The Toronto Maple Leafs will look to bounce back from their worst defeat of the season as they take on the Philadelphia Flyers at Air Canada Center on Friday.
Mike Babcock worked his young club hard at their practice facility in Etobicoke, ON on Thursday, but the Leafs head coach does not appear ready to juggle his lineup after a bad performance following a three-game winning streak.
According to the Toronto Sun’s Terry Koshan, the line combinations (Hyman-Matthews-Nylander, JVR-Bozak-Marner, Komarov-Kadri-Brown; Martin-Smith-Soshnikov and Holland, Griffith as extras) remain the same, as well as the defensive pairings (Rielly-Zaitsev, Marincin-Carrick, Gardiner-Polak and extras Corrado and Hunwick) and Frederik Andersen is expected to get the start on Friday.
Toronto travels to Pittsburgh for the second of back-to-back games against Metropolitan Division foes, and it is likely that Jhonas Enroth will go in goal against the Stanley Cup Champions.
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With youngsters Andrew Nielsen and Travis Dermott at least a year away from getting a look at making the NHL and early signs indicating that the Leafs blueline will be an area to upgrade for the club to become competitive, GM Lou Lamoriello is likely reading the landscape of the NHL in search of teams that have depth on defense and a need of offensively help.
The Leafs have depth up front and any deal for blueline help would likely encompass moving a veteran such as James van Riemsdyk or Nazem Kadri, a prospect like Kasperi Kapanen and/or draft picks (depending on what other clubs are looking for) or using some of the flexibility they have to place players on LTIR to take on a contract that another team is looking to clear out.
The Anaheim Ducks got their contractual house in order, locking up defenseman Sami Vatanen over the summer and signing Hampus Lindholm to a long-term extension after a brief holdout, but the Ducks are a budget team who may be looking to move veteran Cam Fowler for cap relief either at the deadline or in the summer with a year left on his deal.
The New York Islanders let veterans Kyle Okposo and Frans Nielsen walk in free agency, signed Andrew Ladd to play with John Tavares and kept rookies Anthony Beauvillier and Mathew Barzal. One month into the season, Ladd and Beauvillier have one goal, Barzal has been sent back to Seattle of the WHL and Tavares has no top end linemate.
Isles GM Garth Snow has to keep Tavares happy (a UFA in 2018) and find a scoring outlet, and has three solid veteran blueliners in Johnny Boychuk, Nick Leddy and Travis Hamonic, along with youngster Ryan Pulock.
The Columbus Blue Jackets are hoping to convert winger Pierre-Luc Dubois to center after dealing top line center Ryan Johansen to Nashville for defenseman Seth Jones last season, but currently have Brandon Dubinsky and Alexander Wennberg as their top two up the middle.
The Jackets appear to have hit a home run with 2015 top pick Zach Werenski and have Jones, David Savard, veteran Jack Johnson and Ryan Murray, which could give GM Jarmo Kekalainen some flexibility to move out a defenseman for more scoring.
The Philadelphia Flyers have a bevy of youth on defense, with Calder Trophy nominee Shayne Gostisbehere, 2015 top pick Ivan Provorov and first round picks Samuel Morin and Travis Sanheim.
Veterans Michael Del Zotto and Mark Streit have expiring contracts, which could mean that all four youngsters will be playing in the NHL next season, but the inexperience of Gostisbehere and Provorov on the blueline has contributed to their league-worst 51 goals against this season.
An upgrade on defense may have to wait until the off-season, but there is already enough evidence that players like Martin Marincin, Roman Polak and Matt Hunwick are not long-term answers on the blueline.
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