The Toronto Maple Leafs and the Toronto Marlies have a busy week ahead of them. Both teams have a compact schedule with plenty of player movement as well.
The Marlies will see their season start on February 15th. They will play four games in five nights against the Manitoba Moose. As for the Toronto Maple Leafs, they will host the Ottawa Senators for three games in four nights.
Now that the Marlies will be starting their season as part of the AHL Canadian Divsion, they have signed five OHL players to tryouts. The Maple Leafs have also loaned three players to the Marlies so that they will receive proper playing time.
Here is a look at everything going on with both teams starting on February 15th.
Toronto Maple Leafs Loan Three to Marlies
On the morning of Saturday, February 13th, Leafs PR announced that the Maple Leafs have loaned Forwards Nick Robertson and Adam Brooks along with defenseman Rasmus Sandin to the Marlies.
To go along with this move, the Toronto Maple Leafs have also called up forward Scott Sabourin and defenseman Martin Marincin to the taxi squad.
Defenceman Martin Marincin and forward Scott Sabourin have been reassigned to the Maple Leafs taxi squad.
— Leafs PR (@LeafsPR) February 13, 2021
Forward Adam Brooks, forward Nick Robertson and defenceman Rasmus Sandin have been loaned to the @TorontoMarlies.
This is the best move for all three of these players. With the Marlies they will get a ton of playing time which is much better than just sitting on the Leafs taxi squad.
Toronto Maple Leafs Have Help On The Way
After missing ten games with a rib fracture, Joe Thornton will be back in the Leafs lineup on Monday night against the Senators.
On Sunday he practiced on a line with Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner which suggest he will be back on the top line. This means Zach Hyman will be bumped down to either the second line or third line.
That is a shame as Hyman did a fantastic job playing on the top line in Thornton’s absence. Having Thornton back on the top line proves that head coach Sheldon Keefe is sticking to the original plan the team had at the beginning of the season. You can hardly blame him, as the line put up completely ridiculous numbers.
Toronto Marlies Sign Five OHL Players To Amateur Tryouts
As the Marlies get set to start their season Monday night, the team has signed five OHL players to amateur tryouts. Those five players are Kai Edmonds, James Hardie, Zack Trott, Cole MacKay and Keegan Stevenson.
If any of these players do get signed it could be a short lived. The OHL is currently trying to negotiate with the Ontario government to get an OHL season started. The OHL is even willing to play it’s season inside a bubble.
The Ontario government first gave the Toronto Maple Leafs and Ottawa Senators permission to play home games in Ontario. Then they most recently gave the Toronto Marlies and Belleville Senators permission to play home games in the province.
If the OHL season is given the green light, then these five players will return to their OHL teams. For the Marlies it could work out well for them in the meantime to have these five playing for them.
This week should be an interesting and exciting week for both the Toronto Maple Leafs and Toronto Marlies. The Leafs will be looking to stay in top spot of the North Division and create more space between themselves and the rest of the division. Hopefully having Thornton back will help.
The Marlies will be excited to finally get their season started. It will be fun to see how they use top Leafs prospects Sandin and Robertson. It will also be interesting to see how they use the five OHL players on tryouts.