1994–95 Toronto Maple Leafs season explained

League:	NHL
Season:	1994–95
Year:	1994
Team:	Toronto Maple Leafs
Conferencerank:	5th
Divisionrank:	4th
Record:	21–19–8
Homerecord:	15–7–2
Roadrecord:	6–12–6
Goalsfor:	135
Goalsagainst:	146
Attendance:	15,744
Goalsleader:	Mats Sundin (23)
Assistsleader:	Mike Ridley (27)
Pointsleader:	Mats Sundin (47)
Pimleader:	Warren Rychel (101)
Plusminusleader:	Randy Wood (+7)
Winsleader:	Felix Potvin (15)
Gaaleader:	Damian Rhodes (2.68)

The 1994–95 Toronto Maple Leafs season was Toronto's 78th season in the National Hockey League (NHL).

Prior to the 1994–95 season, franchise player and fan favourite Wendel Clark was sent to the Quebec Nordiques in a blockbuster trade. Clark, along with defenceman Sylvain Lefebvre and Toronto's second pick in the 1993 NHL Entry Draft, Landon Wilson, were traded to the Nordiques on June 28, 1994, in exchange for forward Mats Sundin, defenceman Garth Butcher and Quebec's first pick in the 1992 NHL Entry Draft, Todd Warriner. In Clark's absence, the gritty and dependable veteran forward Doug Gilmour was named team captain.

After finishing fourth in 1992–93 and third in 1993–94, the Maple Leafs fell to fifth place in the Western Conference in 1994–95 and, for the first time in three seasons, they allowed more goals than they scored. Throughout the regular season, Toronto never won more than two games in a row, and finished just two games above .500. In addition, no Toronto player recorded a hat trick. To toughen up their lineup, the Leafs signed Warren Rychel from the Los Angeles Kings midway through the regular season, and on April 7, 1995, they traded center Mike Eastwood and a third-round pick in the 1995 NHL Entry Draft to the Winnipeg Jets in exchange for right wing Tie Domi.

Toronto was the only Western Conference team to score at least one goal in all 48 of its regular-season games in 1994–95 (the Quebec Nordiques and the Buffalo Sabres were the only Eastern Conference teams to accomplish this feat in 1994–95). The Maple Leafs finished sixth in the league in penalty-killing (84.86%) and allowed the most empty-net goals of any team in the league (8).

Regular season

The Maple Leafs tied the Dallas Stars and the Hartford Whalers for the lowest shooting percentage during the regular season with just 135 goals on 1,520 shots (8.9%).^[1]

Season standings

Playoffs

Although the Maple Leafs were the underdogs against the fourth-place Chicago Blackhawks in the opening round of the 1995 Stanley Cup playoffs, they won the first two games of the series at the United Center and went home to Maple Leaf Gardens for game three with two-games-to-none series lead. However, the Blackhawks played determinedly and won Games 3 and 4 in Toronto to regain home-ice advantage in the series. Chicago then won Game 5, 4–2, and looked to clinch the series in Game 6 back in Toronto. The Maple Leafs played a spirited game, going up 4–1 in the third period. The Blackhawks fought back with three consecutive goals to tie the game. At 10:00 of the first overtime period, Randy Wood scored his second goal of the game to give the Maple Leafs a 5–4 win. The victory tied the series at three games apiece and forced game seven back in Chicago. In Game 7, Joe Murphy scored twice and Ed Belfour made 22 saves as Chicago advanced to the second round for the first time in three years with a 5–2 win.

Schedule and results

Regular season

|- style="text-align:center;"|1||T||January 20, 1995||3–3 OT|| style="text-align:left;"| @ Los Angeles Kings (1994–95) ||0–0–1 || |- style="text-align:center; background:#fbb;"|2||L||January 21, 1995||2–3 || style="text-align:left;"| @ San Jose Sharks (1994–95) ||0–1–1 || |- style="text-align:center; background:#cfc;"|3||W||January 25, 1995||6–2 || style="text-align:left;"| Vancouver Canucks (1994–95) ||1–1–1 || |- style="text-align:center; background:#fbb;"|4||L||January 27, 1995||1–4 || style="text-align:left;"| @ Chicago Blackhawks (1994–95) ||1–2–1 || |- style="text-align:center; background:#cfc;"|5||W||January 28, 1995||2–1 || style="text-align:left;"| Calgary Flames (1994–95) ||2–2–1 || |- style="text-align:center; background:#cfc;"|6||W||January 30, 1995||2–1 || style="text-align:left;"| @ Dallas Stars (1994–95) ||3–2–1 || |-|- style="text-align:center;"|7||T||February 1, 1995||4–4 OT|| style="text-align:left;"| @ Vancouver Canucks (1994–95) ||3–2–2 || |- style="text-align:center; background:#fbb;"|8||L||February 3, 1995||3–5 || style="text-align:left;"| @ Edmonton Oilers (1994–95) ||3–3–2 || |- style="text-align:center; background:#fbb;"|9||L||February 4, 1995||1–4 || style="text-align:left;"| @ Calgary Flames (1994–95) ||3–4–2 || |- style="text-align:center; background:#cfc;"|10||W||February 6, 1995||7–3 || style="text-align:left;"| San Jose Sharks (1994–95) ||4–4–2 || |- style="text-align:center;"|11||T||February 8, 1995||3–3 OT|| style="text-align:left;"| Dallas Stars (1994–95) ||4–4–3 || |- style="text-align:center; background:#cfc;"|12||W||February 10, 1995||2–1 || style="text-align:left;"| @ Detroit Red Wings (1994–95) ||5–4–3 || |- style="text-align:center; background:#fbb;"|13||L||February 11, 1995||2–5 || style="text-align:left;"| Los Angeles Kings (1994–95) ||5–5–3 || |- style="text-align:center; background:#cfc;"|14||W||February 13, 1995||4–2 || style="text-align:left;"| Chicago Blackhawks (1994–95) ||6–5–3 || |- style="text-align:center; background:#fbb;"|15||L||February 15, 1995||1–4 || style="text-align:left;"| Edmonton Oilers (1994–95) ||6–6–3 || |- style="text-align:center; background:#cfc;"|16||W||February 18, 1995||3–1 || style="text-align:left;"| St. Louis Blues (1994–95) ||7–6–3 || |- style="text-align:center; background:#fbb;"|17||L||February 20, 1995||2–4 || style="text-align:left;"| Detroit Red Wings (1994–95) ||7–7–3 || |- style="text-align:center; background:#fbb;"|18||L||February 22, 1995||1–4 || style="text-align:left;"| @ Detroit Red Wings (1994–95) ||7–8–3 || |- style="text-align:center; background:#cfc;"|19||W||February 23, 1995||3–1 || style="text-align:left;"| Mighty Ducks of Anaheim (1994–95) ||8–8–3 || |- style="text-align:center; background:#cfc;"|20||W||February 25, 1995||5–2 || style="text-align:left;"| Winnipeg Jets (1994–95) ||9–8–3 || |- style="text-align:center; background:#fbb;"|21||L||February 27, 1995||2–3 || style="text-align:left;"| @ St. Louis Blues (1994–95) ||9–9–3 || |-|- style="text-align:center; background:#fbb;"|22||L||March 2, 1995||3–4 || style="text-align:left;"| San Jose Sharks (1994–95) ||9–10–3 || |- style="text-align:center; background:#cfc;"|23||W||March 4, 1995||3–2 || style="text-align:left;"| Calgary Flames (1994–95) ||10–10–3 || |- style="text-align:center; background:#cfc;"|24||W||March 8, 1995||3–2 || style="text-align:left;"| Dallas Stars (1994–95) ||11–10–3 || |- style="text-align:center;"|25||T||March 11, 1995||2–2 OT|| style="text-align:left;"| Chicago Blackhawks (1994–95) ||11–10–4 || |- style="text-align:center; background:#fbb;"|26||L||March 13, 1995||1–4 || style="text-align:left;"| Los Angeles Kings (1994–95) ||11–11–4 || |- style="text-align:center; background:#cfc;"|27||W||March 15, 1995||2–1 || style="text-align:left;"| @ San Jose Sharks (1994–95) ||12–11–4 || |- style="text-align:center;"|28||T||March 17, 1995||3–3 OT|| style="text-align:left;"| @ Mighty Ducks of Anaheim (1994–95) ||12–11–5 || |- style="text-align:center; background:#cfc;"|29||W||March 18, 1995||5–3 || style="text-align:left;"| @ Los Angeles Kings (1994–95) ||13–11–5 || |- style="text-align:center; background:#fbb;"|30||L||March 21, 1995||1–3 || style="text-align:left;"| @ Vancouver Canucks (1994–95) ||13–12–5 || |- style="text-align:center; background:#cfc;"|31||W||March 24, 1995||3–2 || style="text-align:left;"| Winnipeg Jets (1994–95) ||14–12–5 || |- style="text-align:center;"|32||T||March 25, 1995||3–3 OT|| style="text-align:left;"| @ Winnipeg Jets (1994–95) ||14–12–6 || |- style="text-align:center; background:#cfc;"|33||W||March 27, 1995||4–3 || style="text-align:left;"| Edmonton Oilers (1994–95) ||15–12–6 || |- style="text-align:center;"|34||T||March 31, 1995||3–3 OT|| style="text-align:left;"| @ Chicago Blackhawks (1994–95) ||15–12–7 || |-|- style="text-align:center; background:#fbb;"|35||L||April 3, 1995||2–5 || style="text-align:left;"| @ St. Louis Blues (1994–95) ||15–13–7 || |- style="text-align:center; background:#fbb;"|36||L||April 5, 1995||4–6 || style="text-align:left;"| St. Louis Blues (1994–95) ||15–14–7 || |- style="text-align:center; background:#fbb;"|37||L||April 7, 1995||2–4 || style="text-align:left;"| Detroit Red Wings (1994–95) ||15–15–7 || |- style="text-align:center; background:#cfc;"|38||W||April 8, 1995||4–3 || style="text-align:left;"| Winnipeg Jets (1994–95) ||16–15–7 || |- style="text-align:center; background:#cfc;"|39||W||April 14, 1995||2–1 || style="text-align:left;"| Dallas Stars (1994–95) ||17–15–7 || |- style="text-align:center; background:#fbb;"|40||L||April 15, 1995||1–5 || style="text-align:left;"| @ Winnipeg Jets (1994–95) ||17–16–7 || |- style="text-align:center; background:#cfc;"|41||W||April 17, 1995||3–1 || style="text-align:left;"| @ Chicago Blackhawks (1994–95) ||18–16–7 || |- style="text-align:center; background:#cfc;"|42||W||April 19, 1995||3–2 || style="text-align:left;"| Mighty Ducks of Anaheim (1994–95) ||19–16–7 || |- style="text-align:center; background:#fbb;"|43||L||April 21, 1995||1–3 || style="text-align:left;"| @ St. Louis Blues (1994–95) ||19–17–7 || |- style="text-align:center; background:#fbb;"|44||L||April 22, 1995||4–6 || style="text-align:left;"| @ Dallas Stars (1994–95) ||19–18–7 || |- style="text-align:center; background:#cfc;"|45||W||April 26, 1995||5–2 || style="text-align:left;"| Vancouver Canucks (1994–95) ||20–18–7 || |- style="text-align:center;"|46||T||April 29, 1995||2–2 OT|| style="text-align:left;"| @ Calgary Flames (1994–95) ||20–18–8 || |-|- style="text-align:center; background:#cfc;"|47||W||May 1, 1995||6–5 || style="text-align:left;"| @ Edmonton Oilers (1994–95) ||21–18–8 || |- style="text-align:center; background:#fbb;"|48||L||May 3, 1995||1–6 || style="text-align:left;"| @ Mighty Ducks of Anaheim (1994–95) ||21–19–8 || |-|-| Legend:

Playoffs

|- align="center" bgcolor="#cfc"| 1 ||W|| May 7, 1995 || 5–3 || align="left"| @ Chicago Blackhawks || Maple Leafs lead 1–0 || |- align="center" bgcolor="#cfc"| 2 ||W|| May 9, 1995 || 3–0 || align="left"| @ Chicago Blackhawks || Maple Leafs lead 2–0 || |- align="center" bgcolor="#fbb"| 3 ||L|| May 11, 1995 || 2–3 || align="left"| Chicago Blackhawks || Maple Leafs lead 2–1 || |- align="center" bgcolor="#fbb"| 4 ||L|| May 13, 1995 || 1–3 || align="left"| Chicago Blackhawks || Series tied 2–2 || |- align="center" bgcolor="#fbb"| 5 ||L|| May 15, 1995 || 2–4 || align="left"| @ Chicago Blackhawks || Blackhawks lead 3–2 || |- align="center" bgcolor="#cfc"| 6 ||W|| May 17, 1995 || 5–4 OT|| align="left"| Chicago Blackhawks || Series tied 3–3 || |- align="center" bgcolor="#fbb"| 7 ||L|| May 19, 1995 || 2–5 || align="left"| @ Chicago Blackhawks || Blackhawks win 4–3 || |-|-| Legend:

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.

	Regular season						Playoffs
	Player
13		C	47	23	24	47	−5	14	7	5	4	9	−2	4
14		LW	48	22	16	38	−7	34	7	3	2	5	3	25
7		C	48	10	27	37	1	14	7	3	1	4	−3	2
93		C	44	10	23	33	−5	26	7	0	6	6	2	6
23		D	47	7	25	32	−8	64	7	0	3	3	−4	6
24		LW	48	13	11	24	7	34	7	2	0	2	−2	6
11		RW	38	12	8	20	0	6	5	2	2	4	4	2
15		D	33	5	12	17	6	28	6	2	1	3	−1	2
4		D	33	5	10	15	−6	26	7	0	2	2	−5	0
9		RW	37	5	5	10	−21	12	2	0	1	1	0	2
32		C	36	5	5	10	−12	32
34		D	46	2	8	10	−6	75	7	1	2	3	0	8
19		D	39	2	7	9	−8	16	4	0	0	0	−2	0
2		D	45	1	7	8	−5	59	7	0	0	0	0	8
21		LW	26	1	6	7	1	101	3	0	0	0	−2	0
10		LW	32	5	1	6	−11	26	7	0	1	1	−3	4
32		LW	12	3	3	6	0	0	7	0	0	0	−4	6
25		RW	19	3	2	5	1	2
16		RW	19	0	5	5	3	0
20		RW	18	0	3	3	−7	10	4	0	0	0	−3	2
12		RW	22	0	3	3	−4	31
25		C	12	1	1	2	−6	6	7	1	1	2	−3	0
55		D	25	0	2	2	−10	15
3		D	10	0	2	2	−6	7	4	0	0	0	−3	0
28		RW	9	0	1	1	1	31	7	1	0	1	−2	0
16		C	8	0	1	1	0	4
18		LW	36	0	1	1	−2	22	7	0	0	0	−3	6
22		LW	2	0	0	0	0	5
43		LW	3	0	0	0	0	9
28		D	1	0	0	0	−1	0
33		D	15	0	0	0	2	13
45		RW	1	0	0	0	0	2
29		G	36	0	0	0		4	7	0	0	0		0
1		G	13	0	0	0		4
8		LW	5	0	0	0	−3	0

Goaltending

	Regular season										Playoffs
	Player
29		36	15	13	7	1120	104	2.91	.907	0	2144	7	3	4	253	20	2.83	.921	1	424
1		13	6	6	1	404	34	2.69	.916	0	760	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—

Awards and records

Awards

Type	Award/honour	Recipient	Ref
League (annual)	NHL All-Rookie Team	Kenny Jonsson (Defence)	^[2]
Team	Molson Cup	Mats Sundin	^[3]

Transactions

The Maple Leafs have been involved in the following transactions during the 1994–95 season.

Trades

July 11, 1994	To Los Angeles Kings Yanic Perreault	To Toronto Maple Leafs 4th round pick in 1996 (Mikael Simons)
August 10, 1994	To Dallas Stars Peter Zezel Grant Marshall	To Toronto Maple Leafs Compensation for Mike Craig
September 28, 1994	To Mighty Ducks of Anaheim David Sacco	To Toronto Maple Leafs Terry Yake
October 3, 1994	To Los Angeles Kings Eric Lacroix Chris Snell 4th round pick in 1996 (Eric Belanger)	To Toronto Maple Leafs Dixon Ward Guy Leveque Shayne Toporowski Kelly Fairchild
February 10, 1995	To Washington Capitals 4th round pick in 1995 (Sebastien Charpentier)	To Toronto Maple Leafs Warren Rychel
February 17, 1995	To Detroit Red Wings Chris Govedaris	To Toronto Maple Leafs Future considerations
March 13, 1995	To Tampa Bay Lightning Cash	To Toronto Maple Leafs Rich Sutter
April 6, 1995	To Calgary Flames Nikolai Borschevsky	To Toronto Maple Leafs 6th round pick in 1996 (Chris Bogas)
April 6, 1995	To New York Islanders Eric Fichaud	To Toronto Maple Leafs Benoit Hogue 3rd round pick in 1995 (Ryan Pepperall) 5th round pick in 1996 (Brandon Sugdon)
April 6, 1995	To Montreal Canadiens 4th round pick in 1996 (Kim Staal)	To Toronto Maple Leafs Paul DiPietro
April 7, 1995	To Detroit Red Wings Future considerations	To Toronto Maple Leafs Gord Kruppke
April 7, 1995	To Pittsburgh Penguins Drake Berehowsky	To Toronto Maple Leafs Grant Jennings
April 7, 1995	To Winnipeg Jets Mike Eastwood 3rd round pick in 1995 (Brad Isbister)	To Toronto Maple Leafs Tie Domi
July 8, 1995	To Pittsburgh Penguins Dmitri Mironov 2nd round pick in 1996 (Josh DeWolf)	To Toronto Maple Leafs Larry Murphy
July 8, 1995	To Philadelphia Flyers 5th round pick in 1996 (Per-Ragnar Bergquist)	To Toronto Maple Leafs Rob Zettler
July 8, 1995	To Vancouver Canucks Mike Ridley	To Toronto Maple Leafs Sergio Momesso

Waivers

January 18, 1995	From Buffalo Sabres Randy Wood

Free agents

Player	Former team
	Dallas Stars
	Undrafted free agent

Player	New team
	Detroit Red Wings
	Pittsburgh Penguins
	Calgary Flames

Draft picks

Toronto's draft picks at the 1994 NHL Entry Draft held at the Hartford Civic Center in Hartford, Connecticut.^[4]

Round	Pick	Player	College/junior/club team
1	16	Eric Fichaud (G)	Chicoutimi Saguenéens (QMJHL)
2	48	Sean Haggerty (LW)	Detroit Junior Red Wings (OHL)
3	64	Fredrik Modin (LW)	Timrå IK (Sweden)
5	126	Mark Deyell (C)	Saskatoon Blades (WHL)
6	152	Kam White (D)	Newmarket Royals (OHL)
7	178	Tommi Rajamaki (D)	Ässät (Finland)
8	204	Rob Butler (LW)	Niagara Falls Canucks (GHJHL)
10	256	Sergei Berezin (LW)	Khimik Voskresensk (Russia)
11	282	Doug Nolan (LW)	Catholic Memorial High School (USHS–MA)

Farm teams

The Maple Leafs farm team was the St. John's Maple Leafs in St. John's, Newfoundland.

References

Web site: Toronto Maple Leafs 1994-95 roster and scoring statistics at hockeydb.com . www.hockeydb.com . September 9, 2023.
Web site: 1994-95 Toronto Maple Leafs Roster, Stats, Injuries, Scores, Results, Shootouts . Hockey-Reference.com . September 9, 2023.

Notes and References

Web site: 1994-95 NHL Summary . Hockey-Reference.com . September 9, 2023.
Web site: Postseason All-Star Teams . records.nhl.com . September 12, 2023.
Toronto Maple Leafs 2015–16 Media Guide, p.373
Web site: 1994 NHL Entry Draft . hockeydb.com.