Toronto Maple Leafs: Opportunity To Scout Boone Jenner

The Toronto Maple Leafs host Boone Jenner and the Columbus Blue Jackets tonight at 7:00 pm EST at the Air Canada Centre.

The last time these two teams faced each other was in early January and Blue Jackets’ forward, Artemi Panarin silenced the Air Canada Centre with his game winning goal in overtime. This time around, Auston Matthews and the Toronto Maple Leafs will be looking for redemption.

Since these teams last faced each other, the Blue Jackets have a had a few rough nights and now find themselves out of a playoff spot. Yes, the Blue Jackets are coming off back to back wins, however, as long as the Carolina Hurricanes keep winning their fate will be sealed.

If they are still out of the playoffs come February 26th, the Blue Jackets’ front office will likely flip some assets.

Recently, TSN released their Trade Bait List and centreman, Boone Jenner was listed on it. Jenner could be a fit in Toronto, as Lou Lamoriello and Mike Babcock have failed to identify a permanent fourth line centre. Perhaps, Lamoriello and his scouts will study Jenner’s play tonight in Toronto to see if he’d be a good fit.

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Boone Jenner

Jenner, a Dorchester, Ontario native played his junior hockey with the OHL’s Oshawa Generals. During his time in Oshawa, Jenner showed off his physical skill-set as he spent quite a bit of time in the penalty box. Even though Jenner rallied up penalty minutes, he was still an offensive machine with the Generals. In four seasons with the Generals, Jenner totaled 111 goals and 135 assists. His play with the Generals made NHL scouts think they he could be another David Backes.

Unfortunately for Jenner, he’s been rather consistent since joining the Blue Jackets full-time in 2013. In his 2015-16 season, Jenner had a career high in goals with 30, but since his offensive skill-set has slowed down. This season, Jenner hasn’t looked as dominant. Currently, Jenner has 5 goals and 10 assists in 49 games.

Jenner will be an RFA on July 1st and the Blue Jackets are rumored to be shopping him prior to the deadline.

Toronto Maple Leafs Updates

Yesterday, Kristen Shilton of TSN tweeted the Toronto Maple Leafs lines from practice. It appears that Babcock hasn’t made any changes.

The one item to note is that Connor Carrick is in Babcock’s doghouse. It seems that Roman Polak will play alongside Travis Dermott for a second consecutive game against Columbus.

Honestly, Polak shouldn’t be in the lineup for Toronto. Currently, Polak posts a 35 oiGA and a 555 corsi against in 35 contests. In the same amount of contests, Carrick posts a 20 oiGA and a 471 corsi against.

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After comparing their statistics, it doesn’t make any sense why Polak is in the lineup. Unfortunately, I’m not Babcock.

Let’s see how the Toronto Maple Leafs holds up against Columbus.

stats from hockey-reference.com