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The Toronto Maple Leafs return to action on Tuesday against the St. Louis Blues at Air Canada Centre after getting a five-day break from the hectic regular season schedule and hope that some rest will help the club pull out of their recent doldrums.
The Leafs are 2-2-1 on their recent homestand, a .500 record since the beginning of December and have given away points in the late going in losses to Columbus and Ottawa.
Head coach Mike Babcock will continue his defensive rotation against the Blues, as rookie Travis Dermott will get back into the lineup and Andreas Borgman will sit. Dermott, who played two games wearing #3 before the break will be wearing #23 on Tuesday.
Frederik Andersen will make his seventh straight start for Toronto and backup Carter Hutton will go for St. Louis. Starter Jake Allen gave up five goals on 23 shots in a 7-4 loss to Florida on January 9. Hutton has an 8-3-1 record, 1.84 GAA and .940 save percentage this season.
The Blues are in third place in the Central Division with 55 points, but are in a tight race for a Western Conference playoff spot, while the Leafs have a double digit lead Detroit, the Panthers and Montreal in the Atlantic.
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While the Maple Leafs blueline has been the focal point of analysis and trade speculation for most of this season, the other area that will be a concern in the near future is up the middle.
Toronto’s decade-long search for a top line center was resolved with the addition of Auston Matthews and in spite of a six-week slump in which he has scored one goal in the last 16 games, the Leafs are comfortable with Nazem Kadri on their second line.
Veteran Tyler Bozak (currently with 24 points and well behind the pace of his career-high 55 points last season) is still effective, but it is doubtful that the Leafs will re-sign the 31-year-old in July unless he is willing to take a short-term deal for less money.
2013 first rounder Frederik Gauthier is being given a chance to take away the fourth line job away from Dominic Moore, but the Leafs may be looking for other alternatives if the 22-year-old does not show he is capable of handling the job in the second half.
Babcock used Patrick Marleau up the middle with Matthews and Kadri out injured, but the Leafs head coach will not put that burden on the 37-year-old, who played mostly wing in recent years.
The organizational depth up the middle is not strong, as former KHLer Miro Aaltonen has enjoyed limited success in the AHL and 2016 draftee Adam Brooks is slowly acclimating to professional hockey with the Toronto Marlies.
This will not be something that GM Lou Lamoriello will address before the February 26th trade deadline unless he is being very proactive. The Leafs may target centers in the 2018 Draft, but any selection will be years away from helping the big club.
With Lamoriello possibly looking for two centers next summer, he will either use his stockpile of prospects or draft picks to make a trade or explore the KHL or NHL unrestricted free agents for help. One name that could be on the Leafs radar still is 24-year-old Vladimir Tkachev.
The six-year KHL veteran chose to re-sign in Russia after reportedly exploring NHL options and has scored a career-high 21 goals with Ak-Bars Kazan this season.
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