Leafs make a few roster tweaks ahead of Friday's game in Chicago
After a few days off following their return from Sweden and the NHL Global Series where they won both games, the Maple Leafs returned to practice today. On Monday night, the Leafs assigned Bobby McMann and Simon Benoit to their AHL affiliate, the Toronto Marlies. At the time, many believed it was a paper transaction to give them enough cap space to activate Conor Timmins from LTIR. This appears to be accurate as both McMann and Benoit skated at practice today along with Timmins.
Up front, Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe kept his lines intact from the past few games but did make a subtle change to the fourth line. That change sees McMann skating on the left side with Noah Gregor now on the right side of David Kampf. That means Ryan Reaves appears to be heading for a fourth straight appearance in the press box on Friday.
On the blueline, the pairings of Morgan Rielly and T.J. Brodie and Mark Giordano and Jake McCabe remained together while the third pairing saw William Lagesson paired with Conor Timmins indicating that he will be in the lineup Friday against the Chicago Blackhawks. Simon Benoit was skating as the seventh defenseman.
Rielly was also seen taking reps on the top powerplay unit, while the returning Timmins was quarterbacking the second unit. Defenseman John Klingberg was absent from another practice as he continues to deal with a "lower-body" injury.
The Leafs will head to Chicago for a matinee game Friday where they will look to win their fifth in a row. Until the Leafs go into a funk or an injury occurs, we should expect Sheldon Keefe to continue to use this lineup for the foreseeable future.
| POLL | ||
NOVEMBRE 22 | 300 ANSWERS Leafs make a few roster tweaks ahead of Friday's game in Chicago Should the Leafs give Lagesson more of an opportunity and limit Giordano's minutes? | ||
| Yes, he has played well and deserves it | 226 | 75.3 % |
| No, they need to continue to shelter him | 74 | 24.7 % |
| List of polls | ||
