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The Toronto Maple Leafs for the second year in a row has rebounded from a sluggish October with a red-hot November to put them back near the top of the Eastern Conference. In consecutive years, Toronto posted a .500 record in the opening month (4-4-1 in 2021, 4-4-2 in 2022). Last season the Leafs went 12-2-0 in November and led the NHL with 33 points (16-6-1 record), and last month the club went 11-1-3, and is only three points behind Boston in the Presidents' Trophy race.
What makes Toronto’s accomplishment more astonishing is that they have done it without one of both of their goaltending tandem -- with Matt Murray and Ilya Samsonov spending multiple weeks on the injured list -- and the last five games without their top three blueliners in Morgan Rielly, TJ Brodie, and Jake Muzzin.
The Leafs went 4-2-1 in a December schedule abbreviated by COVID shutdowns and will have to maintain a good pace without Rielly and Brodie to stay within shouting distance of the Bruins and ahead of the pack in the Atlantic. More unwelcome injury news popped up in the 3-1 win over San Jose on Wednesday, as forward Calle Jarnkrok suffered a groin injury and did not return.
Head coach Sheldon Keefe indicated after the game that Jarnkrok would miss some time, but would have to wait for an MRI to determine the extent of the injury. One player’s misfortune is another player’s opportunity, and Nick Robertson in his first game in a week jumped up from the fourth line to take Jarnkrok’s spot.
Robertson remained alongside John Tavares and Mitch Marner at practice on Friday before leaving for Saturday’s outing in Tampa. Wayne Simmonds replaced Robertson on the fourth line with Zach Aston-Reese and Pontus Holmberg, while David Kampf moved up to the third line with Alex Kerfoot and Pierre Engvall.
Keefe has appeared hesitant to give Robertson top-six opportunity because of some defensive shortcomings, but the 21-year-old appears to be the best option to slot in a scoring role with Kerfoot struggling to score (goalless in 20 games). The youngster’s older brother Jason had a hat trick in a win over Anaheim and leads the league with 22 goals, and perhaps he will have some hunting luck playing with one of the league’s best playmaking combos and will provide some secondary scoring.
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Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported in his recent 32 Thoughts column that the Leafs excellent November has taken the pressure off of GM Kyle Dubas having to react preemptively to add defensive help. With the cap room opened up because Muzzin being placed on LTIR, Dubas has room to make one impact move and that is likely for a blueliner.
There have been some that believe that Toronto should add help up front since the club has struggled to score in the postseason, but Friedman indicated that the Leafs may be showing prospect Matthew Knies that there’s a path to an NHL spot after his sophomore season at Minnesota is over with
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