UPDATE - The Leafs have recalled winger Troy Bodie from the Toronto Marlies of the AHL and placed center Peter Holland on injured reserve. Holland was injured in the 4-3 shootout victory against Boston on December 31 and is out "week-to-week" with an upper body injury.
The 29-year-old Bodie has five goals and two assists in 32 games for the Leafs AHL affiliate this season and could replace Carter Ashton on the fourth line. Bodie was an effective depth player with Toronto in 2013-14(10 points in 47 games) and the 6'5" 226 lb winger would provide some much needed size and energy.
Ashton was -2 in less than eight minutes ice time in the 5-1 loss to Winnipeg on Saturday.
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A weary, injury-depleted Maple Leafs did not put up much of a fight at the MTS Center in downtown Winnipeg, as Dustin Byfuglien scored a goal and an assist in the Jets 5-1 victory on Saturday. The game marked the end of Toronto’s season-long seven-game road trip, in which they went 2-5-0 and lost the services of forwards Joffrey Lupul, Nazem Kadri and Peter Holland.
After a 3-1 loss to Minnesota on Friday in which top forwards Phil Kessel, Tyler Bozak and James van Riemsdyk all played over 23 minutes, the Leafs did not appear to have anything left in the tank to combat the well-rested but equally injury riddled Jets, who were without their top four defensemen and forward Evander Kane.
Byfuglien was a central figure in the Leafs loss, as the big forward/defenseman laid out forwards Richard Panik and David Clarkson at the end of the first period, assisted on TJ Galiardi’s tying goal early in the second and tallied his ninth goal of the season midway through the middle frame.
“We didn’t seem to have much energy and they were much more energetic than we were.… Leafs coach Randy Carlyle said following the game. “They pressed us all night, we turned the puck over and I would say that they definitely out-skated our hockey club tonight and that’s one thing that this group of ours, we believe we can skate, but we didn’t skate tonight that’s for sure.…
After a scoreless first, the Leafs took a 1-0 lead as Mike Santorelli batted in a pass from van Riemsdyk past Winnipeg goalie Michael Hutchinson. The Jets tied the contest just 70 seconds later, as Byfuglien outmuscled Leafs forward Carter Ashton along the boards and fed Galiardi in front of goalie James Reimer and took the lead for good two and a half minutes later, as Matt Halischuk deflected a point shot after hemming the Leafs in the defensive zone.
After Byfuglien extended the lead to 3-1, Toronto did not appear to have much fight left in the second half of the game. Winnipeg proceeded to extend the lead early in the third on the power play, as Bryan Little scored with Korbinian Holzer serving a double minor for a hit on Jets forward Mark Scheifele. Rookie defenseman Ben Chiarot rounded out the scoring with his first NHL goal on a point blast that picked the corner past Reimer, who faced 40 shots in his fourth loss in a row.
GIF: Carlyle not impressed by Maple Leafs' effort against Jets http://t.co/VH4Or19YXE pic.twitter.com/DxbRcNsRyD
— theScore NHL (@theScoreNHL) January 4, 2015With the absence of two centers and the loss of a top-six winger in Lupul, the Leafs shifted their forwards around to find combos that could generate some secondary offense. Leo Komarov was inserted with Bozak and Kessel, van Riemsdyk moved to a makeshift second line with Trevor Smith and Mike Santorelli, Daniel Winnik played up the middle with Clarkson and Panik and the fourth line of Ashton, Greg McKegg and David Booth saw more ice time, but the combinations did not work.
Komarov had his worst game of the season playing on the top line according to Carlyle and the fourth line was responsible for two Winnipeg goals in the second period.
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The Leafs have squandered any positive progress from the 10-1-1 stretch of late November – early December, as they now have gone 2-7-0 since the end of their six-game winning streak on December 18 and hold a precarious two-point lead on Boston and Florida for the last wild card spot in the Eastern Conference.
The month of January will further test the Leafs resolve, as following a pair of home games against Washington and Columbus this week, they take to the road for seven of the next nine games, including the tough California trio(Los Angeles, Anaheim and San Jose) and a match in Missouri against the Blues.
There continues to be speculation that Leafs GM Dave Nonis is looking to make a trade of some significance and that could be hastened by the recent string of injuries, but according to the Ottawa Sun’s Bruce Garrioch, the player that Toronto was likely shopping is one of the injured.
Nonis has been working the phones in an attempt to gauge interest in Joffrey Lupul, but the lower body injury in Boston last week likely squelched any serious discussion. Lupul is expected to miss a month, which will give him plenty of time to build interest prior to the March trade deadline, but the Leafs winger’s fragility and $5.25 million cap hit through 2017-18 are expected to be impediments in getting any significant return in a deal.
If the Leafs continue in their current direction as the deadline approaches, Nonis may be in a position to shop players whose contracts are up at the end of the season, like unrestricted free agents, Cody Franson, David Booth, Mike Santorelli and Daniel Winnik and possibly restricted free agent Nazem Kadri.
The dismissal of Carlyle is also possible, but it is unlikely that the Leafs would be able to change their continuing defensive problems by switching to Peter Horachek on an interim basis. The likelihood of Brendan Shanahan bringing in a new full-time head coach with Mike Babcock possibly being available next summer is extremely low.
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