Morgan Rielly gave Toronto Maple Leafs fans a scare today as he was absent for practice, but it shouldn’t be too concerning. Head coach Mike Babcock told reporters including David Alter of The Athletic afterwards that Rielly will be skating tomorrow and that it was just a maintenance day coming off injury. Rielly missed a few games for the Leafs with a knee injury recently, and looked a bit tentative in last night’s win against the Boston Bruins. The Maple Leafs will need him if they’re to make it back to the playoffs for the first time since the lockout-shortened season.
- Alexey Marchenko hit the ice for the first time with his new team today, skating as the extra defenseman at practice. While Mike Babcock admitted to Alter that Marchenko won’t play Monday versus the New York Islanders, the coach will be getting him into the lineup sooner or later. We looked at what the acquisition of Marchenko means for Roman Polak and the other right-handed defenseman yesterday, but it doesn’t look like it will happen right away in Toronto. Polak remained firmly in the third pairing role alongside Matt Hunwick, who will likely figure back into the lineup after Martin Marincin took three minor penalties against Boston.
- Frank Corrado has indeed been sent to the minors where he will assume big minutes on the Toronto Marlies. With Rinat Valiev out with a lower-body injury, expect Corrado to join the top pairing and have something of a showcase as we get closer to the trade deadline.
- In winning the see-saw battle last night against the Bruins, and with it slaying any lingering demons from the Maple Leafs collapse in game 7 of their last playoff appearance, Amalie Benjamin of NHL.com considers this group well ahead of schedule. In her latest column, she writes that the team is maturing much faster than was expected and should be considered a completely different entity than the lackluster teams of the last decade (or longer, depending on who you ask).