Sheldon provides updates on Kase, goaltenders
The Leafs are back in action on Saturday night in Denver, Colorado where they'll be taking on a surging Avalanche team who have won 8 of their last 10 games.
Toronto took their previous meeting with ease, skating their way to an 8-3 victory, but I don't think this one will be as much of a runaway game as the last one, as the Avs are expected to start Darcy Kuemper this time around.
The Leafs are also missing 3 key players, in Ondrej Kase, Mitch Marner and Pierre Engvall, with the latter two being in COVID-19 protocol. Kase, on the other hand, was injured during a pre-practice workout earlier this week and was not able to suit up against the Oilers on Wednesday.
Kase has been listed as "day-to-day" ever since, and while some were holding onto hope that he could be ready to go in time for Saturday's game in Colorado, Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe has revealed that Kase is not expected to go in Denver.
The Leafs have already called up Joey Anderson and Brett Seney from the taxi squad, and Nick Ritchie is expected to draw into the lineup as well after being waived on Thursday, clearing on Friday.
Keefe also announced that Jack Campbell will get the nod against the Avs, no surprise there. In addition, he also revealed that Petr Mrazek would be in line to start one of the Leafs' games this week, either Tuesday in Vegas or Wednesday in Arizona.
Mrazek has seen just 3 games for the Leafs this season, posting a 2-1-0 record to go along with a 4.13 GAA and a .880 SV%. The Leafs will likely elect to start him in the second half of the back-to-back in a more favourable matchup against the Coyotes to try to give him the best chance to succeed in hopes of getting his confidence up after a rocky start.
