The Maple Leafs can go a long way towards putting one team in the Eastern Conference standings completely out of sight of their rear view mirror on Thursday, as they face the Carolina Hurricanes at the Air Canada Center.
Carolina currently trails sixth place Toronto by eight points, but has three games in hand and with a win could put a little heat on the Blue and White, who have earned points in six consecutive games(3-0-3).
Coach Randy Carlyle shuffled his line combinations in the latter half of Tuesday’s game to generate some offense and if this morning’s skate at the ACC is any indication, Joffrey Lupul will remain with old linemates Tyler Bozak and Phil Kessel on the first line, while the struggling James van Riemsdyk moves to play with Nazem Kadri and Nikolai Kulemin.
Clarke MacArthur is still hampered by the upper body injury suffered in Boston on Monday and is not expected to crack the lineup tonight, which means there will be no changes at forward, but John-Michael Liles is close to being ready, as he took the pre-game skate on Tuesday night.
James Reimer is expected to start in goal for Toronto after being given the night off against Florida on Tuesday. Reimer is an impressive 11-4-3 this season, with a 2.68 GAA and .917 save percentage.
Tonight will be the third and final meeting between the two clubs this season, with Carolina having won the two previous contests; 4-1 at the ACC on February 4 and 3-1 on February 14 in Raleigh.
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With seven days remaining until the April 3rd deadline, a number of teams on the border of competing for a playoff spot or falling out of the race will be making the fateful decision of being sellers depending on winning or losing the next couple games. In the East, Florida, Philadelphia, Tampa and perhaps Buffalo are likely to be shopping their UFA’s or contracts they would like to shed and Colorado, Phoenix and Edmonton are likely in full sell mode.
That group went up by one last night, as the Flames traded Jarome Iginla to Pittsburgh for the Pens 2013 1st round pick, along with prospects Kenneth Agostino and Ben Hanowski.
Calgary is likely to explore moving veterans Mike Cammalleri and Jay Bouwmeester, if they can find teams who could fit a $6 Million+ salary under their salary cap for next season and may explore the possibility of moving Miikka Kiprusoff, if he recants his threat to not report to another team if he is traded.
The Leafs appear to be interested in making some additions before the deadline, but nothing that would adversely affect the group that has been successful thus far. Toronto Sun columnist
Steve Simmons indicates that GM Dave Nonis would not mind to add a veteran goaltender, a depth forward and a top four defenseman, but that the possibility of any would depend on the cost.
If the Leafs can make only one move, which area do you think is the most in need of being addressed?
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