2007–08 Toronto Maple Leafs season explained

League:	NHL
Season:	2007–08
Year:	2007
Team:	Toronto Maple Leafs
Conferencerank:	12th
Divisionrank:	5th
Record:	36–35–11
Homerecord:	18–17–6
Roadrecord:	18–18–5
Goalsfor:	231
Goalsagainst:	260
Generalmanager:	John Ferguson Jr. (To Jan. 22) Cliff Fletcher (interim)
Attendance:	19,434 (103.3%)
Goalsleader:	Mats Sundin (32)
Assistsleader:	Mats Sundin (46)
Pointsleader:	Mats Sundin (78)
Plusminusleader:	Mats Sundin (+17)
Pimleader:	Pavel Kubina (116)
Winsleader:	Vesa Toskala (33)
Gaaleader:	Vesa Toskala (2.74)

The 2007–08 Toronto Maple Leafs season began October 4, 2007. It is the 91st season of the franchise, 81st season as the Maple Leafs.

In an effort to return to the playoffs in 2007–08, the Leafs made two significant moves during the off-season. The first was to acquire goaltender Vesa Toskala (along with Mark Bell) from the San Jose Sharks in exchange for three draft picks.^[1] Toronto also signed free agent Jason Blake to a five-year, $20 million contract. Blake reached the 40-goal mark for the first time in 2006–07.^[2]

With the Leafs struggling in the Northeast Division, the future of John Ferguson Jr.'s tenure as general manager has been widely debated after club president Richard Peddie admitted that hiring Ferguson was "a mistake".^[3] According to TSN, the Leafs asked former Toronto general manager Cliff Fletcher to serve as interim general manager early in January.^[4] On January 22, it was announced that Ferguson's time with the club had ended, as the board of directors at Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment voted to make a change. Fletcher was named interim general manager of the team.^[5]

Defenceman Tomas Kaberle was selected to represent the Maple Leafs and the Eastern Conference at the 2008 All-Star Game in Atlanta, Georgia.^[6] He hit all four targets in four shots to become the winner of the accuracy competition.

Regular season

On October 8, 2007, newly acquired winger Jason Blake announced that he had chronic myelogenous leukemia, a treatable form of cancer. He continued playing during treatment.

In mid-November 2007, Jiri Tlusty was caught in a scandal when nude photos of him appeared on the Internet. Tlusty apologized for this incident and admitted that he made a mistake.

The Maple Leafs struggled on the penalty kill during the regular season, allowing an NHL-high 77 power-play goals.^[7]

Conference standings

Playoffs

For the third straight year, the Leafs did not qualify for the playoffs.

Schedule and results

October

Record: 5–5–3; Home: 3–4–2; Road: 2–1–1

Game #	Date	Visitor	Score	Home	OT	Decision	Attendance	Record	Points
1	October 3		4–3	Toronto	OT		19,476	0–0–1	1
2	October 4	Toronto	2–3	Ottawa			19,857	0–1–1	1
3	October 6		3–4	Toronto	OT	Toskala	19,476	1–1–1	3
4	October 9		7–1	Toronto		Toskala	19,224	1–2–1	3
5	October 11		1–8	Toronto		Raycroft	19,319	2–2–1	5
6	October 13		6–4	Toronto		Toskala	19,479	2–3–1	5
7	October 15	Toronto	4–5		OT	Raycroft	18,217	2–3–2	6
8	October 18		2–3	Toronto		Toskala	19,349	3–3–2	8
9	October 20		6–4	Toronto		Raycroft	19,314	3–4–2	8
10	October 23		5–4	Toronto	SO	Toskala	19,210	3–4–3	9
11	October 25	Toronto	5–2	Pittsburgh		Toskala	17,051	4–4–3	11
12	October 27	Toronto	4–1			Toskala	18,200	5–4–3	13
13	October 29		7–1	Toronto		Toskala	19,316	5–5–3	13

November

Record: 4–6–3; Home: 1–1–3; Road: 3–5–0

Game #	Date	Visitor	Score	Home	OT	Decision	Attendance	Record	Points
14	November 2	Toronto	2–3			Toskala	14,523	5–6–3	13
15	November 3	Toronto	3–2			Toskala	21,273	6–6–3	15
16	November 6	Toronto	1–5			Toskala	19,613	6–7–3	15
17	November 9	Toronto	3–0			Raycroft	18,690	7–7–3	17
18	November 10 †		3–2	Toronto	SO	Toskala	19,503	7–7–4	18
19	November 13	Montreal	4–3	Toronto	OT	Raycroft	19,595	7–7–5	19
20	November 15	Toronto	2–5			Raycroft	16,373	7–8–5	19
21	November 17	Ottawa	0–3	Toronto		Toskala	19,596	8–8–5	21
22	November 20	Boston	4–2	Toronto		Toskala	19,441	8–9–5	21
23	November 23	Toronto	1–3			Toskala	18,409	8–10–5	21
24	November 24	Toronto	1–5			Raycroft	17,190	8–11–5	21
25	November 27	Montreal	4–3	Toronto	SO	Toskala	19,608	8–11–6	22
26	November 29	Toronto	4–2			Toskala	14,031	9–11–6	24

December

Record: 6–5–2; Home: 3–2–0; Road: 3–3–2

Game #	Date	Visitor	Score	Home	OT	Decision	Attendance	Record	Points
27	December 1		2–4	Toronto		Toskala	19,534	10–11–6	26
28	December 4		1–3	Toronto		Toskala	19,400	11–11–6	28
29	December 6	Toronto	6–2			Toskala	18,200	12–11–6	30
30	December 8		2–1	Toronto		Toskala	19,441	12–12–6	30
31	December 10		1–6	Toronto		Toskala	19,454	13–12–6	32
32	December 14	Toronto	4–0			Toskala	16,424	14–12–6	34
33	December 15	Toronto	1–4			Toskala	21,273	14–13–6	34
34	December 18	Toronto	2–3		OT	Toskala	17,045	14–13–7	35
35	December 20	Toronto	1–2	Tampa Bay		Toskala	19,131	14–14–7	35
36	December 22	Toronto	2–1		OT	Toskala	18,500	15–14–7	37
37	December 26	Toronto	3–4		OT	Raycroft	15,301	15–14–8	38
38	December 27	Toronto	1–4			Raycroft	19,727	15–15–8	38
39	December 29	N.Y. Rangers	6–1	Toronto		Raycroft	19,408	15–16–8	38

January

Record:5–8–1 ; Home: 4–2–0; Road: 1–6–1

Game #	Date	Visitor	Score	Home	OT	Decision	Attendance	Record	Points
40	January 1		3–4	Toronto	SO		19,347	16–16–8	40
41	January 3	Toronto	2–6			Clemmensen	17,074	16–17–8	40
42	January 5		3–2	Toronto		Raycroft	19,412	16–18–8	40
43	January 9	Toronto	0–5			Toskala	17,174	16–19–8	40
44	January 10	Toronto	2–5			Raycroft	18,118	16–20–8	40
45	January 12	Toronto	2–3			Toskala	17,496	16–21–8	40
46	January 15		4–5	Toronto		Toskala	19,444	17–21–8	42
47	January 17	Toronto	3–2		SO	Toskala	13,907	18–21–8	44
48	January 19		2–4	Toronto		Toskala	19,436	19–21–8	46
49	January 20	Toronto	2–3			Raycroft	15,291	19–22–8	46
50	January 23		2–3	Toronto		Toskala	19,479	20–22–8	48
51	January 24	Toronto	1–2	Washington		Toskala	14,094	20–23–8	48
52	January 29		3–2	Toronto		Toskala	19,363	20–24–8	48
53	January 31	Toronto	2–3	Carolina	OT	Toskala	15,159	20–24–9	49

February

Record: 8–4–1 ; Home: 5–3–0 ; Road: 3–1–1

Game #	Date	Visitor	Score	Home	OT	Decision	Attendance	Record	Points
54	February 2		2–4	Toronto		Toskala	19,543	21–24–9	51
55	February 5		8–0	Toronto		Toskala	19,430	21–25–9	51
56	February 7	Toronto	4–2			Toskala	21,273	22–25–9	53
57	February 9		2–3	Toronto	OT	Toskala	19,510	23–25–9	55
58	February 13	Toronto	0–1			Toskala	18,690	23–26–9	55
59	February 14		5–4	Toronto		Toskala	19,227	23–27–9	55
60	February 16		3–4	Toronto	OT	Toskala	19,481	24–27–9	57
61	February 19		1–3	Toronto		Toskala	19,347	25–27–9	59
62	February 21	Buffalo	5–1	Toronto		Toskala	19,467	25–28–9	59
63	February 23		1–3	Toronto		Toskala	19,390	26–28–9	61
64	February 25	Toronto	5–0	Ottawa		Toskala	19,861	27–28–9	63
65	February 27	Toronto	4–3	Florida	SO	Toskala	14,557	28–28–9	65
66	February 29	Toronto	2–3		OT	Toskala	20,641	28–28–10	66

March

Record: 8–5–0; Home: 2–4–0; Road: 6–1–0

Game #	Date	Visitor	Score	Home	OT	Decision	Attendance	Record	Points
67	March 1	Toronto	3–2			Toskala	18,277	29–28–10	68
68	March 4		4–1	Toronto		Toskala	19,507	29–29–10	68
69	March 6	Toronto	8–2			Toskala	15,483	30–29–10	70
70	March 8	New Jersey	2–1	Toronto		Toskala	19,469	30–30–10	70
71	March 11		3–4	Toronto	OT	Toskala	19,507	31–30–10	72
72	March 12	Toronto	3–2	Philadelphia		Toskala	19,642	32–30–10	74
73	March 15		6–2	Toronto		Toskala	19,462	32–31–10	74
74	March 18	Toronto	3–1			Toskala	13,134	33–31–10	76
75	March 21	Toronto	4–1	Buffalo		Toskala	18,690	34–31–10	78
76	March 22	Toronto	5–4			Toskala	20,183	35–31–10	80
77	March 25	Boston	6–2	Toronto		Toskala	19,562	35–32–10	80
78	March 27	Toronto	2–4	Boston		Toskala	16,659	35–33–10	80
79	March 29		2–4	Toronto		Toskala	19,584	36–33–10	82

April

Record: 0–2–1; Home: 0–1–1; Road: 0–1–0

Game #	Date	Visitor	Score	Home	OT	Decision	Attendance	Record	Points
80	April 1		4–3	Toronto	SO	Raycroft	19,288	36–33–11	83
81	April 3		8–2	Toronto		Toskala	19,466	36–34–11	83
82	April 5	Toronto	1–3			Raycroft	21,273	36–35–11	83

† Hockey Hall of Fame Game

Playoffs

On March 27, 2008, the Toronto Maple Leafs were eliminated from postseason contention for the third straight season following a 4–2 loss to the Boston Bruins.

Player statistics

Final stats^[8]

Skaters

Regular Season
Player					data-sort-type="number"
	74	32	46	78	17	76
	72	26	30	56	10	92
	82	8	45	53	-8	22
	82	15	37	52	-4	28
	76	15	27	42	0	32
	72	11	29	40	5	116
	66	18	17	35	3	36
	74	18	16	34	-8	100
	82	16	17	33	-11	47
	54	5	18	23	-2	81
	59	8	13	21	-12	0
	81	5	16	21	-9	44
^‡	63	2	18	20	0	52
	62	7	11	18	-6	24
	53	10	7	17	1	18
	58	10	6	16	-12	14
^†	38	4	10	14	7	14
	35	4	6	10	-2	60
	50	3	6	9	-10	18
	48	2	7	9	5	54
	28	2	4	6	-4	10
	33	1	4	5	-4	10
	11	2	2	4	-1	6
	18	2	0	2	-3	4
	28	1	1	2	-7	32
^‡	30	1	0	1	-2	66
	9	0	1	1	-2	0
	1	0	0	0	0	0
	3	0	0	0	0	0
	3	0	0	0	-1	5
	13	0	0	0	-6	7
	18	0	0	0	-2	7	- class="unsortable"	Total	0	0	0	0	0-->

Goaltenders

Regular Season

66	64	3837	33	25	6	175	2.74	1824	.904	3	5	4
19	16	965	2	9	5	63	3.92	509	.876	1	0	0
3	2	154	1	1	0	10	3.90	62	.839	0	0	0

^†Denotes player spent time with another team before joining Maple Leafs. Stats reflect time with Maple Leafs only.
^‡Traded mid-season.
Bold/italics denotes franchise record.

Awards and records

Records

On October 11, 2007, in an 8–1 victory over the New York Islanders, Mats Sundin scored his 390th goal as a Leaf, and earned his 917th point in a Leaf uniform breaking Darryl Sittler's team record as the all-time points and goals leader.

Milestones

Player	Milestone	Reached
Regular Season
	600th NHL Game	October 3, 2007
	1,200th NHL PIM	October 9, 2007
	100th NHL Point	October 11, 2007
	1st NHL Goal	October 11, 2007
	1,500th NHL PIM	October 13, 2007
	1,000th NHL PIM	October 13, 2007
	200th NHL Point	October 18, 2007
	600th NHL Game	October 18, 2007
	400th NHL Game	October 20, 2007
	100th NHL Goal	October 20, 2007
	1st NHL Game	October 23, 2007
	1st NHL Game 1st NHL Goal 1st NHL Point	October 25, 2007
	100th NHL Game	October 27, 2007
	300th NHL Point	November 2, 2007
Jiri Tlusty	1st NHL Assist	November 2, 2007
Mats Sundin	400th Goal with the Leafs	November 27, 2007
	1st NHL Win with the Leafs	January 1, 2008
Anton Stralman	1st NHL Goal	March 21, 2008

Transactions

The Maple Leafs have been involved in the following transactions during the 2007–08 season.

Trades

June 22, 2007	To Toronto Maple Leafs Vesa Toskala Mark Bell	To San Jose Sharks 1st round pick in 2007 (Lars Eller) 2nd round pick in 2007 (Aaron Palushaj) 4th round pick in 2009 (Craig Smith)
February 26, 2008	To Toronto Maple Leafs 5th round pick in 2008 (Jerome Flaake)	To Florida Panthers Wade Belak
February 26, 2008	To Toronto Maple Leafs 3rd round pick in 2008 (James Livingston)	To Florida Panthers Chad Kilger
February 26, 2008	To Toronto Maple Leafs 2nd round pick in 2008 (Jimmy Hayes) 5th round pick in 2009 (Andy Bathgate)	To Pittsburgh Penguins Hal Gill

Free agents

Player	Former team	Contract Terms
		5-year, $20 million
		1 year, $500,000

Player	New team
	Chicago Blackhawks

Claimed from waivers

Draft picks

Toronto's picks at the 2007 NHL Entry Draft in Columbus, Ohio.^[9]

Round		Player	Position	College/Junior/Club team (League)
3	74	Dale Mitchell	RW	Oshawa Generals (OHL)
4	99	Matt Frattin	RW	Fort Saskatchewan Traders (AJHL)
4	104	Ben Winnett	LW	Salmon Arm Silverbacks (BCHL)
5	134	Juraj Mikus	D	Dukla Trenčín (Slovak Extraliga)
6	164	Chris DiDomenico	C	Saint John Sea Dogs (QJHML)
7	194	Carl Gunnarsson	D	Linköpings HC (Elitserien)

Notes and References

https://www.tsn.ca/nhl/news_story/?ID=211547&hubname=nhl Leafs get Toskala and Bell from Sharks
https://www.tsn.ca/nhl/news_story/?ID=212474&hubname https://www.tsn.ca/nhl/news_story/?ID=212474&hubname
https://www.tsn.ca/nhl/news_story/?ID=223757&hubname= Peddie: Hiring Ferguson was a mistake
McKenzie, Bob, Leafs ask Fletcher about interim GM job, TSN.ca, January 14, 2008
https://archive.today/20070813172533/http://tsn.ca/nhl/news_story/?ID=227906&hubname=nhl Sources: Ferguson's tenure as GM over
http://www.nhl.com/allstar/2008/east_roster.html 2008 Eastern Conference All-Stars
Web site: 2007-08 NHL Summary.
Web site: 2007–2008 Regular Season Stats – Points – Toronto Maple Leafs – Statistics. Toronto Maple Leafs. February 26, 2017.
2007 NHL Entry Draft Results nhl.com

2007–08 Toronto Maple Leafs season explained

Regular season

Conference standings

Playoffs

Schedule and results

October

November

December

January

February

March

April

Playoffs

Player statistics

Skaters

Goaltenders

Awards and records

Records

Milestones

Transactions

Trades

Free agents

Claimed from waivers

Draft picks

See also

Notes and References