Net Results

By Hieronymous MacMillan

The 2025-26 RHL regular season is officially in the books.
1312 games across the league have been played amongst 32 teams, 
Next 16 teams will go to battle, with the last teams standing having made it through 4 rounds. 16 wins. Only one team will remain who will lift one trophy. 

But first, let’s break down the numbers and see how Jackie Daytona’s systems actually fared during his rookie season as coach in the pressure cooker of Toronto.

Record: 52 - 25 - 5

Home Record: 23 - 8 - 2 (Goals For - 126, Goals Against - 89)

Away Record:  19 - 7 - 3 (Goals For - 128, Goals Against - 112)

Against Playoff Teams: 21 -  17 - 3

Nearly identical home and away records for the Leafs, which is rather surprising. The vibe throughout the season felt like Toronto struggled on the road. Perhaps that can be attributed to the fact that even though they managed to score more goals on the road, they also allowed 23 more. Even though the loss records are close, the reality was that those road losses weren’t close and often blowouts made it feel like being away from home was going to be an automatic loss.

A road trip at the end of November that carried through into December is a good example of this. Games against the Habs (6-2 L), Caps (3-0 L), Pens (4-1 L) and Hurricanes (4-1 L) contributed to a 2-4 record on the trip and was the first real eye test we had of the Leafs on the road with Daytona at the helm. It was his first real taste of adversity and heading home from that trip left Toronto with a 16-9-2 record.

Average play throughout December produced a 6-6-2 record for the month and 21-14-4 on the season. A winning record is hardly anything to scoff at, but on the heels of back-to-back losses to close out 2025, it left many wondering if GM Led Tasso made the right choice by bringing in Daytona, who you may recall was brought in with zero games of ANY hockey coaching on his resume. 

And then, with the calendar flipping to a new year and a fresh page, it was seemingly a fresh start for the Leafs who put the league on official notice throughout January. 

Record by Month:

October: 6 - 3 - 2
November: 9 - 5 - 0
December: 6 - 6 - 2
January: 15 - 1 - 0
February: 2 - 3 - 0
March: 10 - 4 - 1
April: 4 - 3 - 0

They went nearly the entire month without taking a loss. Two 8-game winning streaks with a lone loss to the league’s powerhouse Jets sandwiched in between propelled the Leafs to the top of the Atlantic and Eastern Conference.
That level of play obviously wasn’t sustainable and combined with the Olympic break, the Leafs wobbled a bit in February, finishing the abbreviated monthly schedule with their only losing record on the season (2-3-0). 

They found their game again in March, before ending the regular season looking average yet again with a 6-4-0 record across their last ten games. Whether it was a team that was putting too much pressure on themselves to stay on top of the conference (which they did) or had switched into auto-pilot once their ticket to the post-season was punched and coasted to save energy, it was a frustrating finish for Daytona et al. 

You’d think that for someone in their first year as a head coach they’d be happy with the top spot in the East. It’s not that Daytona wasn’t happy with his team, it’s just that he wasn’t satisfied with how he prepared his squad for certain games and felt like they left points on the table they shouldn’t have and could’ve ultimately done better. 

The good news is that he feels like he and by proxy his charges have learnt from all of the lessons this season has taught them and can apply that to their game in the playoffs, where Toronto looks to improve on their second round exit from last season and return to the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time since 2023-24.
Last year’s second round defeat in five games at the hands of the Red Wings (who would go on to represent the East in the SCF before eventually falling to the Avs) left a sour taste in their mouth. With their contending window closing, it feels like it’s now or never for this Maple Leafs roster as it’s currently constructed to get over the hump. Daytona will do his best to keep that window propped open just a little longer and hopefully bring home a championship to a long-suffering city and fanbase. 

Other notable stats:

Powerplay - 2 3% (40 for 177): T-6th 

Penalty Kill -  83%: T-4th 

Penalty Minutes -  238: 23rd 

Hits -  1723: T-17th

Goals For - 254: 1st

Goals Against - 201: T-5th

Team GAA - 2.44