The Toronto Maple Leafs will play a rematch tomorrow against Pittsburgh, and possibly with Matt Murray in net.
Murray is likely due back this week, while Ilya Samsonov is skating, never went on the LTIR, and could be back for the Toronto Maple Leafs any time.
Once Murray is back the team will not have any cap issues because Jake Muzzin is still injured.
T.J Brodie missed Saturday’s game and now appears to be missing some time.
Jordie Been had quite the debut, but is 35 and not someone the Leafs will ideally play very often.
Toronto Maple Leafs Current Status
The Leafs are 8-5-3 which is not too bad. They have won nearly .600 % of their points and sit second in the Atlantic, behind Boston who hare 14-2-0.
The Leafs played a difficult five-game Western Road trip, they then came home to run the gauntlet of Boston-Carolina-Vegas-Pittsburgh.
They haven’t had very much luck in terms of results, but they’ve ground out a decent record and should be very happy with how those four games against top teams went.
Roster updates:
— Leafs PR (@LeafsPR) November 14, 2022
D Jake Muzzin is out indefinitely due to a cervical spine injury. His status will be re-evaluated in late February.
D TJ Brodie has been placed on injured reserve (oblique injury).
D Mac Hollowell and F Pontus Holmberg have been recalled from @TorontoMarlies.
The Jake Muzzin news is no surprise, as its been pretty obvious he wasn’t going to be coming back any time soon.
The Brodie injury is much more concerning, as Brodie is an underrated, steadying force who makes everyone on the team better, and who consistently puts up top-shelf results.
Brodie is the most important player the Leafs have seen injured so far this year, but at least he isn’t going to the LTIR which suggests its not that serious.
Pontus Holmberg seemed OK in the one game he played so far, and with Alex Steeves, Joey Anderson and Adam Gaudette all available, the Toronto Maple Leafs clearly have a lot of depth from which to choose, and it speaks well of him that he’s the first choice for being called up.
Holmberg is a sixth round pick from 2018, the first draft after Mark Hunter and Lou Lamoriello left, and the first draft in which Kyle Dubas was the GM.
Philip Kral, who played two games earlier this season, and Mac Hollowell were also picked in 2018, which is fast becoming a great draft for the Leafs.
Their first pick that year was Rasmus Sandin, who is flourishing in the NHL and looks like a future star. Their second pick, Sean Durzi, was traded to LA for Jake Muzzin, a trade it would be impossible to complain about after all that Muzzin accomplished here.
When Hollowell gets into a game, it will be five of their nine selections (teams get seven to start with) who have played in the NHL so far.
While most of the Kyle Dubas era draft picks have been low *(and include just two first rounders) the Toronto Maple Leafs have quite an impressive prospect system at the moment. Though there are no blue-chip superstars, the Leafs have a ton of probably NHLers, and most of them have decent upside.
Eventually, Kyle Dubas is going to be well known for the excellent drafting he did during the early years of his tenure as the general manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs.