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The Toronto Maple Leafs continue their four-game Western road swing against the Pacific Division-leading Vancouver Canucks on Saturday in an all-Canadian matchup on Hockey Day In Canada. The Leafs snapped their four-game losing skid with a 4-3 win over the Calgary Flames on Thursday, mostly due to a four-point effort by Auston Matthews.
It should be an entertaining contest based on the previous meeting between the two clubs in November (a 5-2 Leafs win at Scotiabank Arena), a fight-filled contest where Mark Giordano and Max Domi dropped the gloves in defense of teammates after heavy hits from Dakota Joshua and Ian Cole. Martin Jones is expected to get the start for Toronto against All-Star Thatcher Demko in the first of back-to-back weekend games.
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Some interesting chatter regarding the Leafs from Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman on the most recent ‘32 Thoughts’ podcast, who said that the Leafs had investigated the goaltender market last month when Joseph Woll went down to a high-ankle sprain and that the prices for a stopgap option went well beyond the mid-round pick they were willing to shop.
Friedman indicated that after getting both Auston Matthews and William Nylander locked up long-term, that GM Brad Treliving is thinking bigger picture and not about short-term fixes and that the organizational philosophy may have shifted from win-now to win-soon.
It has been apparent for more than a few seasons that the Leafs have too many holes and shortcomings in certain areas to be considered a Stanley Cup contender. The decision to keep Nylander means that Treliving will have to find other ways of upgrading on defense and having enough depth up front to support the core four group. Otherwise, Toronto will continue to spin their wheels and be a competitive regular-season club with flaws that will not allow them to achieve postseason success.
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