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Moore recalled, more Nylander chatter; Leafs vs. Kings

November 13, 2018, 4:08 PM ET [998 Comments]
Mike Augello
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The Toronto Maple Leafs start a three-game West Coast swing against the Los Angeles Kings at Staples Center on Tuesday, hoping to bounce back from their first road loss of the season. The trip has the club playing three games in four nights, moving up the coast to play in San Jose on Thursday and returning to Southern California to face former coach Randy Carlyle and the Anaheim Ducks on Friday.

Toronto has traditionally not fared well in the Golden State, going 2-9-1 in the last four seasons, but the Kings are currently last in the NHL with 11 points, while the Sharks and Ducks are in the middle of the pack in the Pacific Division.

The Leafs had only 12 forwards on the active roster after sending winger Trevor Moore down to the AHL on Thursday, but being far away from their home base, the club recalled the winger on Tuesday.

Moore scored his ninth goal of the season in the Marlies 8-2 victory over Belleville on Saturday and leads the club with 12 points in 12 games. Head coach Mike Babcock indicated after the optional morning skate in Los Angeles that the 23-year-old (a native of Thousand Oaks, CA) will not make his NHL debut on Tuesday because they want to stick with the same lineup that had won three games in a row prior to a 5-1 loss to the Bruins on Saturday.

The only lineup change as per Paul Hendrick will be Martin Marincin coming out in favor of Igor Ozhiganov and the return of Frederik Andersen for Garret Sparks, who was subpar in his third start of the season.



With both Jonathan Quick and Jack Campbell, former Notre Dame goalie and Buffalo Sabres draft pick Cal Petersen was recalled from Ontario (AHL) earlier this week, but veteran Peter Budaj is expected to make the start for the Kings.

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The speculation regarding the final outcome of the William Nylander saga will be at a fever pitch over the next few weeks. One team that has been mentioned as a potential dark horse in the trade talk for the restricted free agent winger is Anaheim, with a group of talented blueliners, an aging core group of forwards and near the bottom of the NHL in goals.

The Sun’s Terry Koshan indicated that a popular name being mentioned amongst agents, scouts and league GM’s at a Canada – Russia junior exhibition game in Oshawa on Monday was Ducks defenseman Brandon Montour.

Montour, 24, is a right-hand shot and scored 32 points as a rookie last season and signed a two-year, $6.775 Million bridge deal last July. The Ducks have Cam Fowler, Hampus Lindholm and Josh Manson all signed to long term deals and youngsters Jacob Larsson and Marcus Pettersson pushing for playing time, so he would be an attractive piece of a package to acquire Nylander.

Carolina and Philadelphia are also options in a potential trade. Leafs GM Kyle Dubas has not closed the door to signing the 22-year-old to a short-or-long term deal, but that would likely require some compromise on the part of the Nylander camp; something that has not happened at this point.


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