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Maple Leafs Activate Max Pacioretty, Place Jake McCabe On IR

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The Maple Leafs have made a pair of roster moves heading into tonight’s game against Pittsburgh.  The team announced (Twitter link) that winger Max Pacioretty has been activated from LTIR.  To make room on the roster, blueliner Jake McCabe was placed on IR retroactive to November 30th.

Pacioretty will wind up missing only the minimum of 10 games since his placement last month when he sustained a lower-body injury against Montreal.  The 36-year-old has been limited to just 13 games so far in his first season with Toronto.  However, he has been relatively productive in those outings, collecting four goals and two assists despite averaging just 12:11 of playing time per night, a career low.

Pacioretty has already reached the first half of his $626,230 bonus pool when he played in his tenth game of the season early last month.  He needs to get to 35 to collect the other half of it so he’ll be looking to stay healthy the rest of the way.

As for McCabe, he has missed the last week due to an upper-body injury sustained against Tampa Bay at the end of November.  Thanks to the retroactive placement, he has already missed the required seven days and thus is eligible to be activated as soon as he’s cleared to return.

After putting up a career-high 28 points last season, the 31-year-old earned a five-year, $23.5MM extension back in late October.  However, he has been a bit quieter offensively so far this season, collecting just five assists through his first 23 games although he’s averaging a career-best 21:20 in playing time.  After being a frequent healthy scratch early on, Philippe Myers has played the last three games in McCabe’s absence.

Maple Leafs Notes: Hakanpää, McCabe, McMann

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Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube said Thursday that defenseman Jani Hakanpää recently underwent a second minor procedure on his knee that shouldn’t keep him out of action for too much longer, per David Alter of The Hockey News.

Hakanpää, 32, has suited up only twice this season for Toronto after finalizing a one-year, $1.47MM deal late in free agency. He underwent a knee procedure early in the offseason after missing the last 13 regular-season and all 19 playoff games for the Stars, keeping him out of action until he got his season started in early November on an AHL conditioning stint.

The veteran defender, who was named to Finland’s roster for the 2025 4 Nations Face-Off yesterday, suited up in back-to-back contests for the Leafs on Nov. 13 and Nov. 16 before exiting the lineup. Toronto moved him to injured reserve on Monday to open up a roster spot, and he’s eligible to return at any time. With Berube claiming that he should start skating soon, it’s fair to anticipate a return to action before the end of the month.

The 6’6″ Hakanpää posted a -1 rating and averaged only 14:05 per game across his two appearances, adding two shots, four blocks, and one hit. The stay-at-home defender was paired with Morgan Rielly, but the duo struggled defensively, controlling only 38.1% of expected goals and allowing 3.36 expected goals per 60 minutes, per MoneyPuck.

There’s more from Leafland today:

  • Defenseman Jake McCabe will remain out of the lineup tomorrow against the Capitals, Berube told reporters, including Mark Masters of TSN. He did skate today, though, according to Masters, and Berube said he’s “feeling better” after missing the last two games with an upper-body injury. The Leafs eagerly await getting their top-four fixture back in the lineup – Philippe Myers has played spot duty alongside Rielly the past couple of games while Oliver Ekman-Larsson shifted to McCabe’s usual spot alongside Chris Tanev.
  • Winger Bobby McMann is progressing in his recovery from his lower-body injury but won’t play in Toronto’s remaining two games this week. Berube told reporters that “he could hopefully be an option for next week” if he starts skating the next couple of days (via Masters). The 28-year-old has missed the last three contests after sustaining the injury on Nov. 27 against the Panthers. The late-blooming forward has been productive when in the lineup, scoring six goals in 21 games while averaging a career-high 14:01 per game.

Max Domi, Max Pacioretty Rule Out Tomorrow, Getting Close To Returning

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  • The Toronto Maple Leafs will be without forwards Max Domi and Max Pacioretty tonight but it appears that won’t be the case for much longer. David Alter of The Hockey News reported earlier that they are getting ’close’ to returning from injury despite being ruled out for tomorrow’s game against the Nashville Predators. Toronto has played extremely well of late despite multiple injuries to their forward group accruing an 8-2-0 record in their last 10 contests.

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Maple Leafs Have Discussed Contract Extension With John Tavares

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The Maple Leafs have two prominent pending unrestricted free agent forwards in winger Mitch Marner and center John Tavares.  While it appears that there haven’t been many discussions with Marner, Chris Johnston of The Athletic reported in a recent TSN Insider Trading segment that Toronto has engaged in talks with Tavares though obviously, the two sides aren’t in agreement on a new deal just yet.

Tavares signed a seven-year, $77MM contract with his hometown team back in 2018 and while the $11MM price tag was among the league leaders at the time, the 34-year-old has delivered.  Tavares has three seasons of at least 76 points over that span and overall, has 440 points in 462 games with the Maple Leafs.  That 0.952 points-per-game average is actually slightly better than the 0.928 he put up with the Islanders.  His playoff performance hasn’t been as strong, however, as Tavares has collected 24 points in 38 postseason outings with Toronto.

But while Tavares has produced at or near the level of a top-line center for the majority of his time with Toronto, it’s also fair to assume it’s unlikely this will be the case much longer; he’ll be entering his age-35 season in 2025-26.  While he could still put up above-average production for a little while longer, he’s certainly not going to be able to command $11MM on the open market at this stage of his career.  Accordingly, a drop in pay is a near certainty.

How much of one is the big question.  At this point, he’s still producing as a top-six forward at a minimum so it’s not as if Toronto can conceivably ask him to cut that price tag in half (or by even more) even though, as Johnston noted, Tavares has made it clear he doesn’t want to test free agency and wants to remain with the Maple Leafs.  His value on the open market might still be in the $7MM to $8MM range if he were to actually make it there.

One way around that might be to utilize deferred compensation.  Carolina utilized that with a pair of contracts over the summer while the Maple Leafs also took advantage of it on the recent Jake McCabe extension.  Using deferred salary would allow the cap hit to go a bit lower while still giving Tavares’ camp the total compensation it might be seeking.  How long he’d have to wait for that deferred salary would ultimately dictate how much cap savings Toronto could receive.

At his age, it’s quite possible that this is the final contract that Tavares receives so there is a bit of incentive to consider deferred salary when he’d be in a lower tax bracket and potentially a jurisdiction with lower tax rates.  We’ll see in the coming weeks if that’s enough to bridge the current gap between the two sides to keep Tavares in Toronto a little longer.

Leafs Place Jani Hakanpaa On IR, Recall Marshall Rifai

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The Toronto Maple Leafs have placed defenseman Jani Hakanpaa on injured reserve with a lower-body injury, retroactive to November 16th. Hakanpaa will be eligible to be activated as soon as he’s healthy, though no specifics have been provided on Hakanpaa’s injury or timeline. In a corresponding move, the Maple Leafs have recalled defender Marshall Rifai from the Toronto Marlies. It’s Rifai’s first call-up of the season after clearing waivers and getting assigned to the minors on October 7th.

It’s not clear if Hakanpaa’s lower-body injury is connected to the knee injury that delayed his start to the season. He underwent an arthroscopic procedure last Spring, after his 2023-24 season was cut short in mid-March. He didn’t need any further testing after that procedure, and went on to sign a two-year deal with Toronto on July 1st – though the deal wasn’t formalized until September 11th, when it was adjusted to a one-year deal.

Hakanpaa didn’t return to full health until November 13th. He’s stepped into the lineup twice this season, recording no scoring, four blocked shots, and a -1. He was apparently injured in his second appearance, and has missed Toronto’s four games since. Hakanpaa has rotated into the bottom of Toronto’s blue-line with Simon Benoit and Conor Timmins. That role will now be handed to Rifai, who’s recorded four points – split evenly – through 17 AHL games this season. He has also recorded a Marlies-leading +10.

Rifai played in the first two NHL games of his career last season, recording no scoring and a +1. He averaged just-under 12 minutes of ice time in the pair of outings. Rifai has spent the bulk of the last two seasons in the AHL since signing as an undrafted college free agent in 2022. He recorded 25 points in 126 games across the pair of seasons.

Maple Leafs Reassign Alex Steeves, Place Bobby McMann On IR

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3:00 PM: Confirming the report from Alter earlier, the Maple Leafs reassigned Steeves to the AHL and placed McMann on the injured reserve.

1:00 PM: The Toronto Maple Leafs are expected to assign forward Alex Steeves to the minor leagues and place winger Bobby McMann on injured reserve, as they anticipate the return of Auston Matthews and Matthew Knies, per David Alter of The Hockey News. Head coach Craig Berube shared on Thursday that McMann could miss the team’s next few games after suffering a handful of bruises in Wednesday’s matchup against Florida. McMann left that game at the end of the second period. An assignment to injured reserve, made retroactive to Wednesday, would hold McMann out of Toronto’s next two games.

There will be little complaining about the need for roster moves from a Toronto brass prepared to add 69-goal scorer Matthews back to the lineup. Matthews has missed Toronto’s last nine games with an upper-body injury. Toronto plans to separate Matthews from usual winger Mitch Marner when he returns, instead lining him up to William Nylander and fellow returnee Knies. Knies has missed Toronto’s last two games with his upper-body injury. He’ll return to a prime opportunity next to Toronto’s strongest scorers, after netting eight goals and 12 points in 20 games this season.

But while these moves bolster the top six, they’ll force some shifting around Toronto’s bottom-six. Fraser Minten and Connor Dewar will likely step down a peg to center Toronto’s third and fourth line respectively; while Alexander Nylander, Nikita Grebenkin, and Nicholas Robertson compete for ice time on the wings. The trio will try to fill McMann’s impactful role on the flanks. He has six goals and seven points in 21 games this season – ranking fourth among all Leafs in goals.

Meanwhile, Steeves is expected to return to the minors after failing to score on an NHL call-up again. Steeves hasn’t scored in the NHL since December of 2021 – when he recorded his first NHL point, an assist, in his third career game. Despite that, he leads the Toronto Marlies in scoring this season, with nine goals and 12 points in 10 games.

Maple Leafs To Activate Auston Matthews From Injured Reserve

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Maple Leafs superstar Auston Matthews will return to the lineup Saturday against the Lightning, he told reporters today, including David Alter of The Hockey News. He’ll need to come off injured reserve, so Toronto will need to make a corresponding transaction to open a spot on the active roster.

So ends a lengthy saga that’s seen Matthews sit out the last nine games, missing nearly a month with an upper-body injury that was initially termed day-to-day. While not a significant injury, it was potentially concerning enough long-term for the Leafs to hold him out and for him to even briefly head overseas last week to see a specialist in Germany that he’s worked with before.

Toronto went on quite the run without the services of their star goal-scorer, going 7-2-0 and outscoring opponents 26-18. That was even as additional injuries to top-nine fixtures like Max Domi and Matthew Knies piled up, at one point leaving them without seven of their usual top 12 forwards in the lineup.

That number could drop to five against Tampa, with Knies also taking line rushes alongside Matthews and William Nylander in today’s practice, per Luke Fox of Sportsnet. He’s also on IR, so if he’s ready to return, a second corresponding transaction would be required.

Things did come to a bit of a head for the Leafs in their last outing, losing 5-1 to the Panthers and seeing their Atlantic Division lead drop to one point. The pending returns of some important forwards will allow overmatched AHL fixtures like Alexander Nylander and Alex Steeves to return to the farm, as could youngsters Nikita Grebenkin and Fraser Minten.

Matthews’ injury had been plaguing him a bit this season before he exited the lineup, evidenced by his subpar five goals and six assists for 11 points in 13 games. He was shooting at a career-low 8.9% rate, though, so his numbers should come alive in short order with natural regression and improved health. The 27-year-old has taken home the Rocket Richard Trophy three times in the past four years, including last season’s career-high 69 tallies (51 at even strength).

McMann Left Last Night's Game With Lower-Body Injury

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  • The Toronto Maple Leafs also had some injury news with the team announcing forward Bobby McMann left last night’s contest with a lower-body injury. McMann registered zero points while skating in 10:21 of yesterday’s game. It’s more insult to injury to a Maple Leafs’ lineup that may be without a seventh forward due to injury in their upcoming game against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday.

    [SOURCE LINK]

Maple Leafs Assign Dakota Mermis To AHL On Conditioning Loan

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The Maple Leafs announced Wednesday that they’ve assigned defenseman Dakota Mermis to AHL Toronto on an LTIR conditioning loan.

Mermis, 30, played some preseason hockey for Toronto but broke his jaw and underwent surgery on Sep. 26. The Maple Leafs placed him on long-term injured reserve when season-opening rosters were due on Oct. 7, and he’s remained there since. He’s recently ramped up his on-ice appearances and has been skating for over a week.

On his conditioning loan, the depth defenseman can stay in the minors for up to three games or six days. However, the Leafs can apply for an extension from the league to extend that stay before he must be activated from LTIR or remain on the list if he’s not ready to return to play.

If Mermis is ready to go when his conditioning loan ends, he’ll likely hit waivers en route to a lengthier assignment to the AHL. The Maple Leafs already carry eight defensemen on the active roster and certainly don’t have the room or flexibility for a ninth with a rash of injuries at forward.

Mermis signed a one-year, one-way league minimum deal with the Leafs over the summer in free agency after playing a career-high 47 games with the Wild last season. A long-time top-four AHL fixture capable of playing depth NHL minutes, the Illinois native posted three goals and five assists for eight points with a -2 rating, 33 PIMs, 59 blocks, and 45 hits while averaging 14:05 per game for Minnesota.

An undrafted free agent signing from the OHL’s Oshawa Generals by the Coyotes in 2015, Mermis now has 431 AHL games and 74 NHL games under his belt across a nine-year professional career. The 6’0″, 194-lb lefty could undoubtedly generate some interest on the waiver wire in the coming weeks as a physical bottom-pairing or press-box option on a cheap contract.

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