UPDATE: 5pm -
The NHL has opted to not suspend Joffrey Lupul for his cross-check to the neck/head area of the Wings forward Patrick Eaves on Wednesday, but the NHL's Department of Player Safety fined the Leafs forward $10,000.
Eaves, who has a history of concussion issues, suffered a dislocated jaw due to the incident and did not return to the game, but today indicated that he will be in the lineup for the Wings game in Dallas on Saturday. Lupul avoided being suspended for the second time in the last 18 months, after being assessed a two game suspension for an elbow to the head of Tampa Bay defenseman Victor Hedman last March.
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Defenseman Tim Gleason practiced with the Leafs for the first time on Friday. The 30-year-old blueliner was acquired from the Carolina Hurricanes on Wednesday in exchange for veteran John-Michael Liles and prospect Dennis Robertson. Liles stepped into the lineup for the Hurricanes on Thursday against Washington and played nearly 16 minutes. Paired with rookie Ryan Murphy, Liles was +2 in a 4-3 Carolina victory over the Caps.
Gleason, wearing jersey number 8(last worn by former teammate Mike Komisarek) was paired with defenseman Mark Fraser during the skate around at the MasterCard Center in Etobicoke, ON, which would indicate that he would not debut on Saturday at Air Canada Center against the New York Rangers.
Based on the fact that the Leafs have won their last three games, it is possible that head coach Randy Carlyle will opt for sticking with the same lineup and letting Gleason acclimate himself to his new surroundings.
Here is Gleason's first interview with the Toronto media on Friday morning:
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Former Leafs winger Leo Komarov is looking to come back to the NHL and hopes that it will be with the Toronto Maple Leafs, as reported by the
the KHL.HR website last weekend.
The 26-year-old Estonian born Finn split time between the Toronto Marlies and Dynamo Moscow during the NHL Lockout and had four goals and five assists in 49 regular season and playoff games for the Leafs, but signed back with the KHL club for more money than the $1.2 Million salary he earned in 2013.
Yahoo’s Dmitry Chesnokov reported in June when Komarov signed that the KHL deal would not preclude him from evaluating NHL options. The Leafs retain exclusive negotiating rights with the winger/center until July, when he becomes an unrestricted free agent.
“I enjoyed it there(Toronto), it was probably the best time of my life, I was really happy to play with the Leafs and I hope they are going to take me back, but you never know what's going to happen.” Komarov said. "I would love to get an offer from the Leafs.”
“Everything was good with the Leafs and I really enjoyed it there. But I didn’t get the offer I maybe wanted, and I wanted to play a lot of minutes over here (in the KHL) because it's an Olympic year and I knew that if I came back to Dynamo I’d get a lot of ice time. It’s hard to say really, I liked the team, the city, everything – coming back (to Russia) was a hard decision.”
No bridges have been burned between the Leafs and Komarov and most observers have noted that Toronto is a much less physical and much easier team to play against this season without the feisty forward.
With Jay McClement, Nikolai Kulemin, Dave Bolland and Mason Raymond all unrestricted free agents in the summer, there could be a path to return Komarov back to Toronto in a similar or larger role.
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