After a few days of much-needed practice time, the Leafs are getting set to host the Los Angeles Kings.
Sometimes in life, there are bigger things than hockey, though. We kicked off the Wednesday edition of Leafs Morning Take by talking about the tribute for the Gaudreau brothers at Nationwide Arena in Columbus on Tuesday night. Such emotion. So powerful. Once again, we send our thoughts and prayers out to the Gaudreau family during these difficult times.
After that, we broke down Alex Ovechkin joining the 700 goal/700 assist club. He’s only the sixth player in the NHL history to hit that milestone. Absolutely ridiculous! For comparison’s sake, Jay Rosehill – my incredible co-host – potted 5.5 goals and 8 points in his NHL career.
Brought to you by Square, we got into some of the practice notes ahead of Toronto’s home tilt with Los Angeles. William Nylander is a game-time decision due to illness. Rosey had a bit of funny conniption about the flu —for some reason. I asked him what side of the bed he woke up on. Additionally, we also dissected Timothy Liljegren’s game and what we want to see from him. Judging by the way he’s been deployed in practice over the past few days, it looks like the 25-year-old is on track to make his season debut against the Kings.
Furthermore, we touched on the struggling PP as well as some minor line changes that Craig Berube made. Will Auston Matthews finally score?
Then, courtesy Charm Diamond Centres, former Maple Leaf/TSN Hockey Analyst Mike Johnson dropped by the show. We talked everything from Liljegren and Nick Robertson to where Auston Matthews’ game is at right now. MJ was a lot of fun.
Meantime, thanks to Prime Video, we offered up an official game preview. It will be Anthony Stolarz against David Rittich in between the pipes. Also, unfortunately, Joel Edmundson, who had a quick post deadline stint with Toronto last spring, will not be in Los Angeles’ lineup. He’s on family leave. The Leafs and Kings split their season series in 2023-24.
Be sure to join us for the Thursday edition of Leafs Morning Take at 11 AM ET as we recap the Leafs/Kings game. Also, ‘Iron’ Mike Keenan will drop by the show to discuss his new book plus weigh in on the Maple Leafs as well. You won’t want to miss that.
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