Examining the Toronto Maple Leafs numbers

Advantage Margin: -17
Only eight teams allowed more power-play chances than the Leafs. Toronto was plus-10 at home, but allowed 27 more opportunities on the road, where they surrendered 52 power-play goals.

Even-Strength Goals Margin: +19
Mats Sundin was the only Leaf to have as many as 20 even-strength goals. But of the 11 Leafs who had at least 30 points, only Darcy Tucker (-11) had a negative plus-minus rating.  

Special Teams Goal Margin: -27
The Leafs’ special teams weren’t very special: Not only was Toronto 27th in penalty-killing percentage, the Leafs surrendered an Eastern Conference-worst 90 power-play goals and scored just three shorthanded goals, tied for the fewest in the League. Defensemen Hal Gill (11) and Bryan McCabe (10) were in the box for a lot of those power-play goals.

Goals by defensemen: 51
The tandem of McCabe (15) and Tomas Kaberle (11) give the Leafs a lot of firepower on the blue line, especially on the power play. Kaberle had only two PPGs, but rang up 28 assists with the man advantage.

Goals by forwards: 203
Sundin (27-49-76, just one goal in his last 20 games) is still the focus of the offense at age 36. Adding Jason Blake (40 goals with the Islanders) adds scoring and much-needed speed to one of the NHL’s slowest teams.

Overtime Record: 8-4-7 (OT: 4-4, SO: 4-7)
The Leafs paid for their struggles in shootouts with a playoff berth. They lost a pair of shootouts to the Islanders in a nine-day span in February, and those missed points wound up being the difference between a playoff date with Buffalo and an early summer vacation.

Times Scored First/Record: 41 (Record: 27-10-4)
The Leafs’ .659 winning percentage when scoring first was only 20th in the League. They were 19th (.319) in the 41 games in which the opposition scored first, earning only 33 points..

Best 06-07 Number: 165
Goals scored by the Leafs when playing 5-on-5, tied with Florida for second in the Eastern Conference. The Leafs were +16 in scoring at full strength, but minus-28 in all other situations.

Worst 06-07 Number: 57
Shots on goal by Sundin in the Leafs’ last 12 games, none of which went into the net. Sundin had 12 assists in those games, but didn’t score a goal. The Leafs went 6-4-2 in those games and finished one point short of a playoff berth.

Scheduling:
The Leafs have a great chance to get off to a fast start with eight of their first 10 games at the Air Canada Center before playing six of seven on the road. But the holidays won’t be fun: Toronto is on the road for its last five games before Christmas, then goes to Long Island and Philadelphia on Dec. 26-27.