Leafs announce a pair of roster changes; defenseman sent down to the AHL, forward recalled

First, the Leafs announced that they had recalled forward Pontus Holmberg from the Toronto Marlies. Holmberg had just been sent back down to the AHL earlier this week when they had called up Nicholas Robertson, so the decision to recall him so soon could indicate that Ryan Reaves may come out of the lineup for one of the next two games.

Reaves has struggled mightily of late after a solid start through the team's first few games. Since that time, he hasn't been nearly as engaged physically and has found himself with very limited minutes and was even benched this week by Sheldon Keefe. At this point, I'm sure many would be open to the idea of at least trying a third line that consisted of Gregor-Kampf-Holmberg, with Reaves spending a night or 2 in the press box.

In a subsequent move, the Leafs announced that Max Lajoie had been sent back to the Marlies, which could indicate that Jake McCabe is ready to make his return to the Leafs. McCabe had suffered a lower body injury a couple of weeks back in a game against the Dallas Stars back on October 26th.

The Leafs have had a very tough time defensively in the early stages of the season, so getting McCabe back would be a welcome boost. We also know that Conor Timmins is still on the mend and has resumed practicing with the team, albeit as an extra defenseman for the time being. His timetable for return is still up in the air, but Sheldon Keefe has already revealed that Timmins will not return in time for the Global Series in Sweden next week. Timothy Liljegren also remains sidelined after the infamous Brad Marchand "can opener" incident.