The Leafs schedule just dropped. Another 82 games of waiting for the playoffs. That sounds too pessimistic. After a summer without hockey, we’ll happily take the October 11th opener against Montreal and with a new GM there will certainly be interest in taking the new roster for a test drive and establishing new playoff expectations in advance of new playoff disappointments.
The Leafs schedule warrants a bit of a breakdown, and we’ll start with some of the key dates.
October 11th is the season opener/home opener against Montreal.
Their first encounter with the Panthers comes on October 19th in Florida, and they face the Lightning 2 nights later as well.
April 17th is the final regular season game in Tampa. The Leafs end the year on a Florida road trip again.
As has been mentioned almost everywhere already, Kyle Dubas returns to Toronto on December 16th, but the Leafs will face the Penguins in Pittsburgh on November 25th.
The Dubas game will be preceded by the return of Mike Babcock two nights earlier on December 14th with the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Spencer Carbery coaches his first game against the Leafs on October 24th but won’t return to Toronto until March 28th.
The Western Canadian road trip starts January 16th and after the three games in Canada dips down to Seattle for the final game of that road swing on the 21st. The California road trip will take place earlier in January starting on January 6th.
The game against the Canucks on the 20th is the Leafs’ Hockey Day in Canada matchup.
The longest road trip of the season comes early in the year and it’s five games in October starting with the October 19th game against the Panthers. The Leafs have two 5 game homestands. One in November, and one that starts in late February.
After the Leafs home game (Hockey Hall of Fame game?) on November 11th, the Leafs are off to Sweden to play against Detroit and Minnesota on November 17th and November 19th respectively. Their next game after that will be on the road on November 24th.
The Leafs have 13 situations where they play on back to back nights, including the final two games of the season.
Their All-Star game break goes from January 28th-February 4th.
Also, the Leafs face Connor Bedard for the first time October 16th.
Games by month:
October- 9
November- 12
December- 13
January- 13
February- 12
March- 14
April- 9
The NHL used the following as their scheduling matrix this year:
Games Within Division
5 teams x 2 home / 2 away (Subtotal 10 home / 10 away)
1 team x 2 home / 1 away (Subtotal 2 home / 1 away)
1 team x 1 home / 2 away (Subtotal 1 home / 2 away)Games Within Conference (Non-Division)
4 teams x 2 home / 1 away (Subtotal 8 home / 4 away)
4 teams x 1 home / 2 away (Subtotal 4 home / 8 away)Non-Conference Games
16 teams x 1 home / 1 away (Subtotal 16 home / 16 away)
The Leafs’ regular season is actually a big one for them. They play two games overseas, they host the All-Star game, and before there have even been any players moved off the roster they’ve already got some grudge matches/awkward homecomings lined up against former GMs and coaches.
The Leafs have also released their preseason schedule which consists of eight games:
Sunday, September 24 at Ottawa Canadian Tire Centre (Ottawa, ON)
Monday, September 25 vs. Ottawa Scotiabank Arena (Toronto, ON)
Wednesday, September 27 vs. Buffalo Joe Thornton Community Centre (St. Thomas, ON)
Friday, September 29 at Montréal Bell Centre (Montréal, QC)
Saturday, September 30 at Montréal Bell Centre (Montréal, QC)
Monday, October 2 vs. Montréal Scotiabank Arena (Toronto, ON)
Friday, October 6 vs. Detroit Scotiabank Arena (Toronto, ON)
Saturday, October 7 at Detroit Little Caesars Arena (Detroit, MI)
