1968–69 Toronto Maple Leafs season
NHL hockey team season
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The 1968–69 Toronto Maple Leafs season was the Toronto Maple Leafs 52nd season of the franchise, 42nd season as the Maple Leafs. Although the Maple Leafs returned to the playoffs after missing the prior year, they were swept in the quarter-finals by Boston, suffering two crushing defeats at Boston Garden.
| 1968–69 Toronto Maple Leafs | |
|---|---|
| Division | 4th East |
| 1968–69 record | 35–26–15 |
| Home record | 20–8–10 |
| Road record | 15–18–5 |
| Goals for | 271 |
| Goals against | 202 |
| Team information | |
| General manager | Punch Imlach |
| Coach | Punch Imlach |
| Captain | George Armstrong |
| Alternate captains | Tim Horton Dave Keon Bob Pulford |
| Arena | Maple Leaf Gardens |
| Team leaders | |
| Goals | Norm Ullman (35) |
| Assists | Norm Ullman (42) |
| Points | Norm Ullman (77) |
| Penalty minutes | Jim Dorey (200) |
| Wins | Bruce Gamble (28) |
| Goals against average | Bruce Gamble (2.80) |
Offseason
NHL draft
| Round | Pick | Player | Position | Nationality | Club team |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 10 | Brad Selwood | Defence | Niagara Falls Flyers (OHA) |
Regular season
Season standings
| GP | W | L | T | GF | GA | DIFF | Pts | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Montreal Canadiens | 76 | 46 | 19 | 11 | 271 | 202 | +69 | 103 |
| 2 | Boston Bruins | 76 | 42 | 18 | 16 | 303 | 221 | +82 | 100 |
| 3 | New York Rangers | 76 | 41 | 26 | 9 | 231 | 196 | +35 | 91 |
| 4 | Toronto Maple Leafs | 76 | 35 | 26 | 15 | 234 | 217 | +17 | 85 |
| 5 | Detroit Red Wings | 76 | 33 | 31 | 12 | 239 | 221 | +18 | 78 |
| 6 | Chicago Black Hawks | 76 | 34 | 33 | 9 | 280 | 246 | +34 | 77 |
Record vs. opponents
Vs. East Division
| 1968–69 NHL records[2] | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | BOS | CHI | DET | MTL | NYR | TOR | Total | |||||
| Boston | — | 5–2–1 | 3–2–3 | 4–2–2 | 3–3–2 | 4–2–2 | 19–11–10 | |||||
| Chicago | 2–5–1 | — | 3–4–1 | 1–7 | 4–3–1 | 3–4–1 | 13–23–4 | |||||
| Detroit | 2–3–3 | 4–3–1 | — | 2–5–1 | 4–3–1 | 3–4–1 | 15–18–7 | |||||
| Montreal | 2–4–2 | 7–1 | 5–2–1 | — | 3–4–1 | 4–3–1 | 21–14–5 | |||||
| New York | 3–3–2 | 3–4–1 | 3–4–1 | 4–3–1 | — | 4–4 | 17–18–5 | |||||
| Toronto | 2–4–2 | 4–3–1 | 4–3–1 | 3–4–1 | 4–4 | — | 17–18–5 | |||||
Vs. West Division
Schedule and results
| 1968–69 regular season[3] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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October
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November
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December
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January
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February
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March
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Legend: Win (2 points) Loss (0 points) Tie (1 point) |
Playoffs
| 1969 Stanley Cup playoffs[3][4] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Quarterfinals vs. (E4) Boston Bruins – Bruins win 4–0
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Legend: Win Loss |
Player statistics
Regular season
- Scoring
| Player | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Norm Ullman | 75 | 35 | 42 | 77 | 41 |
| Dave Keon | 75 | 27 | 34 | 61 | 12 |
| Paul Henderson | 74 | 27 | 32 | 59 | 16 |
| Murray Oliver | 76 | 14 | 36 | 50 | 16 |
| Ron Ellis | 72 | 25 | 21 | 46 | 12 |
| Mike Walton | 66 | 22 | 21 | 43 | 34 |
| Tim Horton | 74 | 11 | 29 | 40 | 107 |
| Floyd Smith | 64 | 15 | 19 | 34 | 22 |
| Bob Pulford | 72 | 11 | 23 | 34 | 20 |
| Jim Dorey | 61 | 8 | 22 | 30 | 200 |
| George Armstrong | 53 | 11 | 16 | 27 | 10 |
| Larry Mickey | 55 | 8 | 19 | 27 | 43 |
| Pierre Pilote | 69 | 3 | 18 | 21 | 46 |
| Bill Sutherland | 44 | 7 | 5 | 12 | 14 |
| Mike Pelyk | 65 | 3 | 9 | 12 | 146 |
| Rick Ley | 38 | 1 | 11 | 12 | 39 |
| Pat Quinn | 40 | 2 | 7 | 9 | 95 |
| Brit Selby | 14 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 19 |
| Wayne Carleton | 12 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 6 |
| Marcel Pronovost | 34 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 20 |
| Forbes Kennedy | 13 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 24 |
| Gerry Meehan | 25 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Johnny Bower | 20 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Mike Byers | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Terry Clancy | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Bruce Gamble | 61 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Gary Marsh | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Jim McKenny | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Al Smith | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
- Goaltending
| Player | MIN | GP | W | L | T | GA | GAA | SA | SV | SV% | SO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bruce Gamble | 3446 | 61 | 28 | 20 | 11 | 161 | 2.80 | 3 | |||
| Johnny Bower | 779 | 20 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 37 | 2.85 | 2 | |||
| Al Smith | 335 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 16 | 2.87 | 0 | |||
| Team: | 4560 | 76 | 35 | 26 | 15 | 214 | 2.82 | 5 |
Playoffs
- Scoring
| Player | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dave Keon | 4 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 2 |
| Ron Ellis | 4 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 2 |
| Murray Oliver | 4 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 0 |
| Norm Ullman | 4 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Jim Dorey | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 21 |
| Paul Henderson | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Pierre Pilote | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| George Armstrong | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Johnny Bower | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Bruce Gamble | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Tim Horton | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| Forbes Kennedy | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 38 |
| Rick Ley | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 |
| Larry Mickey | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| Mike Pelyk | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| Bob Pulford | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Pat Quinn | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13 |
| Brit Selby | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Floyd Smith | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Mike Walton | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
- Goaltending
| Player | MIN | GP | W | L | T | GA | GAA | SA | SV | SV% | SO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Johnny Bower | 154 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 11 | 4.29 | 0 | ||||
| Bruce Gamble | 86 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 13 | 9.07 | 0 | ||||
| Team: | 240 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 24 | 6.00 | 0 |
Awards and records
- Tim Horton, runner-up, Norris Trophy.[6]
- Tim Horton, 1968–69 NHL First Team All-Star[7]
Transactions
The Maple Leafs have been involved in the following transactions during the 1968–69 season.
Trades
| September 30, 1968 | To Los Angeles Kings Gary Croteau Brian Murphy Wayne Thomas |
To Toronto Maple Leafs Grant Moore Lou Deveault |
| October 1, 1968 | To Vancouver Canucks (WHL) Darryl Sly |
To Toronto Maple Leafs Cash |
| March 2, 1969 | To Philadelphia Flyers Gerry Meehan Mike Byers Bill Sutherland |
To Toronto Maple Leafs Brit Selby Forbes Kennedy |
| May 1, 1969 | To Vancouver Canucks (WHL) Brad Selwood Rene Robert |
To Toronto Maple Leafs Ron Ward |
| May 30, 1969 | To Pittsburgh Penguins Forbes Kennedy |
To Toronto Maple Leafs Cash |
Intra-league draft
| June 11, 1969 | To Pittsburgh Penguins Al Smith |
| June 11, 1969 | To Montreal Canadiens Larry Mickey |
| June 11, 1969 | From Pittsburgh Penguins Marv Edwards |