The Toronto Maple Leafs begin a lengthy stretch of games away from home against the Colorado Avalanche at the Pepsi Center in Denver on Thursday. From tonight to January 14, the Leafs play 10 games and eight of them will be away from Air Canada Center.
The only games at home will be the Centennial Classic against the Detroit Red Wings at BMO Field/Exhibition Stadium on New Year’s Day and the first visit of the Montreal Canadiens to ACC on January 7.
After being unscathed the first two months of the season, Toronto has begun being bitten by the injury bug in December. Martin Marincin will be out until mid-to-late January with a lower body injury, Ben Smith suffered a hand injury and had it surgically repaired on Tuesday and Tyler Bozak will not play against either Colorado or the Arizona Coyotes due to an unspecified lower body injury.
Curtis Joseph and Mike Palmateer compare equipment this afternoon as they prepare for the Centennial Classic Alumni Game. #TMLtalk pic.twitter.com/do0eSSaxcI
— Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) December 19, 2016
Nazem Kadri will replace Bozak on the top line between James van Riemsdyk and Mitch Marner. Rookie Frederik Gauthier will take over on the checking line with Leo Komarov and Nikita Soshnikov and call up Byron Froese takes over Smith’s fourth line role between Matt Martin and William Nylander.
While the potential of Nylander, Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, Frederik Andersen and other youngsters are a cause for optimism that core pieces are in place, the Leafs have far too many holes to be considered a good team and it will take more than one trade or even one summer of transactions to improve them.
Once the New Year arrives, if the distance increases between Toronto and playoff contention, the focus of GM Lou Lamoriello will turn his focus towards the trade deadline, potentially moving veterans Roman Polak and Matt Hunwick as rentals and seeing if teams will step up and pay the asking price for van Riemsdyk, Bozak and Komarov, who have one year left on their contracts.
If Lamoriello does move out one or more of the club’s veterans to address their problems on defense or to accumulate more young assets, the Leafs have to be sure that Kasperi Kapanen, Brendan Leipsic or Andrew Nielsen are capable of filling the voids created by such trades down the line.
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Leafs 2015 second rounder Jeremy Bracco has made Team USA for the upcoming 2017 World Junior in Toronto and Montreal. The 19-year-old forward survived the first cut down, as Erie’s Alex Debrincat and Windsor’s Logan Brown were released from the roster.
The US are expected to announce the final 22-man roster on December 24, when we will find out if Toronto goaltending prospect Joseph Woll (3rd rounder–2016) beats out Memorial Cup winner Tyler Parsons or Boston U’s Jake Oettinger.
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Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports that the Leafs may be looking at dipping into the KHL once again.
Vladimir Tkachev hattrick vs Ugra https://t.co/fh82OMihBk @ak_bars_ru #khl #akbars #ugra @hcyugra_news #hattrick @DarrenDreger @wyshynski
— Dva Experta (@Dva_Experta) October 28, 2016
After adding forward Nikita Soshnikov in the summer of 2015, signing defenseman Nikita Zaitsev via free agency and drafting Yegor Korshkov, Vladimir Bobylev and Nikolai Chebykin last summer, Toronto could be targeting 23-year-old forward Vladimir Tkachev.
Tkachev leads Ak-Bars Kazan with 13 goals, but the 6’0… 203 lb center is projected as a depth forward in the NHL. *******If you are interested in sponsorship or advertising your business in the Greater Toronto / Southern Ontario area on this column, please send a message for more information by clicking on the “Contact… button at the top of the page.*******
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