Unfortunately the Leafs will have to do without Jake McCabe for a little while, but he isn’t expected out long term:
Meanwhile, this will be the first time that the Leafs play against Ryan O’Reilly since he chose to depart the franchise for a warmer climate at the end of last season. I have nothing but positive things to say about ROR and his time here, but fuck him and the Predators anyway now that he’s not with the Leafs.
Lastly, on the Leafs, here is your expected lineup for tonight:
The team bounced Simon Benoit around from the AHL and NHL, which made me think that he would be the guy that would get the first call up in case of injury, but Lagesson got the call over him. Good luck covering for Klingberg my guy, you have your work cut out for you. In order to make room on the roster the Leafs sent Fraser Minten back to junior, which is likely best for his developement. I think he’ll be a mainstay on the Leafs roster next fall and he should be proud of what he accomplished this fall. It’s a tough roster to crack and he made the best of his opportunity.
In former Leafs news, it appears that “Jumbo” Joe Thornton has officially retired from the NHL:
The veteran of over 1700 NHL games played in 44 contest for the Leafs in the 2020/21 season, scoring 5 goals and 20pts. He finishes his career with 430 goals and 1539pts in the regular season, to go along with 32 goals and 134pts over 187 playofff games. Joe is a true hockey legend. Good luck in retirement!!