The chaos of the Rielly suspension and the Leafs locker room illness is carrying over into a second day after the strong showing against the Blues last night. The All-Star break to the trade deadline is normally the boring time for hockey, so kudos to the Leafs for trying to make it a little more interesting.
The Leafs have five stalls for goalies in their dressing room today: Ilya Samsonov, Joseph Woll, Martin Jones, Matt Murray, and Dennis Hildeby.
— Jonas Siegel (@jonassiegel) February 14, 2024
Things are definitely starting to get crowded. It sounds like Samsonov put in some work on a separate pad, I’m not sure if that was an attempt to isolate him from sick skaters of if the Leafs have plans to use someone other than Ilya in net against the Flyers, but it could also be the far less exciting option of the goaltender coach taking advantage of an abundance of netminders and wanting to give his current starter some specific focus. (Keefe has confirmed that Samsonov is starting against the Flyers.)
Exact return date for Woll to be determined, but it’s getting closer. Keefe: “In terms of participating in games, I think he’s getting to the point where we can have those discussions and start to map it out a little bit.” #Leafs
— Terry Koshan 🇺🇦 (@koshtorontosun) February 14, 2024
That’s definitely good news and if you are looking to the schedule and noticing back-to-back games on February 21st and 22nd, that’s likely the target.
Morgan Rielly is filing an appeal.
Brad Treliving will not speak today.— luke fox (@lukefoxjukebox) February 14, 2024
That’s what happens when you give someone plenty of free time. They are going to use it. And while I don’t doubt that Rielly appealing his suspension to Bettman is just an exercise the NHLPA wants him to undergo and it will ultimately fall on the deafest of ears, this is the avenue the Leafs have to express their displeasure with the ruling and good on them for using it.
As for Brad Treliving…
Treliving not speaking on the Rielly suspension is one thing but the fact that we’ve heard from him so rarely this season is concerning. Treliving doesn’t need to love the spotlight as much as Brian Burke or may not find it necessary to explain himself as much Kyle Dubas has done, but Treliving has been more of a ghost than even Lou Lamoriello or Dave Nonis.
No one is saying come out and explain your plans for the trade deadline but there is something to be said for taking accountability for the team and hopefully we’ll see Treliving do that publicly a bit more often.
#Leafs in practice:
Knies-Matthews-Rielly
Bertuzzi-Domi-Robertson
McMann-Kampf-Gregor
Steeves-Holmberg-ReavesBrodie-Liljegren
Benoit-McCabe
Giordano-LagessonHildeby
Woll
Samsonov (departed after early work)Absent: 91, 88, 16
— Terry Koshan 🇺🇦 (@koshtorontosun) February 14, 2024
Based on this there are probably some real concerns that William Nylander is the next victim of whatever is going around the Leafs locker room. Sheldon Keefe mentioned that a few other players in the lineup last night weren’t doing great and we can probably assume that Willy was one of them.
Marner and Tavares still being out makes them questionable for tomorrow’s game as well and if Tuesday night seemed like a Marlies-esque lineup, Thursday could be even more interesting.
#LeafsForever have moved Calle Järnkrok from IR to LTIR.
— CapFriendly (@CapFriendly) February 14, 2024
Jarnkrok, largely due to the need for cap space for Steeves and Hildeby, was put on the LTIR. That moves the Leafs to having over $17M worth of cap hits on LTIR. The move will be retroactive to January 27th and he will be eligible to come off the LTIR on February 24th against the Avs.
