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UPDATE - 6pm
#NHL updates status for the #Leafs-Capitals Stadium Series game pic.twitter.com/9qJnMGuuT0
— Michael Augello (@MikeInBuffalo) March 2, 2018
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The Toronto Maple Leafs and Washington Capitals practiced indoors on Friday, as windy conditions prevented them from taking the ice at the Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis, MD prior to the Stadium Series game.
The forecast for Saturday’s night contest is not expected to prevent the game from being played, but wind may force the stoppage of play halfway through the third period to give each team 30 minutes with the breeze behind their backs.
It's practice time in Annapolis. #StadiumSeries pic.twitter.com/grTHJ8D5Hn
— Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) March 2, 2018
“(Wind) can have lots (of an effect on the game), but (Saturday) we are going to get up, there’s going to be no wind and we are going to have a good game.… an optimistic Mike Babcock said after practice on Friday.
Both Toronto and Washington are comfortably in playoff spots in the Eastern Conference, but both are battling for positioning in their respective divisions.
Toronto’s participation in outdoor games will likely increase going forward with an American-born star in Auston Matthews and as they continue to ascend to the top echelon of the NHL, but it is questionable for the league to schedule a game of this nature in early March, in the last quarter of the season.
The Leafs made one lineup change at the Brigade Sports Complex on Friday morning, as Roman Polak replaced Connor Carrick at right defense on the bottom pairing and will likely make the start on Saturday against the club that ended his season last April.
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Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman in his “31 Thoughts… column indicated that the Leafs were not close in their offer to the New York Rangers defenseman Ryan McDonagh.
The Rangers discussed a three-way deal involving Minnesota and Florida that would have seen McDonagh end up with the Panthers, but in the end Tampa Bay won the bidding war by sending center Vladislav Namestnikov, two prospects and a pair of draft picks to New York.
Friedman also indicated during a Friday morning appearance on FAN 590 that the Leafs were looking to acquire a first round pick before 3pm Monday and guessed that Toronto may have been for a quiet pursuer for Norris Trophy winner Erik Karlsson.
If that guess is correct, the most likely player that GM Lou Lamoriello could have been shopping to bring back a first round pick that would not have touched Toronto’s core group would have been winger James van Riemsdyk.
Were the #Leafs quietly pursuing Erik Karlsson at the #NHLTrade Deadline? pic.twitter.com/jmJI0EJ4CY
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) March 2, 2018
With the Leafs striking out on acquiring McDonagh, adding a top four defenseman will be at the top of their summer shopping list and with Karlsson having a tenuous future in Ottawa, it may be something that Lamoriello and Pierre Dorion will revisit in June or July.
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