Maple Leafs Reassign Fraser Minten, Activate David Kampf
4:00 PM: Toronto has used the open space created by Minten’s assignment to activate center David Kampf off of long-term injured reserve. Kampf has missed Toronto’s last 12 games with a lower-body injury. He’s expected to return to the lineup when the Leafs face Dallas on Wednesday, per NHL.com’s Dave McCarthy. Kampf will hope a return to full health brings a wave of production, as he currently sits with just three assists in 18 games this season.
8:30 AM: The Leafs have reassigned center prospect Fraser Minten to AHL Toronto, per the team’s media relations department. Minten was a healthy scratch in Sunday’s win over the Sabres after playing in 11 straight contests since a mid-November call-up. He’s still 145 games played or three seasons away from requiring waivers.
A consistent point producer during his time in major junior play, the 20-year-old Minten entered the 2024-25 campaign with the guarantee he’d be playing professional hockey regardless of whether he made Toronto’s roster out of camp. Unfortunately, a high ankle sprain he sustained in rookie camp sidelined him for nearly six weeks and erased any hope of cracking the Maple Leafs’ opening night roster for the second season in a row. The 2022 second-round pick played four games last season, going without a point, before being returned to the WHL’s Kamloops Blazers by the end of October.
Minten’s season got off to a strong start in the AHL after being cleared to return from his ankle injury on Oct. 29. He recorded two goals and two assists in his first five minor-league games before a cascading injury situation among Toronto’s NHL forward group necessitated his recall. Fortunately, his second crack at NHL minutes went better than his first. Minten routinely centered the Leafs’ third line, posting a pair of goals and assists for four points through 11 games with an even rating. The physical 6’1″, 185-lb center recorded 13.22 hits per 60 minutes, fifth on the Leafs this season, and averaged 12:47 per game while winning 45.1% of his draws.
Decent as those numbers are, Minten’s two-way game needs some work. The Maple Leafs controlled only 41.6% of shot attempts with Minten on the ice at 5-on-5, the worst of any player with at least 10 appearances in blue and white this season. He’ll continue adapting his defensive awareness to the professional level in the AHL, where he’ll likely spend most of the remainder of the season before making himself a serious contender for an opening-night job in October 2025.
Maple Leafs’ Anthony Stolarz To Undergo Knee Procedure, Out 4-6 Weeks
Maple Leafs goaltender Anthony Stolarz will undergo a minor procedure to remove a loose body in his knee, general manager Brad Treliving told reporters Tuesday (via TSN). As a result, Toronto’s starter will miss the next four to six weeks.
Treliving said Stolarz underwent an MRI in the last few days, which revealed no other structural damage. He left his most recent start, an eventual win over the Ducks on Dec. 12, with a lower-body injury after the first period. He’s already missed two games but will now miss around 15 more, with a return in mid-to-late January on the horizon.
It’s worse news than the Leafs expected when they initially awarded him a day-to-day designation and placed him on injured reserve, assuming he wouldn’t miss more than the minimum seven days required for an IR placement. Nonetheless, undergoing surgery now and dealing with a lengthy mid-season absence is far preferable to a snowballing injury that forces him to miss extended time closer to the postseason.
Unfortunately, Stolarz is no stranger to significant knee injuries. He missed most of the 2017-18 campaign while in the Flyers system after undergoing knee surgery during training camp, and another knee surgery ended his 2022-23 campaign with the Ducks in February.
Luckily, that hasn’t stopped Stolarz from becoming an elite tandem/backup option when healthy. His .927 SV% in 17 games with Toronto this season has him on pace to lead qualifying netminders in the statistic for the second season in a row. He posted a .925 SV% and 2.03 GAA, both league-best marks, in 27 games with the Panthers last year while backing up Sergei Bobrovsky. His 24 starts last season were a career-high, though, so despite his high-end numbers, there was understandable hesitance to crown him a starting-caliber netminder upon reaching free agency last summer. The Maple Leafs presented a good fit for him to split the workload with the up-and-coming Joseph Woll. He inked a two-year, $5MM contract to play in Canada for the first time since a short stint with the Oilers in 2019.
Toronto has had quite the revolving door of netminders over the past few seasons. Stolarz is one of eight since the beginning of the 2021-22 season to make at least 10 starts for the team, joining Woll, Ilya Samsonov, Jack Campbell, Matt Murray, Erik Källgren, Martin Jones, and Petr Mrázek. He’s put up the best numbers of any of them by a wide margin and is on pace to log the highest save percentage for a Toronto netminder since Curtis McElhinney had a .934 in 18 games in 2017-18.
The Leafs are left with Woll and Dennis Hildeby between the pipes for the next few weeks. Woll has also played well when dressed, posting an 8-4-0 record with a .918 SV%, 2.24 GAA and one shutout in 12 showings. He’s saved 5.9 goals above expected, per MoneyPuck, ranking 12th in the league. He also has a lengthy injury history, though, and Hildeby isn’t a compelling No. 3 option. The big 23-year-old Swede has made three starts this season amid injuries to Stolarz and Woll, the first of his NHL career. He’s been serviceable but unimpressive, with a .875 SV% and 3.68 GAA. He also has a subpar .897 mark in six AHL starts this year.
It’s worth noting that the Maple Leafs still have Murray in the system if Hildeby falters. The 30-year-old missed nearly all last season after offseason hip surgery but has been good in the AHL in 2024-25 since clearing waivers, logging a .919 SV% and 2.15 GAA with a 3-1-3 record. If he comes up and gets a start, it would be the first for the two-time Stanley Cup champion since April 2, 2023.
Evening Notes: Maple Leafs, Johnson, Trouba
The Toronto Maple Leafs are believed to be searching for another center (as per The Fourth Period). General manager Brad Treliving has been hoping to upgrade the second-line center position for some time now and is looking at potential options to do so. With the holiday trade freeze set to start on Friday, it doesn’t appear likely that a deal will be made in 2024, but Toronto is searching the market for a potential fit. Any move that they make will require a lot of creativity as Toronto doesn’t have a first-round pick this year, although they do hold their second and third-rounders.
Toronto may just have to wait until closer to the NHL trade deadline to make a deal happen as they will have just under $2.3MM available to them at that time (as per PuckPedia). The Maple Leafs could potentially look at a player like Brock Nelson of the New York Islanders, who is in the final year of his deal and is making $6MM. Toronto would need New York to retain on a deal and take a salary back, but those are the types of transactions Treliving could target.
In other evening notes:
- Columbus Blue Jackets defenseman Jack Johnson left today’s game against the Carolina Hurricanes with an upper-body injury and did not return (Twitter Link). The 37-year-old took a stick to the face from Hurricanes forward Jesperi Kotkaniemi in the first period and did not return at the start of the second period. Kotkaniemi was assessed a four-minute double minor on the play. Johnson has dressed in 17 games this season, averaging just over 14 minutes of ice time per game and tallying one assist.
- Aaron Portzline of The Athletic spoke with Anaheim Ducks defenseman Jacob Trouba about his recent trade and why he declined to facilitate a trade to the Columbus Blue Jackets. Trouba was dealt by the New York Rangers to Anaheim, but had other suitors, including Columbus. Trouba told Portzline that there were no issues with Columbus, but he felt Anaheim would be a better fit for him and his wife, as well as her career as a doctor.
East Notes: Berggren, Stolarz, Carlile, Santini
Red Wings forward Jonatan Berggren earned the first fine of his NHL career, the league’s Department of Player Safety announced this morning. He was fined $2,148, the maximum allowable under the Collective Bargaining Agreement, for a cross-check against Maple Leafs forward Connor Dewar in last night’s 4-2 win.
Berggren landed a two-minute minor on the play, which occurred immediately after a stoppage in the second period. While engaging with Dewar in front of the Red Wings net after the whistle blew, he landed a cross-check that hit Dewar in the head/neck area.
It’s a minor blip in a tough year for Berggren, who’s still struggling to recapture his rookie-season form. He’s back on the NHL roster full-time after spending most of last season in the minors, but he’s scored just four goals and six points with a -6 rating through 30 contests. He’s averaging 12:27 per game with fringe power-play usage, averaging around a minute per game with the man-advantage unit.
A 2018 second-round pick, Berggren signed a one-year, $825K deal in September after sitting as an RFA for most of the summer. He scored 15 goals and 28 points in 67 games with the Wings in his first NHL look in the 2022-23 campaign.
Elsewhere in the Eastern Conference:
- The Maple Leafs moved Anthony Stolarz to injured reserve before tonight’s game against the Sabres, ending a cascade of roster moves over the past few days (per David Alter of The Hockey News). The Vezina Trophy candidate had already missed one game with a lower-body injury he sustained against the Ducks on Dec. 12. He’ll miss at least one more game following the Buffalo tilt but could be eligible to return for a rematch against the Sabres on Dec. 20. The 30-year-old has a sparkling .927 SV% and 2.15 GAA in 17 games this year with a 9-5-2 record. The Leafs’ active roster remains at a full 23 players.
- The Lightning announced they’ve returned defensemen Declan Carlile and Steven Santini to AHL Syracuse. One or both could be back on the active roster ahead of their next game on Tuesday, depending on the health of captain Victor Hedman, who’s missed the Bolts’ last two games with a lower-body injury. Carlile, 24, scored his first NHL goal in last night’s win over the Kraken, his season debut after getting into his first NHL game last season. The 29-year-old Santini played 11:37 in Thursday’s win over the Flames, his first NHL game in nearly two years, but was a healthy scratch against Seattle.
Maple Leafs Activate Bobby McMann, Assign Nikita Grebenkin To AHL
The Maple Leafs will be welcoming a forward back to their lineup against Detroit tonight. The team announced (Twitter link) that they’ve activated winger Bobby McMann off injured reserve. To make room on the roster, winger Nikita Grebenkin was re-assigned to AHL Toronto.
McMann has missed the last seven games due to a lower-body injury but skated on the third line in practice on Friday, suggesting a return was imminent. The 28-year-old has played in 21 games with the Leafs this season, notching six goals and one assist in 14 minutes a night of ice time. McMann scored at a similar clip in 2023-24, tallying 15 times in 56 appearances, becoming a quality bottom-six piece along the way after clearing waivers at the beginning of that season.
As for Grebenkin, it’s the second time this week he has been sent down. Initially demoted on Tuesday, he was brought back up two days later although he didn’t play against Anaheim. The 21-year-old is in his first season in North America and has been held off the scoresheet in seven games with the big club but has been productive with the Marlies, tallying four goals and six assists in 13 appearances with them.
Atlantic Notes: Reinhardt, Norris, Lafferty, Stolarz, McMann, Talbot
The Senators announced Friday that they’ve recalled left-winger Cole Reinhardt from AHL Belleville.
The 24-year-old has been subject to multiple paper transactions this season, but this doesn’t appear to be one of them. Reinhardt has been in Belleville since Sunday and hasn’t been rostered for either of Ottawa’s last two games. He could enter the lineup tonight against the Hurricanes instead of center Zack Ostapchuk, who left Wednesday’s 5-1 win over the Ducks with an undisclosed injury.
Ottawa would need someone to shift to center – Reinhardt has never played the position meaningfully at the professional level. One of Nick Cousins, Noah Gregor or Ridly Greig will likely move to take Ostapchuk’s spot as fourth-line center while Reinhardt slots in on their wing.
In five NHL appearances this season, the 24-year-old Calgary native has a goal and an assist with a -2 rating and 14 hits while averaging 9:15 per game. He’s been dynamic when on assignment to the B-Sens, posting five goals and 10 assists for 15 points in only 12 games. He’s the only Belleville player producing more than a point per game.
In other Sens news, the league announced that center Joshua Norris had been fined $2,000 for being issued his second embellishment citation this season. The incident that spurred the fine occurred on Dec. 5 against the Red Wings, with the league positing that Norris overreacted to a holding offense from Detroit rookie Marco Kasper (video link).
Elsewhere in the Atlantic Division:
- Sabres forward Sam Lafferty practiced in a regular jersey this morning and could be an option to return to the lineup this weekend, head coach Lindy Ruff told Paul Hamilton of WGR Sports Radio 550. Lafferty has been on injured reserve for over a week with a lower-body issue and has missed Buffalo’s last six games, all of them losses amid a larger eight-game winless streak. Prior to getting hurt, the 29-year-old was averaging just 9:48 per game and had been limited to one goal in 22 appearances with a -2 rating. Buffalo signed him to a two-year, $4MM deal in free agency over the summer to contribute as a fourth-line piece and kill penalties, the latter of which he’s rarely done – he averages just 32 seconds per game shorthanded.
- It’s all good news on the injury front for the Maple Leafs. Netminder Anthony Stolarz is only day-to-day with his lower-body injury after leaving last night’s win over the Ducks after the first period, head coach Craig Berube said today (via Jonas Siegel of The Athletic). The 30-year-old leads the league with a .927 SV% and has started 17 of Toronto’s 29 games, on pace to break last year’s career-high 24. He’ll likely miss their next two games against the Red Wings and Sabres, but the lack of an IR placement suggests he may be available next Wednesday against the Stars. Berube also said that winger Bobby McMann, who’s missed seven games with a lower-body issue, is “very close” to returning (per David Alter of The Hockey News).
- Red Wings starter Cam Talbot re-aggravated the lower-body injury that kept him out for most of this month and will be unavailable tomorrow against Toronto, per the team’s Daniella Bruce. He made 32 saves on 34 shots in a loss to the Flyers last night, bringing his SV% on the year up to a strong .916 mark. The team will wait to recall a backup for No. 3 option Ville Husso until tomorrow, Bruce said.
Atlantic Notes: Stolarz, Hildeby, Sabres
TSN’s Darren Dreger is reporting that the Toronto Maple Leafs are waiting for results on the severity of an injury that forced goaltender Anthony Stolarz from last night’s game. The 30-year-old Stolarz has had a torrid start to his first season in Toronto, going 9-5-2 with a 2.15 goals-against average and a .927 save percentage. Stolarz is currently ranked sixth in the NHL in goals saved above expected with 9.3 (as per Money Puck).
Stolarz’s injury has forced Toronto to recall netminder Dennis Hildeby from the Toronto Marlies of the American Hockey League. Hildeby will presumably take on a backup role to Joseph Woll during Stolarz’s absence. Hildeby has seen action in two NHL games this season, going 1-1 with 4.03 goals against and a .869 save percentage.
In other Atlantic Division notes:
- Buffalo Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff benched two of his top players on Wednesday night as the team dropped their eighth straight game (as per Bill Hoppe of Buffalo Hockey Beat). Ruff sat defenseman Owen Power and winger JJ Peterka for significant stretches of the game after they made crucial mistakes. Both players responded well, with Power scoring a goal in the third period of the game. The Sabres sit sixth in the Atlantic with a record of 11-14-4 but hold a goal differential of just -8. They have lost six one-goal games in their eight-game skid.
- Speaking of the Sabres, Darren Dreger reported on TSN’s Insider Trading yesterday that Buffalo’s general manager Kevyn Adams is looking to make moves to shake up his roster but might not find a desirable move. Adams is receiving calls on younger players like Jack Quinn but doesn’t appear likely to force a move like that. The Sabres would like to make a trade that helps them now, but if they continue to slide it does appear that they will miss the playoffs once again. Should that happen, it would likely mean that veterans on expiring deals, such as Jason Zucker would be moved.
Leafs Notes: McCabe, McMann, Kampf, Stolarz
The Toronto Maple Leafs have activated defenseman Jake McCabe off of injured reserve, per the Toronto Sun’s Terry Koshan. McCabe was moved to IR on December 7th, and hasn’t played since suffering a wrist injury while blocking a shot from Nicklaus Perbix in Toronto’s November 30th win over Tampa Bay. McCabe returned to full practice just two days after his IR placement and is expected to return to the lineup on Thursday.
That’s great news for the Maple Leafs, who have leaned heavily on McCabe this season. He’s averaged 21:20 in ice time through 23 games this season, narrowly leading the team’s blue-line in average time on ice – just two seconds ahead of Oliver Ekman-Larsson, and seven seconds more than Morgan Rielly. McCabe has recorded five assists, a +11, and 21 penalty minutes in his opportunities. More encouraging, McCabe also ranks third among Leafs defenders in goals-against per-60 (GA/60) with a 1.22 average – just narrowly behind bottom-pair defenders Simon Benoit (1.17) and Conor Timmins (0.98). Those results will return McCabe immediately back to his top-pair, defense-oriented role next to summer addition Chris Tanev.
Other notes out of Toronto:
- Forward Bobby McMann is also nearing a return to the lineup, head coach Craig Berube told David Alter of The Hockey News. McMann suffered a lower-body injury on November 27th and has since missed six games. He returned to practice on December 6th and could return to the lineup within a week, shares Alter’s colleague Evan Doerfler. McMann has continued his dazzling goal-scoring into this season, with six goals and an 11.5 shooting percentage in 21 games. He played his first full year in the NHL last season, netting 15 goals and 24 points in 56 games. McMann has proven a reliable middle-six winger on and off of the puck, and should slot back into the middle-six as soon as he returns.
- Berube also shared with Alter that center David Kampf is still a ways away from returning. Kampf was placed on IR with a lower-body injury on November 19th, and hasn’t played since November 16th. He recorded three assists in 18 games as Toronto’s third-line center prior to his injury. Kampf has 75 points in 260 games over the last four seasons with Toronto, largely comprised of 26-point and 27-point seasons across his first two years with the team. He’ll eye a return in 2025, and may need to fight to regain a spot in the team’s top-nine.
- Top Toronto goaltender Anthony Stolarz left the team’s Thursday game against Anaheim with a lower-body injury, shares Sportsnet. He seemed to suffer the injury on Anaheim’s first goal of the game, appearing in pain after stretching to try and make a save. Stolarz has been tremendous for the Leafs early on. He leads all goaltenders in save percentage, maintaining a .928 through 16 games this season – narrowly ahead of Filip Gustavsson and Connor Hellebuyck who each have a .927. Stolarz has added a 9-5-2 record to boot, performing well enough to earn the Leafs’ starting role while Joseph Woll sorted out injuries. Stolarz is an eight-year veteran of the NHL. He’s tallied a 99-52-36 record and .916 save percentage through 124 career games. Leafs fans and management alike will hold their breath for an update on his long-term health, after an injury that didn’t appear to be severe.
Utah Claims Dakota Mermis Off Waivers From Maple Leafs
The Utah Hockey Club has added some veteran defensive depth in the form of Dakota Mermis, plucking him off the waiver wire from the Maple Leafs, per Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet. The Leafs’ other waiver placement yesterday, winger Alexander Nylander, passed through unclaimed and was immediately assigned to AHL Toronto, allowing them to activate defenseman Jake McCabe from injured reserve, according to a team announcement.
Utah has been in need of extra bodies on defense seemingly all season long after John Marino sustained a lower-back injury in preseason and Sean Durzi hurt his shoulder just four games into the campaign. Other names, such as Maveric Lamoureux and Robert Bortuzzo, have landed on the shelf in recent days, leading Utah to reach deep into its minor-league depth. Just yesterday, they recalled Kevin Connauton from AHL Tucson – a 34-year-old lefty who last saw NHL ice in the 2021-22 campaign.
Mermis isn’t a gigantic upgrade over internal options like Connauton, but he does have more recent NHL experience. The 30-year-old skated in a career-high 47 games with the Wild last season, posting eight points, a -2 rating, 33 PIMs, and 45 hits while averaging 14:05 per game. He inked a one-way contract with the Maple Leafs over the summer but sustained a jaw injury in training camp. He returned to action on a conditioning loan with their AHL affiliate over the past couple weeks, posting an assist in three outings, and had landed on waivers to continue his tenure in the minors after the two-week limit on his conditioning stint ran out.
Utah had 22 players on the active roster before making the claim for Mermis, so they won’t need to make a corresponding transaction.
Maple Leafs Reassign Marshall Rifai, Recall Nikita Grebenkin
While Maple Leafs rookie Nikita Grebenkin was assigned to the minors earlier this week to allow Max Domi to come off injured reserve, his time on the NHL roster isn’t over. The team announced Thursday that the 21-year-old winger had been brought back up from AHL Toronto, while defenseman Marshall Rifai was sent down in a corresponding move to keep their active roster count at 23.
That roster count will drop to 22 later today after winger Alexander Nylander clears waivers or is claimed by another team. Recalling Grebenkin and reassigning Rifai temporarily leaves the Leafs with 15 forwards and six defensemen on the active roster. Hence, it’s fair to assume that Nylander’s waiver placement was to make room for a defenseman coming off IR – likely Jake McCabe, who’s missed five games with an upper-body injury but still carries a day-to-day designation.
Grebenkin, a fifth-round pick in 2022, gives the Maple Leafs a potentially higher-ceiling option for fourth-line minutes over someone like established veteran Ryan Reaves, who provides little intrigue at this stage of his career outside of one-on-one physical battles. The 6’2″, 210-lb Russian skated in seven games over the past few weeks amid a rash of forward injuries for Toronto, his first in the NHL. However, he managed only two shots on goal and failed to record a point while posting a -3 rating, averaging 8:45 per game. The Leafs were also heavily out-chanced in his even-strength minutes, generating just 0.6 expected goals while allowing 3.3 xG.
Nonetheless, Grebenkin has flashed some offensive upside during his time in the minors this season. In his first season in North America, the winger has four goals and 10 points in 13 AHL games. That production comes after a breakout season in the Kontinental Hockey League with Metallurg Magnitogorsk in 2023-24. He finished second among the eventual league champions in scoring with 19 goals, 22 assists and 41 points in 67 games.
Grebenkin’s ability to play both wings should work to his advantage as he re-establishes his spot in the lineup. Four bodies compete for two places on the wing in Toronto’s bottom six, with Grebenkin joining Reaves, Pontus Holmberg and Nicholas Robertson in the fight.
Meanwhile, Rifai returns to the minors after not seeing any action since being recalled 10 days ago. The 26-year-old lefty sat as a healthy scratch for Toronto’s last five games, serving as a last-minute option to enter the lineup if an additional defender sustained an injury with McCabe already sidelined. Standing at 6’2″ and 213 lbs, Rifai skated in his first two NHL games last season, averaging 11:40 per game and logging four hits with a +1 rating. He has four points and a team-leading +10 rating in 17 AHL games and didn’t need waivers to head back since his stint on the active roster lasted less than 30 days.