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Toronto Maple Leafs Recall Fourteen Black Aces

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Now that the AHL’s Toronto Marlies season has ended at the hands of the Cleveland Monsters, the Toronto Maple Leafs were able to recall several players for their playoff run. As announced by the team, the recalled players are as follows:

F Nicholas Abruzzese
D Matt Benning
G Dennis Hildeby
F Roni Hirvonen
F Reese Johnson
D Mikko Kokkonen
G Matt Murray
F Alexander Nylander
D Topi Niemelä
F Jacob Quillan
D Marshall Rifai
F Alex Steeves
D William Villeneuve
D Cade Webber

There will certainly be a concrete pecking order should the Maple Leafs fall into any injury trouble during their postseason run. Steeves, Nylander, and Abruzzese should get the call for forwards, while Villeneuve and Murray will lead their respective positions.

Steeves recently recorded the first point-per-game season of his career. Leading all Marlies players, Steeves scored 36 goals and 62 points in 59 contests.

Meanwhile, Villeneuve set the scoring pace from the blue line. In an increase of magnitude from his previous two years with the club, Villeneuve recorded four goals and 40 points in 55 games with a +12 rating.

Hopefully, for Toronto’s sake, they won’t need any of the 14 call-ups to play, especially as they look to close out the Ottawa Senators this evening. Still, considering the numerous injuries they dealt with during the regular season, the Maple Leafs could rely on one or a few of these players to make their mark on the 2025 postseason.

Maple Leafs Reassign Matt Benning

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Nov. 12: Benning cleared waivers, per Friedman. The Maple Leafs will likely continue to explore trade options, which may be easier now that an acquiring team could send him to the minors without risking losing him on the wire. He’s been assigned to the AHL’s Toronto Marlies to give him a chance to play in the meantime.

Nov. 11: The Maple Leafs have placed newly-acquired defenseman Matt Benning on waivers, Chris Johnston of The Athletic and TSN reports.

Toronto acquired Benning, 30, from the Sharks with a pair of draft picks in exchange for Timothy Liljegren nearly two weeks ago. It was immediately apparent the veteran was included for roster/salary cap purposes and that he wasn’t expected to stick around with the Leafs. Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet quickly reported that they were looking to move the blue-liner, while James Mirtle of The Athletic suggested last week that Toronto would waive Benning in short order if they couldn’t find a trade partner.

The Leafs and Benning will now hope that another team takes a flyer on him for no acquisition cost over the next 24 hours. He has one season after this remaining on the four-year, $5MM contract he signed with San Jose as a free agent in 2022. He carries a $1.25MM cap hit and will cost $100K against the cap for the Maple Leafs if he clears waivers and is assigned to AHL Toronto.

Benning, an Edmonton native, has not played for the Maple Leafs since the trade and has been a healthy scratch in six straight games. Before the trade, he went without a point and had a -5 rating in seven games for the Sharks while averaging a career-low 13:02 per contest. He had issues staying in the lineup with San Jose, too, going four straight games as a healthy scratch in late October.

In fact, Benning has made just 21 appearances since the beginning of last season. He missed the last four-plus months of 2023-24 after undergoing hip surgery in December.

The 6’1″ right-shot defender was a sixth-round pick by the Bruins in 2012, although he never signed with them and instead began his NHL career with his hometown Oilers after signing there as a free agent in 2016. In 464 NHL games in nine seasons, Benning has 17 goals, 85 assists and 102 points while averaging 16:37 per game.

East Notes: Frederic, Ristolainen, Benning

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In an unsurprising but notable report, ESPN’s Kevin Weekes shares that Boston Bruins forward Trent Frederic should have plenty of interest in his services once he becomes an unrestricted free agent on July 1st, 2025. Frederic has developed into a prototypical Bruins forward, combining physicality and toughness with a knack for goal-scoring.

Frederic plays a similar style to Washington Capitals forward Tom Wilson although he hasn’t racked up nearly the number of PIMs as the veteran. From 2022-24, Frederic scored 35 goals and 71 points in 161 games for the Bruins while also collecting 309 hits. He has more experience down the middle which should give him some extra value but his career 44.4% success rate in the dot leaves a lot to be desired.

Outside of his solid offensive output as a middle-six center, Frederic can also be trusted in the defensive zone. He averaged 57.4% of his zone starts in the defensive zone during the 2023-24 regular season and still managed a 91.3% on-ice save percentage in all situations.

Aside from likely interest in free agency, Frederic could be an interesting trade chip throughout the 2024-25 regular season. Boston has gotten off to a disappointing 6-6-1 start to the regular season and Frederic could be valuable trade bait closer to the deadline should the trend continue.

Other notes from the Eastern Conference:

  • If the last four years were any indication, the Philadelphia Flyers are again expected to be a deadline seller evidenced by their 4-7-1 start to the regular season. One trade piece the organization has is defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen who will have two years and $10.2MM left on his contract after this year. Given the market over the last few seasons, Ristolainen’s size and physicality on the blue line could warrant a first-round draft pick according to Anthony Di Marco of Daily Faceoff. Di Marco may be correct in his thinking regarding size and physicality but a first-round pick for an edge top-four defenseman still appears bullish at face value.
  • Another piece already publicly on the trade block is Toronto Maple Leafs’ defenseman Matt Benning. The organization may have difficulty shedding the two years and $2.5MM left on Benning’s current four-year contract but they likely have a contingency plan. In an article from James Mirtle of The Athletic (Subscription Article), he shares that Toronto is likely to place Benning on waivers should they not find a suitable trade. It stands to reason the Maple Leafs are more willing to lose Benning over Conor Timmins once they ultimately activate Jani Hakanpää from the injured reserve.

Maple Leafs Looking To Move Matt Benning

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Earlier this week, the Maple Leafs acquired veteran blueliner Matt Benning as part of the return in the trade that saw blueliner Timothy Liljegren move to San Jose.  However, it doesn’t appear as if he’s in Toronto’s plans.  Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports (video link) that teams around the league know that Benning is available as the Maple Leafs look to “do right” by the defender.

Essentially, Benning was picked up in the swap as a salary offset more than a piece that they were looking to add from a depth perspective.  He is signed through next season at a $1.25MM AAV.

The 30-year-old has played in seven games this season, all coming prior to the swap.  He had a limited role in those outings, averaging just 13:02 per game.  While that ATOI is a career low, the role he had with the Sharks largely lines up with his usage over his nine-year NHL career, spanning 464 games.

Right now, Toronto can get away with carrying Benning along with Philippe Myers as extra blueliners on their 23-man roster.  They’re also cap-compliant with them on there thanks to a rather sizable LTIR pool.

However, that LTIR pool should be shrinking rather soon.  Connor Dewar and Jani Hakanpaa are both on a conditioning assignment with AHL Toronto and if there aren’t any issues, they will be getting activated in the near future.  Accordingly, the Maple Leafs will have to shed a bit of money to remain compliant on the cap and also open up two roster spots for them.

Speculatively, those two spots will be opened up by clearing Benning and Myers off the roster, moves that would also keep them compliant within their LTIR pool.  With that in mind, if Toronto is going to find another NHL home for Benning, they’ll need to do so sooner than later.  Otherwise, he (and likely Myers) could find themselves on the waiver wire in the near future.  But with other teams knowing the crunch in terms of timeline to get this done, any return the Maple Leafs might get will probably be very limited overall.

Snapshots: Oilers, Trikozov, Connor, Montgomery

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Heading into Sunday’s action, the Oilers find themselves around the middle of the pack in terms of goals allowed.  They’re struggling considerably on the penalty kill, checking in with a success rate of just 62.5% while starting goaltender Stuart Skinner is off to a slow start.  Accordingly, some are wondering if the time is right for Edmonton to start shopping around for blueline help as teams by now are starting to get a better feel of what they have and what they need.

However, Kurt Leavins of the Edmonton Journal posits that the time isn’t right for the Oilers to be making a move like that.  While it’s clear their need is to upgrade on the back end, he suggests that they’d be best served by waiting until later in the year when they ideally would have more cap space to play with.  At the same time, more teams should be established as sellers which should give them more options to choose from compared to if they tried to make a trade now.

Other quick notes around the league:

  • Top Carolina Hurricanes prospect Gleb Trikozov had his KHL rights traded from Omsk to Spartak on Saturday, per Spartak’s Instagram page. Forward Matvei Zaseda was dealt the other way. This move means little as things stand, with Trikozov currently a member of the AHL’s Chicago Wolves. But he’s gone without any scoring through his first six AHL games – potentially enough of a spark to return him to a tremendously productive career in Russia. Trikozov recorded 31 points in 64 games in the VHL, Russia’s second-tier pro league, over the last two seasons – and arguably earned a hardier chance at KHL minutes. Spartak could stand to offer that increased role as they look to add the gut punch needed to get over SKA and Lokomotiv in the KHL’s Western Conference. For their part, the underachieving Omsk receives a seasoned pro in Zaseda – who’s totaled 36 points in 105 KHL games and 75 points in 120 VHL games at the age of 25.
  • Winnipeg Jets head coach Scott Arniel shared that star winger Kyle Connor is OK after getting pulled from Sunday’s game against Tampa Bay by concussion spotters, per Murat Ates of The Athletic. Connor took a hit from behind by Tampa’s Nikita Kucherov that pushed his head directly into Erik Cernak. He labored briefly but didn’t seem severely injured. That’s been confirmed now, and Connor will get to continue his role as the leading scorer (18 points in 11 games) on one of the NHL’s hottest teams.
  • Senators prospect Blake Montgomery has left USHL Lincoln and will instead join OHL London, Jeff Marek reports. Montgomery was a fourth-round pick back in June, going 117th overall.  He was off to a good start with Lincoln with ten points in his first ten games after putting up 43 points in 58 games last season.

Sharks Acquire Timothy Liljegren From Maple Leafs

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The San Jose Sharks have acquired defenseman Timothy Liljegren from the Toronto Maple Leafs in exchange for defenseman Matt Benning, a 2025 third-round and 2026 sixth-round draft pick. Toronto will get the better of the third-round picks that San Jose previously acquired from the Edmonton Oilers and Colorado Avalanche.

The move ends a tumultuous seven-year run for the 17th overall pick in the 2017 NHL Entry Draft. The Maple Leafs were patient with the 25-year-old, waiting for him to realize the potential that made him a first-round pick. Unfortunately for Toronto, that untapped potential never translated to results, as Liljegren could not crack Toronto’s top four on defense.

Liljegren was re-signed to a two-year $6MM contract back in late June, but despite the new contract, Liljegren quickly lost the trust of new head coach Craig Berube and general manager Brad Treliving. Liljegren has only dressed in one regular season game thus far and struggled mightily, as the Maple Leafs were out-chanced 21-2 while he was on the ice for 12 minutes of even-strength hockey.

Coming back the other way is 30-year-old depth defenseman Matt Benning. The Edmonton Alberta native is in the third year of a four-year $5MM contract, meaning that Toronto will realize a cap savings of $1.75MM in the transaction for this season and next. Benning is a useful defenseman who is just two years removed from his best offensive season as a pro (one goal and 23 assists in 77 games). While Benning will serve as valuable depth for Toronto, he is unlikely to see the kind of ice time he was seeing in San Jose and will most likely be Toronto’s eighth defenseman.

Pacific Notes: Doughty, Sharks Injuries, Flames Injuries

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There’s been plenty of fallout in Los Angeles after the announcement that Kings’ defenseman Drew Doughty would be out for a few months after undergoing surgery to repair his fractured ankle. Dennis Bernstein of The Fourth Period reported on plenty of it with the most important piece being that the Kings don’t have a timeline on Doughty’s return but it will not be a season-ending injury.

Los Angeles is going through a major change particularly on the right side of their defense with Doughty’s injury and defenseman Matt Roy leaving via unrestricted free agency to join the Washington Capitals. Bernstein shares that prospect Brandt Clarke is ’ready’ to take on a top-four role with the Kings this season but he will have to earn it according to head coach Jim Hiller.

Clarke only has 25 NHL games up to this point in his career and will now take a major step forward in his development to helping out a hopeful playoff contender on the blue line. He’s coming off an impressive season with Los Angeles’ AHL affiliate, the Ontario Reign, scoring 10 goals and 46 points in 50 contests during the 2023-24 AHL season.

Other Pacific notes:

  • The San Jose Sharks are dealing with a few minor injuries in training camp and their status is up in the air for the Sharks next preseason game against the Utah Hockey Club on Tuesday. Curtis Pashelka of Bay Area News Group reports William Eklund, Mikael Granlund, and Matt Benning are all listed as day-to-day with various ailments. There is no concern at this point that any of the three are questionable for opening night but it will be worth monitoring heading into next week.
  • Another team in the Pacific Division dealing with numerous minor injuries is the Calgary Flames. The team announced their injury designations earlier today with Jake Bean, Matthew Coronato, and Martin Pospisil all missing practice with lower-body injuries. Similarly to the Sharks, there shouldn’t be any long-term concerns for any of the players but their availability will be questionable tomorrow night as the Flames take on the Vancouver Canucks.

Sharks Notes: Askarov, Vanecek, Benning, Couture, Tryouts

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Earlier today, San Jose picked up what they hope will be their goalie of the future, acquiring Yaroslav Askarov from Nashville.  At the time of his trade request, the belief was that the netminder wasn’t interested in remaining in the AHL for the upcoming season.

However, GM Mike Grier indicated to reporters today including Curtis Pashelka of The Mercury News (Twitter link) that after speaking with the 22-year-old, they don’t have any concerns about potentially sending him to the AHL Barracuda if necessary.  Askarov, who also inked a two-year, $4MM extension today, has played in 92 games in the minors over the last two seasons, posting a 2.55 GAA and a .911 SV%.  If San Jose wants to avoid having him play extended time behind what’s expected to once again be a weak back end, it wouldn’t be surprising to see him spend at least a bit of time in the minors.

More notes from San Jose via Pashelka:

  • One of the reasons why Askarov might need to spend some time in the minors is that goaltender Vitek Vanecek is expected to be ready to take part in training camp next month. San Jose acquired the 28-year-old at the trade deadline but he missed the final two months of the season with a lower-body injury.  Vanecek and Mackenzie Blackwood are the returning veterans and with price tags of $3.4MM and $2.35MM respectively, it’s unlikely that there’s a trade market for either netminder at the moment.
  • Speaking of injured players expected to be ready for training camp, Grier indicated that defenseman Matt Benning should be good to go next month. The 30-year-old was limited to just 14 appearances last season due to a hip injury that he had surgery for back in January.  He should battle for a spot on the third pairing in training camp.
  • While Logan Couture has ramped up his training, Grier noted that the veteran has yet to start skating yet. He was originally expected to skate in August but the team has a plan for his continued progression towards a return.  Couture missed all but six games last season due to a groin issue known as osteitis pubis and clearly, he still has some work to do in order to be cleared for the upcoming season.
  • When asked about the possibility of dipping into the PTO market in the coming weeks, Grier stated that they “will have to see” on that front. San Jose has been busy over the offseason adding veteran depth to the roster so between that and several key prospects looking to make the jump to a full-time NHL spot, there might not be room to bring in someone on a tryout deal.

Matt Benning Undergoes Hip Surgery, Out For Season

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The San Jose Sharks have announced that defenseman Matt Benning has undergone successful hip surgery and is expected to miss the rest of the 2023-24 season. Benning’s estimated recovery time is about five months, meaning he’s anticipated to be ready in time for the Sharks’ training camp later in 2024.

Benning had not played since December 3rd, and no firm indication of a return timeline was ever given out in that span. This is a difficult development for both the Sharks and Benning.  Seeing as Benning is under contract at $1.25MM through 2025-26, this injury does not pose a serious risk to Benning’s financial future, as he’s already secured a long-term deal as a free agent. That being said, this injury deals a blow to Benning’s personal goals for the 2023-24 campaign.

When healthy, Benning plays as the Sharks’ number-four defenseman, averaging 18:28 time-on-ice per game. He’s also a leading penalty killer for the club, averaging nearly three minutes of ice time short-handed per game.

In Benning’s absence, the Sharks have leaned more heavily on 23-year-old Ty Emberson, who they claimed off of waivers from the New York Rangers. He doesn’t offer the experience Benning does, but his play has begun to seriously improve in this most recent stretch of games, including in each of the team’s last three games, where Emberson has cleared 20 minutes of ice time with ease.

Pacific Notes: Rutherford, Myers, Benning, Sturm

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Canucks president of hockey operations Jim Rutherford is in the final season of his contract with the club, a three-year deal he’d signed after being instated in a permanent role in December 2021. His and GM Patrik Allvin’s short-term surgery on the roster is a significant reason why the surging Canucks find themselves well-positioned to make the playoffs for the second time since 2015.

Speaking with Rick Dhaliwal and Don Taylor on CHEK’s Donnie & Dhali program yesterday, Rutherford said he’s had preliminary extension discussions with team owner Francesco Aquilini but it is not his “top priority right now.” The 74-year-old has been a high-level NHL executive for nearly 30 years, first joining the professional ranks as president and GM of the Hartford Whalers in 1994. Since then, he’s captured three Stanley Cups as a GM: 2006 with the Hurricanes and 2016 and 2017 with the Penguins. He also won the NHL’s General Manager of the Year award in 2016 after making midseason trades to acquire Trevor Daley, Carl Hagelin and Justin Schultz, all of whom played key supporting roles in Pittsburgh’s run to the championship. He was also inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame under the Builder Category in the class of 2019.

Under his watch, the Canucks now find themselves free of most of the bloated contracts signed with former GM Jim Benning at the helm and, in true Rutherford fashion, have already made a sizable trade this season to improve their depth well ahead of the trade deadline, capturing hulking defender Nikita Zadorov from the Flames for a value price.

Elsewhere in the Pacific Division:

  • In yesterday’s interview, Rutherford also implied the team had not held extension discussions with pending unrestricted free agent defenseman Tyler Myers. The 33-year-old is Vancouver’s second-oldest defender behind offseason free agent signing Ian Cole and is in the final season of an oft-criticized five-year, $30MM contract carrying a $6MM cap hit signed in 2019 under the Benning regime. His name was featured in offseason trade discussions, namely a deal that almost sent him to the floundering Sharks for the Canucks to free up additional cap space. However, holding onto Myers may have benefitted the Canucks. His trade value has never been higher while with the team. He was paid a $5MM signing bonus at the beginning of the season and is due $1MM in actual salary during this campaign, making him a more palatable financial acquisition for teams. His on-ice stats have never been better as a Canuck. While his minutes have been reduced to under 19 minutes per game, he’s responded with two goals and 11 assists for 13 points in 29 contests, his best points-per-game rate in a full season since he tallied 37 in 80 games with the Sabres during his sophomore season in 2010-11. His two-way game is still an area of major concern, however, as his pairings with Cole and Carson Soucy have been the Canucks’ worst in terms of controlling possession quality this season.
  • Sharks defenseman Matt Benning is sidelined indefinitely with a lower-body injury, head coach David Quinn told reporters yesterday (via Sheng Peng of San Jose Hockey Now). Benning last played on November 3 against the Rangers and was moved to injured reserve on Tuesday. Benning had ample opportunity to secure more arduous minutes on a thin Sharks blueline this season, but injuries have dogged him for much of the campaign. He missed ten games with an undisclosed injury in November and one with a lower-body injury in late October. It’s unclear if the injuries he suffered this season are related. The 29-year-old has two assists and a -5 rating in 14 games this season, averaging 18:29 per game.
  • Sticking with the Sharks, center Nico Sturm sustained what Quinn called a “mid-body injury” in Tuesday’s game against the Jets and is still being evaluated, Curtis Pashelka of the San Jose Mercury News relays. According to Pashelka, the team expects more information today and is preparing for him to miss enough time to be placed on IR. Sturm missed one game earlier this month with a lower-body injury and a pair of contests in late November for personal reasons. Now in his second season in the Bay Area, the 28-year-old German (who has no relation to longtime Sharks winger Marco Sturm) has two goals, two assists and a -10 rating in 26 games. If Sturm gets placed on IR today, depth forward Ryan Carpenter is ready to come off the injured list after missing four games with an undisclosed injury.

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