The Toronto Maple Leafs have made the first of what could be many deals leading up to the March 1 deadline, swapping minor league defenseman Viktor Loov to the New Jersey Devils for forward Sergey Kalinin.
The 24-year-old Loov was a seventh round pick of the Maple Leafs in 2012 and played four NHL games last March, but dropped down the depth chart with the addition of youngsters Andrew Nielsen and Travis Dermott.
Kalinen played seven seasons with Avangard Omsk of the KHL before signing with the Devils as a free agent in 2015.
In 121 NHL games, Kalinen has 19 points(10 goals and nine assists). The 25-year-old was placed waivers on Friday and cleared Saturday, which enables the center to be assigned to the AHL Marlies.
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The Leafs will be without rookie winger Mitch Marner for back-to-back weekend games, due to the unspecified upper body injury suffered in a 5-2 loss to Columbus on Wednesday.
"Because he can't go today, that means for sure he won't go tomorrow(in Raleigh against the Carolina Hurricanes). "head coach Mike Babcock indicated on Saturday morning. "We'll deal with him next week, I think we got a day off and then play again (the Winnipeg Jets visit ACC on Tuesday)."
As they did prior to back-to-back games earlier this week with the NY Islanders and Blue Jackets, the Leafs did not have a morning skate, with just backup Curtis McElhinney and extra defensemen Martin Marincin and Alexei Marchenko taking to the ice.
Toronto is not expected to deviate from the lines they used in practice on Friday, with Nikita Soshnikov lining up with Ben Smith and Matt Martin, Josh Leivo with Nazem Kadri and Leo Komarov, William Nylander replacing Connor Brown on the line with Auston Matthews and Zach Hyman line and Brown replacing Marner with James van Riemsdyk and Tyler Bozak.
The Leafs advantage of games-in-hand has evaporated in February and their struggles prevented them from creating any cushion in the tight Eastern Conference playoff race.
“This time of year, teams are desperate. They’re trying to pick up points here, we are doing the same thing.” defenseman Morgan Rielly said. “Over the course of the next two months, every game is a must-win for us.”
The Senators are currently in second place in the Atlantic Division with 66 points, Boston is in third with 64 and Toronto has a tenuous hold on the second wildcard spot with 63.
The New York Islanders and Florida Panthers (who won 4-1 in Anaheim on Friday) are at 62 points and have played the same amount of games as the Leafs, while Philadelphia (61 pts) and Buffalo (60 pts) have played two more games than Toronto.
Frederik Andersen and Craig Anderson are expected to be the starters on Saturday for the final meeting of the regular season between the provincial rivals.
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