The Toronto Maple Leafs have officially activated Mitch Marner from long-term injured reserve, sending Martin Marincin and Nic Petan to the minor leagues in the process. Marner has been out for several weeks with a high-ankle sprain but is expected to be back in the lineup tonight against the Colorado Avalanche. The team has also activated Mason Marchment from season-opening injured reserve and sent him to the AHL.
Marner has yet to play a game for new head coach Sheldon Keefe, but he’ll get the chance to try out the Maple Leafs’ new puck possession system tonight as the team tries to right the ship. Coming off a 6-1 pounding at the hands of the Philadelphia Flyers, Toronto now sits 13-12-4 on the season and in a very precarious position.
Because of the huge cap number that the young forward brings, Trevor Moore has likely been moved to long-term injured reserve to clear a bit more and keep the Maple Leafs at 21 players for the time being. When he returns, the team will have to send another forward down to the minor leagues or make a trade of some sort.
Even with that kind of cap pressure, Marner’s return will be a huge boost to the group. After scoring 94 points last season to lead the club, he was off to another strong start with 18 in his first 18 games. While he’ll be back beside John Tavares tonight, it appears as though Ilya Mikheyev has taken the place of Zach Hyman on the left side despite that trio’s strong work last season.
So the leafs are going with the 20 man roster today then that’s exciting
21… Jason Spezza will be a healthy scratch tonight
This team is done, finished. I have seen enough. People in Toronto paying north of $100 American for standing room only to watch a steaming pile of pig shit.
This was their last chance. After last night, we get the same damn narrative; “we let Andersen out to dry”, “we quit, we folded, its unacceptable.” Then come out and play like shit on home ice. Colorado is a terrific team who played a lousy game. If they had their game together this one would have easily been 6-1 or worse.
Auston Matthews looked like he was drunk out there. Morgan Rielly has got to be one of the worst top pairing defenseman in the history of the NHL. What a horrible, amateur like play between him and Jason Spezza leading to a stupid gift breakaway goal on a power play. Tough to blame Andersen but not sure why he wasn’t out challenging Nichushkin on that break. Giving a guy an extra few strides and plenty of time and space to choose to shoot at. And Nichushkin is a guy who has scored maybe 2 goals in his last 100 games or so. Of course they are both against the Leafs and one being a gift shorthanded.
The defense as everyone knows is weak. Muzzin is a guy that the team no longer needs. Not sure if he can even play at the NHL level anymore. The passing was horrific. Maybe they are all suffering from color blindness? Most of their passes went directly to Avalanche sticks or skates. As poorly as Colorado played tonight, Toronto was actually worse and after all the story lines going into this one, Andersen demanding to play back to back games and for the team to regroup together this is the kind of effort and level of play we have to endure.
Enough is enough! Kyle Dubas is now on the hot seat. If he still thinks this team can compete and win with this kind of puke hockey, soft and weak physically and mentally then he is not the right man for the job either. They can change coaches as many times as they want to, but Jesus Christ himself couldn’t change things around with this team. It is time to start working on which guys to keep around and build around and which guys to get rid of, trade and retool. Even Matthews should be on the trading block. Last night and tonight he looks like he’s on something. I hope he is hurt, because his game has never been this god awful. Team needs a major shakeup roster wise. Might as well start figuring that out now.
Wouldn’t be a bad idea to see what they can get for Freddy Andersen. At age 29 and one year away from UFA status, I think the current team has failed and begin to start over with the next generation of goalies in Joseph Woll and Ian Scott.
White Flag time…time to go to work Dubas/Shanahan.
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