2009–10 Toronto Maple Leafs season

The 2009–10 Toronto Maple Leafs season was the franchise's 93rd, and their 83rd as the Maple Leafs. The Leafs had not qualified for the Stanley Cup playoffs since the 2003–04 season, and began the regular season with its worst start in franchise history by going winless in the first eight games. The team missed the playoffs for the fifth year in a row for the first time in franchise history. It was also the first time since the 1990–91 season that the team would finished last in their conference.

Team business

The team moved to a new practice facility, the MasterCard Centre, from their former practice facility, the Lakeshore Lions Arena. Built next door to the old arena, the new facility has four ice sheets, allowing the Maple Leafs and their farm team the Toronto Marlies to practice simultaneously on separate sheets.

Off-season

At the 2009 NHL entry draft, the Maple Leafs chose centre Nazem Kadri with their first round pick, seventh overall.
In free agency, the Maple Leafs signed two defencemen of note – Mike Komisarek of the Montreal Canadiens and Francois Beauchemin of the Anaheim Ducks, signing both to multiple-year deals. At the same time, defenceman Pavel Kubina was traded to the Atlanta Thrashers for fellow defenceman Garnet Exelby. The Leafs also signed free agents Colton Orr and Tim Brent.
After extensive talks, the Leafs were able to sign highly regarded Swedish free agent goaltender Jonas Gustavsson, who was considering offers from several NHL teams.
The Leafs dealt for Boston Bruins' forward Phil Kessel, trading two first round draft picks and a second round draft pick. Kessel started the season on the injured list as he was recovering from an off-season shoulder surgery.

Regular season

The Leafs got off to a slow start to the NHL season, with a record of 0–7–1, the worst start for the Leafs since the NHL formed in 1917. Additionally, the Leafs surrendered the first goal to their opposition in each of their first 11 games, and 17 of their first 19 games.
The Leafs struggled on the power play during the regular season, finishing 30th in power-play percentage, at just 13.97%. They also struggled on the penalty kill, allowing the most power-play goals in the League, with 73, and having the lowest penalty-kill percentage, at 74.65%.

Playoffs

The Toronto Maple Leafs were trying to achieve their first qualification since the 2003–04 NHL season, however they were mathematically eliminated after their 77th game. They were the first team eliminated in the Eastern Conference. Currently, only the Florida Panthers have failed to qualify for the playoffs for more consecutive years.

Player statistics

Final stats

Skaters

Player
	70	30	25	55	−8	21
	82	7	42	49	−16	24
^‡	61	19	22	41	5	44
^‡	55	16	25	41	−3	30
	78	16	20	36	0	16
	59	10	25	35	3	10
^‡	55	20	13	33	−3	23
^‡	62	14	16	30	−10	18
	37	8	19	27	−5	6
^‡	56	10	16	26	−4	26
^‡	56	9	17	26	1	39
	82	5	21	26	−13	33
	60	6	17	23	−7	31
	79	5	12	17	2	50
	43	3	12	15	8	10
	40	9	5	14	−13	30
	39	2	8	10	−11	20
^†	26	2	8	10	−2	34
	60	2	7	9	−7	20
	59	3	5	8	−1	35
^‡	44	2	6	8	−5	78
	31	2	5	7	−2	16
	82	4	2	6	−4	239
^†	19	1	5	6	0	10
^†	19	2	3	5	−4	4
	51	1	3	4	−8	73
	34	0	4	4	−9	40
^†	15	1	2	3	−1	16
	15	1	1	2	−2	67
	1	0	0	0	0	0
	1	0	0	0	−1	0
	1	0	0	0	−1	0
	2	0	0	0	0	2
^‡	2	0	0	0	−2	0

Goaltenders

^†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.

Transactions

The Maple Leafs have been involved in the following transactions during the 2009–10 season.

Free agents acquired

Player	Former team	Contract terms
Mike Komisarek	Montreal Canadiens	5 years, $22.5 million
Colton Orr	New York Rangers	4 years, $4 million
Jay Rosehill	Toronto Marlies	2 years
Tim Brent	Chicago Blackhawks	1 year
Richard Greenop	Chicago Blackhawks	3-year entry-level contract
Francois Beauchemin	Anaheim Ducks	3 years, $11.4 million
Jonas Gustavsson	Farjestad BK	1 year, $900,000
Rickard Wallin	Farjestad BK	1 year
Joey MacDonald	New York Islanders	1 year
Brayden Irwin	University of Vermont	2-year entry-level contract

Free agents lost

Player	New team	Contract terms
Jaime Sifers	Minnesota Wild	1 year
Jay Harrison	Carolina Hurricanes	1 year, $500K 2-way contract
Kris Newbury	Detroit Red Wings	1 year, 2-way contract
Jeremy Williams	Detroit Red Wings	1 year, 2-way contract
Martin Gerber	Atlant Moscow Oblast	1 year
Jeff Hamilton	HC Lugano	1 year
Ryan Hollweg	Phoenix Coyotes	1 year
Brad May	Detroit Red Wings	1 year, $500K

Claimed via waivers

Player	Former team	Date claimed off waivers
Jamie Lundmark	Calgary Flames	February 13, 2010

Lost via retirement

Player

Olaf Kolzig

Curtis Joseph

Player signings

Player	Contract terms
Mikhail Grabovski	3 years, $8.7 million
Nazem Kadri	3-year entry-level contract
Ben Ondrus	1 year
Ryan Hamilton	1 year
Andre Deveaux	1 year
Darryl Boyce	2 years
Alex Foster	1 year
Justin Pogge	1 year, $605,000
Phil Kessel	5 years, $27 million
Jesse Blacker	3-year entry-level contract
Jonas Gustavsson	2 years, $2.7 million contract extension

Draft picks

Toronto's picks at the 2009 NHL entry draft in Montreal, Quebec.

Round	Pick	Player	Position	Nationality	Team
1	7	Nazem Kadri	C		London Knights
2	50	Kenny Ryan	RW		Boston College
2	58	Jesse Blacker	D		Windsor Spitfires
3	68	Jamie Devane	LW		Plymouth Whalers
4	118	Forfeited because of Jonas Frogren contract
5	128	Eric Knodel	D		Philadelphia Jr. Flyers
6	158	Jerry D'Amigo	RW		Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
7	188	Barron Smith			Peterborough Petes

Farm teams

The Maple Leafs continue their affiliation with the Toronto Marlies of the American Hockey League and the Reading Royals of the ECHL.