UPDATE: Leafs indeed are going with 11 forwards and seven defensemen, Bernier gets the start. Rookie Zach Trotman replaces Chara in the Boston lineup.
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The Maple Leafs look to shake their early season struggles at home, as they take on the Boston Bruins at Air Canada Center on Saturday.
Toronto is 3-3-1 through seven games, but are 1-3 at the ACC and put forth their two worst efforts of the season in home losses to Pittsburgh and Detroit. The Leafs are averaging just over two goals per game at ACC and have allowed 15 goals.
Jonathan Bernier will get his third straight start in goal for Toronto, after consecutive strong efforts in a 1-0 overtime loss to the Red Wings last Saturday and a 5-2 win on Long Island on Tuesday.
Former Leaf top pick Tuukka Rask will be between the pipes for the Bruins, after backup Niklas Svedberg started in a 3-2 loss to the NY Islanders on Thursday. Boston will be without team captain Zdeno Chara, who suffered ligament damage to his left knee and will be out for 4 to 6 weeks.
The absence of Chara may help the fortunes of top line wingers Phil Kessel and James van Riemsdyk, who have been held off the score sheet in the Leafs three home losses and normally have a difficult time getting around the behemoth Bruins defenseman.
Indications from the morning skate are that head coach Randy Carlyle will go with the same lineup that dressed in New York, with rookie Stuart Percy as the seventh defenseman and dressing 11 forwards.
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With the CHL, NCAA and European leagues schedules all underway, it is time to check on how the Maple Leafs prospects are faring so far:
2014 Draft
The 18-year-old Leafs top pick showed some enticing offensive tools at the Leafs rookie tournament in London,ON and during training camp, but the club wisely decided that another year in the SHL playing against good competition was the best thing for his future.
Nylander has nearly eclipsed his offensive totals from 2013-14 with six points(1G, 5A) in four games for MODO, including assists on all three goals in a 3-2 win over Lulea HF on Friday.
Drafted in the third round by the Leafs in 2014 after going undrafted as an 18-year-old, the Russian-born Valiev suffered a knee injury prior to the rookie tournament and was sent back to the WHL’s Kootenay Ice to complete his rehabilitation in late September.
Valiev returned to the lineup on Friday, but did not have an auspicious start to his season, as he was -5 in the Calgary Hitmen’s 9-2 drubbing of the Ice.
The 18-year-old native of Paramus, NJ is scoreless in two games with Boston University, who have started their season 2-0 and could be in the mix for a Frozen Four berth with highly regarded freshman Jack Eichel a shoo in for a top two pick in the 2015 NHL Draft.
The Leafs 2014 fifth-rounder is averaging more than a point per game in his second season with the USHL’s Sioux Falls Stampede. The 18-year-old Michigan native is slated to play for Ohio State University next season. Joshua had a goal and assist in a 4-1 Stampede win over Fargo last Saturday.
Check out one of his recent goals(around the 1:00 mark)
The son of former NHLer Jim Vesey has one assist in five games as a freshman at the University of Maine, along with 19 penalty minutes. Vesey was ejected from the Black Bears game against Union on October 18 for a spearing incident.
The Leafs have had good luck with drafting Swedes in the 7th round(don’t tell Don Cherry that though) with speedster Andreas Johnson, hard-hitting defenseman Viktor Loov and Carl Gunnarsson. Engvall was selected 188th overall in 2014 and started 2014-15 with second-tier Oskarshamn IK in Sweden.
2013 Draft
The Leafs 2013 top pick did not get much of an opportunity to impress at training camp, suffering a cracked rib in the first game of the rookie tournament. The 19-year-old returned to action on Friday with the QMJHL’s Rimouski Oceanic and went +1, winning 22 of 35 faceoffs in a 4-2 win over Rouyn-Noranda.
Gauthier has been named to the QMJHL’s squad for the upcoming Super Series and is likely to make Team Canada’s squad for the 2015 IIHF World Junior Championship in Toronto and Montreal this December.
After impressing at the Leafs ‘13 training camp and posting some great offensive numbers with the Niagara Ice Dogs last season, Verhaeghe did not stand out this September and is off to a slow start in his fourth OHL season(with four goals and four assists in 12 games), possibly due to linemate Brendan Perlini(the Coyotes ’14 first rounder) being out with a broken hand.
Verhaeghe had an assist in a 6-2 loss to North Bay on Friday.
The 19-year-old Swiss-born Herzog had an excellent offensive year with the Quebec Remparts last season, but opted to return home to play with Zug in the top level of the Swiss league against more experienced competition than play another year in the QMJHL.
Herzog has three goals in 16 games with Zug, who has former NHLer Pierre-Marc Bouchard and ex-Leafs Josh Holden and Robbie Earl as teammates.
The SHL’s 2014 Rookie of the Year makes up for his small stature with top end speed and skill. Johnson was contractually obligated to Frolunda this season, but will undoubtedly be heading to North America to play for the Marlies/Leafs in 2015.
In 14 games, Johnson is second on his team in scoring with 10 points.
2011 Draft
Toninato has jumped out impressively in his sophomore season with the University of Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs, leading the club with five goals and two assists in five games. The 20-year-old had a four-game goal scoring streak snapped as UMD lost 3-1 to University of Denver on Friday.
The speedy Cameranesi is entering his junior year and has five points(2G, 3 A) in five games with UMD. The Leafs 130th overall pick in 2011 took a step back with 21 points in 2013-14 after scoring nearly at a point-per-game pace as a freshman.
Cameranesi had a goal in the Bulldogs 6-2 win at Minnesota State on October 18th.
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