The Toronto Maple Leafs have recalled Trevor Moore on an emergency basis.
Many of us are very happy about this, as I wrote in my last piece because Trevor Moore is a great player to have in our bottom six. It’s unfortunate that it comes at the cost of an injury to Andreas Johnsson, but it is what it is.
Johnsson may only miss one game as we are off until February 2nd after tonight’s game.
When Moore was sent back to the American league after his brief stint in the big leagues. Babcock said he was going to be an NHLer, but do you really want him playing 8 minutes?
Mike Babcock on Trevor Moore: "He's going to be an NHLer for sure. It's just how soon do you want him to play eight minutes? You know what I mean? That's the beauty of not getting kids here too soon. When we get healthy, he can go down and score a lot and be a scorer."
— Kristen Shilton (@kristen_shilton) January 6, 2019
There is a lot of merit to this point, and I think that’s why he should take advantage of using him in 3rd line minutes while he can. Babcock is known to juggle lines to provide a spark, but this season it has been only the right side providing any kind of spark at all outside of the top 6. I think both Kadri and Moore, as well as Nylander on the right side could benefit from having Moore’s energy on the line.
Last season, when Soshnikov went down, Kapanen took advantage and remained with the Leafs the rest of the season. Perhaps if Moore does well enough, it would force Babcock to scratch someone like Lindholm. It worked last season when Babcock had to accept that Johnsson was going to benefit the team more on the fourth line, than Matt Martin, God bless his soul.
Moore brings a scoring touch that appears to be greater than that of Connor Brown at the very least. That aside, he also brings that “compete level” and intensity that you just love to see from a kid trying to make the team.
He will be a fan favourite when he is a regular on this team, no doubt in my mind.
In fact, I would not be surprised at all to see Trevor Moore see time on Matthews, Tavares, or Kadri’s wing tonight. Last season we went into the bye week on a roll and came out of it slumping. Maybe this season we go into the bye week on a slump and come out on a roll.
I want to see this kid succeed so badly, and I know he can, will we see him ignite a line on fire tonight? We’ll see, should be an exciting game against the Capitals, the team where we first saw Kapanen show his ability to be effective in clutch situations. This may be a bit of hot take but I think Moore will surpass Johnsson’s abilities.
What do you guys think?