Montreal Canadiens: Habs Are Lowest Playoff Seed Ever, But Far From Worst Playoff Team Ever
2: 1986 Toronto Maple Leafs
Okay, I didn’t write this whole article just to point out how bad the Maple Leafs were in 1986, but it did help a little.
This was right in the middle of the 16 out of 21 teams getting into the playoffs phase of the NHL. Predictably, it was during that time that we saw the worst playoff teams ever. The 1986 Toronto Maple Leafs had a record of just 25-48-7, but their 57 points in 80 games was enough to get the last playoff spot in the conference.
We already mentioned the 1986 season earlier, and that was when the 80 point Sabres and 76 point Pens missed the playoffs. Imagine having 23 less points and still getting in? Well, that’s what happened for the Leafs.
The Maple Leafs leading scorer that season was Miroslav Frycer. I’m sure there are lots of hardcore Leafs fans out there that have never heard of the guy. Ken Wregget was their best goaltender that year and he had a 4.33 GAA and a .875 SV%.
For the season, the Leafs scored 311 goals but allowed 386. That’s a team GAA of 4.83, and they were a playoff team. They were the 18th ranked team in the 21 team league, but they were a playoff team.
The craziest part is they actually won their first round series. No, the craziest part is they swept the division champion Chicago Blackhawks in their opening round series before pushing the St. Louis Blues to seven games in the second round. No, actually the craziest thing is they had a team GAA of 4.83 in the regular season and Wregget pitched a shutout in the second round of the playoffs in game 2.
1: 1988 Toronto Maple Leafs
Yeah, while the 1986 version of the Leafs was the worst team to ever make the playoffs at the time, they doubled down and were even worse two years later and still made the playoffs.
The Leafs had a lot of good young players in 1987-88, like Ed Olczyk, Russ Courtnall, Wendel Clark, Vincent Damphousse, Al Iafrate and Gary Leeman, but it translate to many wins in the standings. Most of these players were not quite ready to break out at the time, and Clark missed most of the season with injuries.
The Leafs would finish the year with a record of 21-49-10. They scored 273 goals which is not that impressive for the late 1980s, but the 345 they allowed was a sizeable figure, giving them a goal differential of -72.
Alan Bester took over starting duties in net with his 3.81 GAA and .884 SV% which were pretty solid numbers for the time period we are talking about.
Next. Habs should just sign Romanov, whether he can play now or not. dark
The Leafs would play the Detroit Red Wings in the playoffs, a team that finished 41 points ahead of them in the regular season. The Red Wings were without their superstar centre Steve Yzerman, but still scored 32 goals in six games as they took out the worst team we have seen in the playoffs in NHL history.