Why Maple Leafs are ready to play a man short against Canadiens
The Toronto Maple Leafs don’t have six healthy defencemen and are ready for an unusually roomy bench when they face off against the playoff-hunting Montreal Canadiens on Saturday.
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TORONTO — The Toronto Maple Leafs don’t have six healthy defencemen and are ready for an unusually roomy bench when they face off against the playoff-hunting Montreal Canadiens on Saturday.
“Maybe I’ll suit up and play back there,” Berube quipped, before confirming the shortage to reporters at Friday’s practice.
“Yeah, five D.”
Berube’s comments can ring as gallows humour at this time of year.
The playoffs start in a week.
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And although a trio of injured Maple Leafs — Oliver Ekman-Larsson has joined fellow left-shot blue-liner Jake McCabe and fourth-line centre David Kämpf on the sidelines — are officially listed as “day-to-day,” those days tend to swell into weeks.
Ekman-Larsson skated a hefty 25:14 in Wednesday’s dramatic 4-3 overtime victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning that, with just four games remaining, thrusts Toronto into the driver’s seat of the Atlantic Division race.
But, after a day’s rest, the blue-liner was surprisingly absent from Friday’s skate.
Versatile enough to play either side and both special teams, the edgy Ekman-Larsson has become an integral piece of the blue line. He logs the third-most minutes (21:04), holds the third-best plus/minus (plus-14), and has put up more even-strength points (25) than any Leafs defender.
But a reporter would have a better chance of preventing a William Nylander zone entry these days than prying definitive recovery timelines out of the Maple Leafs this close to the post-season.
“He’ll be evaluated,” Berube said of Ekman-Larsson. “You never know. He’s a tough guy.”
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McCabe skated on his own Friday but, like Kämpf, will miss a fourth consecutive game Saturday. He should be considered doubtful for Sunday’s contest in Carolina as well.
Berube won’t rule out McCabe returning for next week’s final two regular-season games, at Buffalo on Tuesday and versus Detroit on Thursday. But entering Round 1 with a healthy blue line should take priority, even if a couple guys are rusty.
McCabe leads all Leafs in average ice time (21:31) and rates second on the team in plus/minus (plus-23). This is his third prolonged absence due to injury this season.
Toss in the fact that seventh-turned-fifth defenceman Philippe Myers is still earning the coach’s trust (he was limited to just 7:19 in Wednesday’s big win), and what’s left of Toronto’s corps will be busy this weekend.
“It’s always challenging, but we’ve played games where we’ve lost a D early and played with five,” Berube said.
“It’s important that our forwards do a good job of helping our D out tomorrow night, making sure they get back quick for breakouts and making the game as easy on them as possible. That’s a big thing.”
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Because this latest trio of injuries occurred with fewer than 10 games remaining, Toronto cannot move an injured player to long-term injured reserve and activate, say, Max Pacioretty — whom we expect to be ready for playoffs.
The cap-tight franchise has just $195,332 in available space, according to PuckPedia.com, which is still not enough to recall even the cheapest of AHL reinforcements.
And so, all signs point to the Leafs playing a man short Saturday.
Once they do, the club will be permitted to recall an additional player from the Marlies on an emergency basis ($875,000 salary or less), which appears likely for Sunday’s tilt in Raleigh.
That player will not count against the cap until Toronto’s emergency situation is resolved.
If there is a bright side for the Leafs here, it’s that Toronto is resting its wounded and will be catching the Canadiens tired after Friday’s emotional wild-card bowl against the Ottawa Senators.
Maple Leafs projected lineup Saturday vs. Montreal Canadiens
Knies – Matthews – Marner
Järnkrok – Tavares – Nylander
McMann – Domi – Robertson
Holmberg – Laughton – Lorentz
Rielly – Carlo
Benoit – Tanev
Myers
Stolarz
Woll
