Toronto Maple Leafs 2012-13 Season (half season lockout)
Record: 26-17-5 – 57 points (Finished 3rd in the Northeast Division and 5th in the Eastern Conference)
Grade: B+
Review: Ah yes, the 2012-13 season which showed a lockout for half of the NHL season. Teams only playing 48 games instead of the standard 82, the season starting mid January and went on until the end of April.
The Toronto Maple Leafs were known at the time to play a fairly well first half of the season and then slowly drop below .500 and miss the playoffs in the second half of the season.
Well luckily for them and Toronto Maple Leaf fans, they only played 48 games and ended up clinching a playoff spot!
This year saw multiple young players on the team shine bright and half really good years, Phil Kessel was back at it again being over a point per game player with 52 points in 48 games, a 22 year old Nazem Kadri finished with 44 points in 48 games.
Kadri had a tremendous year in his first full NHL season, (even though it was half a season) having only playing 51 games in the previous three seasons.
Toronto went ahead in the off-season as well before the 2012-13 season started and went and traded D Luke Schenn to the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for F James van Riemsdyk, and well we all know how that trade turned out for both teams.
Fast forward to the 2013 NHL playoffs the Toronto Maple Leafs are in the postseason for the first time since the 2003-04 season! You know Maple Leaf fans were excited, and ready for some playoff hockey.
Unfortunately we all know how the 2013 playoffs ended… and we do not talk about it, but we can talk about how happy we were for them to make playoffs for the first time in almost 10 years. (Stats from hockey-reference.com)