The Toronto Maple Leafs have recalled defenceman Philippe Myers from a conditioning loan with the AHL’s Toronto Marlies, the team announced Friday.
Myers was assigned to the Marlies on November 16 and he played three games with the club, where he did not register a point. The 27-year-old was afforded a chance for further playing time as he played in one game with the Maple Leafs this season on October 26 against the Boston Bruins. Myers is effectively operating as Toronto’s eighth defenceman, as Conor Timmins outplayed Myers and Timothy Liljegren (since traded to the San Jose Sharks) during training camp, while Jani Hakanpaa is working his way back into NHL reps.
It’s unclear at the time of this filing whether Myers will play Sunday against the Utah Hockey Club, with Timmins and Hakanpaa as options on the team’s third pair alongside Simon Benoit. Oliver Ekman-Larsson did not skate in Friday’s practice due to illness, so it’s possible that Myers could replace him in the lineup if he’s unavailable. Ekman-Larsson has been primarily paired with Morgan Rielly, while Jake McCabe and Chris Tanev have formed a true shutdown pair for the Maple Leafs.
There’s a potentially interesting combination at play here, as Hakanpaa has been primarily paired alongside Rielly during his two games, and Toronto could elect for an 11-forward, 7-defenceman format against Utah, facing a wave of injuries to its forward corps, with Auston Matthews, Max Domi, David Kampf, Max Pacioretty, Calle Jarnkrok all out of the lineup, while Ryan Reaves serves the second game of his five-game suspension.
Myers possesses the size and physicality that general manager Brad Treliving has coveted during his tenure, and the organization is reportedly still optimistic about his upside. The 27-year-old spent the majority of the 2023-24 season with the AHL’s Syracuse Crunch, recording four goals and 23 points in 61 AHL games, while going without a point in five games with the Tampa Bay Lightning.
