1945–46 Toronto Maple Leafs season explained

League:	NHL
Season:	1945–46
Year:	1945
Team:	Toronto Maple Leafs
Record:	19–24–7
Goalsleader:	Gaye Stewart (37)
Assistsleader:	Gus Bodnar (23)
Pointsleader:	Gaye Stewart (52)
Pimleader:	Bob Goldham (44)
Winsleader:	Frank McCool (10)
Gaaleader:	Turk Broda (3.53)

The 1945–46 Toronto Maple Leafs season was the 29th season of play of the Toronto NHL franchise. Although the club was the defending Stanley Cup champion, the team's play declined and the club finished in fifth, missing the playoffs.

Offseason

Cup hero goaltender Frank McCool held out. The Maple Leafs decided to play the tandem of Baz Bastien and Gordie Bell.

Regular season

Without Frank McCool, the team only won three of the first thirteen games, and the Leafs and McCool came to terms. The club continued to struggle and only won eight of the first 28 games. Turk Broda returned from war-time duty in January, but the team continued to struggle. All-Star defenceman Babe Pratt was suspended, but was reinstated after nine games. The team won only two of the nine games and dropped out of playoff contention. The club finished in fifth place, out of the playoffs. The team was only the second team to miss the playoffs after winning the Cup.

Record vs. opponents

Schedule and results

No.	R	Date	Score	Opponent	Record
1	T	October 27	1–1	Boston Bruins (1945–46)	0–0–1
2	L	November 1	2–4	@ Montreal Canadiens (1945–46)	0–1–1
3	L	November 3	1–4	New York Rangers (1945–46)	0–2–1
4	L	November 4	4–7	@ Chicago Black Hawks (1945–46)	0–3–1
5	L	November 7	3–4	Boston Bruins (1945–46)	0–4–1
6	L	November 8	2–3	@ Detroit Red Wings (1945–46)	0–5–1
7	W	November 10	3–2	Chicago Black Hawks (1945–46)	1–5–1
8	L	November 11	3–5	@ Chicago Black Hawks (1945–46)	1–6–1
9	L	November 14	1–6	Montreal Canadiens (1945–46)	1–7–1
10	L	November 17	5–6	Detroit Red Wings (1945–46)	1–8–1
11	W	November 18	3–1	@ New York Rangers (1945–46)	2–8–1
12	W	November 24	4–3	New York Rangers (1945–46)	3–8–1
13	L	November 25	3–5	@ Boston Bruins (1945–46)	3–9–1
14	L	December 1	2–8	Chicago Black Hawks (1945–46)	3–10–1
15	W	December 2	5–3	@ Chicago Black Hawks (1945–46)	4–10–1
16	L	December 8	0–1	Montreal Canadiens (1945–46)	4–11–1
17	L	December 9	1–2	@ New York Rangers (1945–46)	4–12–1
18	W	December 13	4–3	@ Montreal Canadiens (1945–46)	5–12–1
19	W	December 15	3–1	Detroit Red Wings (1945–46)	6–12–1
20	T	December 16	3–3	@ Boston Bruins (1945–46)	6–12–2
21	T	December 22	5–5	New York Rangers (1945–46)	6–12–3
22	W	December 23	4–3	@ New York Rangers (1945–46)	7–12–3
23	L	December 25	3–6	@ Detroit Red Wings (1945–46)	7–13–3
24	L	December 26	2–4	Montreal Canadiens (1945–46)	7–14–3
25	L	December 29	3–4	Boston Bruins (1945–46)	7–15–3
26	L	January 1	1–3	@ Chicago Black Hawks (1945–46)	7–16–3
27	L	January 5	0–3	Chicago Black Hawks (1945–46)	7–17–3
28	W	January 10	5–4	@ Montreal Canadiens (1945–46)	8–17–3
29	W	January 12	9–3	Detroit Red Wings (1945–46)	9–17–3
30	W	January 19	3–1	New York Rangers (1945–46)	10–17–3
31	W	January 20	3–1	@ Detroit Red Wings (1945–46)	11–17–3
32	L	January 23	1–7	@ Boston Bruins (1945–46)	11–18–3
33	W	January 26	6–5	Chicago Black Hawks (1945–46)	12–18–3
34	L	February 2	3–5	Boston Bruins (1945–46)	12–19–3
35	T	February 3	6–6	@ New York Rangers (1945–46)	12–19–4
36	T	February 6	3–3	@ Boston Bruins (1945–46)	12–19–5
37	W	February 9	4–1	Detroit Red Wings (1945–46)	13–19–5
38	T	February 10	2–2	@ Detroit Red Wings (1945–46)	13–19–6
39	L	February 16	2–4	Montreal Canadiens (1945–46)	13–20–6
40	W	February 23	7–2	Boston Bruins (1945–46)	14–20–6
41	L	February 24	2–6	@ Montreal Canadiens (1945–46)	14–21–6
42	L	February 27	4–6	New York Rangers (1945–46)	14–22–6
43	W	March 2	9–4	Chicago Black Hawks (1945–46)	15–22–6
44	W	March 3	5–2	@ New York Rangers (1945–46)	16–22–6
45	W	March 6	5–2	@ Chicago Black Hawks (1945–46)	17–22–6
46	L	March 9	1–2	Montreal Canadiens (1945–46)	17–23–6
47	L	March 10	3–7	@ Boston Bruins (1945–46)	17–24–6
48	T	March 14	2–2	@ Montreal Canadiens (1945–46)	17–24–7
49	W	March 16	7–3	Detroit Red Wings (1945–46)	18–24–7
50	W	March 17	11–7	@ Detroit Red Wings (1945–46)	19–24–7

Player statistics

Regular season

Scoring

Player	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
	50	37	15	52	8
	48	23	18	41	14
	40	24	16	40	2
	49	14	23	37	14
	41	5	20	25	36
	41	11	11	22	4
	49	7	14	21	44
	47	13	6	19	15
	41	9	9	18	12
	40	7	9	16	12
	42	5	8	13	2
	45	3	10	13	10
	35	5	7	12	10
	24	4	8	12	29
	9	1	8	9	0
	38	1	5	6	10
	21	3	2	5	4
	15	1	3	4	6
	7	1	0	1	0
	15	0	1	1	6
	5	0	1	1	4
	5	0	0	0	0
	8	0	0	0	0
	15	0	0	0	0
	22	0	0	0	5

Goaltending

Player	MIN	GP	W	L	T	GA	GAA	SA	SV	SV%	SO
	1320	22	10	9	3	81	3.68				0
	900	15	6	6	3	53	3.53				0
	480	8	3	5	0	31	3.87				0
	300	5	0	4	1	20	4.00				0
Team:	3000	50	19	24	7	185	3.70				0

^[1]

Transactions

• July 9, 1945: Traded Reg Hamilton to the Chicago Black Hawks for cash and Future Considerations
• September 22, 1945: Acquired Gordie Bell from the Buffalo Bisons of the AHL for cash
• October 16, 1945: Signed Free Agent Jimmy Thomson
• October 29, 1945: Traded Bingo Kampman to the Boston Bruins to complete a previous transaction
• November 6, 1945: Acquired Bingo Kampman from the Boston Bruins as Boston returned player

References

• Book: Dan . Diamond . 1994 . Years of glory, 1942–1967: the National Hockey League's official book of the six-team era . McClelland & Stewart Inc. . Toronto, Ontario . 0-7710-2817-2 .

Notes

Notes and References

1. Web site: hockey-reference.com . 2009-05-27 . 1945-46 Toronto Maple Leafs Statistics - Hockey-Reference.com.