The Toronto Maple Leafs returned to what has been the mostly friendly confines of Scotiabank Arena after a road trip in which they went to overtime three times and earned five of a possible eight points, and as is normally the case with clubs returning from a long stretch away, they laid an egg in a 6-3 loss to the Minnesota Wild.
The Wild were without five regulars, but that did not seem to faze them, as they built a 4-1 lead and chased Joseph Woll after two periods before the Leafs began to show signs of life. John Tavares, Nick Robertson, and Auston Matthews scored for Toronto, who missed an opportunity to pull into a wildcard spot with Buffalo losing to Carolina on Monday afternoon.
Winger Matthew Knies and defenseman Troy Stecher did not practice on Tuesday, but head coach Craig Berube is expecting the injured winger to play against the Detroit Red Wings on Wednesday.
The Leafs announced that goalie Anthony Stolarz has been loaned to the AHL Toronto Marlies on a conditioning stint. The 31-year-old suffered an upper-body injury in mid-November that was initially described as day-to-day, but has been more like month-to-month. Reports this week indicated that the oft-injured netminder had a “nerve issue”, but he is feeling better and now needs to get back up to speed before returning to the lineup.
TSN’s Chris Johnston indicated that Dennis Hildeby will be returned to the Marlies once Stolarz is 100%, but Berube did not provide a specific timeline for his return.
Trade Chatter Is Getting Louder
Some news and notes, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman mentioned that the Leafs “pushed” in trade talks regarding Flames defenseman Rasmus Andersson before Calgary dealt the pending free agent to Vegas for defenseman Zach Whitecloud and a pair of high draft picks. This is in a long line of situations where Brad Treliving tried to deal with his former club and came up empty. First, Chris Tanev and Nikita Zadorov, and now Andersson, who will likely sign an extension with the Golden Knights.
At some point, you would think that Treliving would get the hint that his former club’s ownership and management will not deal anyone to Toronto unless they pay through the nose. Johnston in his report on the Leafs, said that they remain on the lookout for a right-shot defenseman and forward help, but do not have the draft capital to make an impact move.
