the Montreal Canadiens to hire Irvin.^[1] Smythe hired Hap Day as coach.

Regular season

Record vs. opponents

Schedule and results

No.	R	Date	Score	Opponent	Record
1	L	November 2, 1940	1–4	New York Rangers (1940–41)	0–1–0
2	W	November 9, 1940	3–0	Detroit Red Wings (1940–41)	1–1–0
3	W	November 14, 1940	6–2	@ Montreal Canadiens (1940–41)	2–1–0
4	W	November 16, 1940	4–2	Montreal Canadiens (1940–41)	3–1–0
5	W	November 17, 1940	4–1	@ Boston Bruins (1940–41)	4–1–0
6	W	November 21, 1940	2–1 OT	@ New York Americans (1940–41)	5–1–0
7	L	November 23, 1940	0–1	Chicago Black Hawks (1940–41)	5–2–0
8	W	November 24, 1940	4–2	@ Chicago Black Hawks (1940–41)	6–2–0
9	W	November 26, 1940	4–2	@ New York Rangers (1940–41)	7–2–0
10	W	November 30, 1940	6–1	New York Americans (1940–41)	8–2–0
11	W	December 1, 1940	3–1	@ Detroit Red Wings (1940–41)	9–2–0
12	W	December 7, 1940	3–2	Boston Bruins (1940–41)	10–2–0
13	W	December 12, 1940	4–3	Montreal Canadiens (1940–41)	11–2–0
14	W	December 14, 1940	2–1	Chicago Black Hawks (1940–41)	12–2–0
15	W	December 15, 1940	4–1	@ Chicago Black Hawks (1940–41)	13–2–0
16	L	December 17, 1940	2–5	@ Boston Bruins (1940–41)	13–3–0
17	T	December 21, 1940	2–2 OT	New York Americans (1940–41)	13–3–1
18	L	December 22, 1940	1–2	@ New York Americans (1940–41)	13–4–1
19	L	December 25, 1940	2–3	@ Detroit Red Wings (1940–41)	13–5–1
20	W	December 28, 1940	3–2	New York Rangers (1940–41)	14–5–1
21	L	December 29, 1940	2–3	@ New York Rangers (1940–41)	14–6–1
22	L	January 4, 1941	1–3	Detroit Red Wings (1940–41)	14–7–1
23	W	January 7, 1941	4–3 OT	@ Montreal Canadiens (1940–41)	15–7–1
24	W	January 9, 1941	3–2 OT	New York Rangers (1940–41)	16–7–1
25	W	January 11, 1941	9–0	New York Americans (1940–41)	17–7–1
26	L	January 18, 1941	0–1	Boston Bruins (1940–41)	17–8–1
27	T	January 19, 1941	3–3 OT	@ New York Americans (1940–41)	17–8–2
28	W	January 23, 1941	3–2	@ Montreal Canadiens (1940–41)	18–8–2
29	T	January 25, 1941	2–2 OT	Montreal Canadiens (1940–41)	18–8–3
30	W	January 26, 1941	2–0	@ Detroit Red Wings (1940–41)	19–8–3
31	W	January 30, 1941	2–1	Detroit Red Wings (1940–41)	20–8–3
32	W	February 1, 1941	3–1	Chicago Black Hawks (1940–41)	21–8–3
33	L	February 2, 1941	1–4	@ Chicago Black Hawks (1940–41)	21–9–3
34	L	February 8, 1941	2–3	Boston Bruins (1940–41)	21–10–3
35	W	February 15, 1941	4–3	New York Rangers (1940–41)	22–10–3
36	W	February 16, 1941	4–1	@ New York Rangers (1940–41)	23–10–3
37	T	February 18, 1941	2–2 OT	@ Boston Bruins (1940–41)	23–10–4
38	W	February 20, 1941	2–1	Montreal Canadiens (1940–41)	24–10–4
39	W	February 22, 1941	6–2	Detroit Red Wings (1940–41)	25–10–4
40	L	February 23, 1941	0–3	@ Detroit Red Wings (1940–41)	25–11–4
41	T	February 25, 1941	4–4 OT	@ New York Americans (1940–41)	25–11–5
42	T	March 1, 1941	0–0 OT	Boston Bruins (1940–41)	25–11–6
43	L	March 6, 1941	3–4	@ Montreal Canadiens (1940–41)	25–12–6
44	W	March 8, 1941	6–1	New York Americans (1940–41)	26–12–6
45	L	March 9, 1941	5–8	@ New York Rangers (1940–41)	26–13–6
46	L	March 11, 1941	2–3	@ Boston Bruins (1940–41)	26–14–6
47	W	March 15, 1941	7–1	Chicago Black Hawks (1940–41)	27–14–6
48	W	March 16, 1941	3–0	@ Chicago Black Hawks (1940–41)	28–14–6

Playoffs

The Maple Leafs took on the first-place Boston Bruins in the semi-finals. Boston would win the series four games to three. The Bruins would go on to win the Stanley Cup versus Detroit in four games.

Date	Home team	Score	Visiting Team	Score	Notes
March 20	Boston Bruins	3	Toronto Maple Leafs	0
March 22	Boston Bruins	3	Toronto Maple Leafs	5
March 25	Toronto Maple Leafs	7	Boston Bruins	2
March 27	Toronto Maple Leafs	1	Boston Bruins	2
March 29	Boston Bruins	1	Toronto Maple Leafs	2	(OT)
April 1	Toronto Maple Leafs	1	Boston Bruins	2
April 3	Boston Bruins	2	Toronto Maple Leafs	1

Player statistics

Regular season

Scoring

Pos	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
RW	42	23	21	44	2
C	41	20	24	44	6
LW	48	24	14	38	6
LW	47	14	21	35	10
C	47	9	26	35	15
D	47	7	14	21	35
C	47	4	15	19	0
D	31	6	11	17	12
LW	26	10	5	15	9
D	45	3	12	15	59
C	35	9	5	14	12
RW	31	4	10	14	6
RW	27	4	5	9	10
LW	37	3	6	9	39
D	39	1	4	5	53
C/RW	26	4	0	4	8
RW/C	15	0	3	3	2
D	11	0	1	1	22
G	48	0	0	0	0

Goaltending

Player	MIN	GP	W	L	T	GA	GAA	SO
	2970	48	28	14	6	99	2.00	5
Team:	2970	48	28	14	6	99	2.00	5

Playoffs

Scoring

Pos	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
LW	7	3	4	7	0
C	7	3	2	5	2
RW	7	3	2	5	2
LW	7	2	1	3	4
D	7	1	2	3	13
D	7	0	3	3	2
C	7	0	3	3	5
D	7	2	0	2	2
C	7	1	1	2	0
RW	7	1	1	2	2
LW	7	0	2	2	7
C	7	0	2	2	0
C/RW	3	1	0	1	0
G	7	0	0	0	0
D	5	0	0	0	8
LW	7	0	0	0	0
D	7	0	0	0	0
RW/C	1	0	0	0	0
RW	7	0	0	0	5

Goaltending

Player	MIN	GP	W	L	GA	GAA	SO
	438	7	3	4	15	2.05	0
Team:	438	7	3	4	15	2.05	0

^[2]

Transactions

May 10, 1940: Traded Murph Chamberlain to the Montreal Canadiens for $7,500
May 10, 1940: Traded Pep Kelly to the Chicago Black Hawks for cash
June 7, 1940: Acquired Frank Eddolls from the Montreal Canadiens for Joe Benoit
July 1, 1940: Acquired Chuck Shannon from the New York Americans for cash
October 20, 1940: Traded Chuck Shannon to the Buffalo Bisons of the AHL for cash
October 22, 1940: Traded Phil Stein to the New Haven Eagles of the AHL for cash
October 31, 1940: Signed Free Agent Nick Knott
January 17, 1941: Acquired Jack Howard and Loan of Peanuts O'Flaherty from the New York Americans for Clarence Drouillard

References

Book: Smythe, Conn . Young, Scott . Conn Smythe: If you can't beat 'em in the alley . 1981 . McClelland and Stewart . Toronto, Ontario . 0-7710-9078-1.

Notes and References

Smythe, p. 143
Web site: hockey-reference.com . 2009-06-11 . 1940-41 Toronto Maple Leafs Statistics - Hockey-Reference.com.