Leafs announce a handful of roster changes, including one very popular one
Two visitor goals in the final 90 seconds on Saturday night saw the Toronto Maple Leafs blow a 4-2 lead and lose in a shootout to the Carolina Hurricanes. After a day off yesterday, the Leafs returned to practice this afternoon before heading off to Philadelphia to take on the Flyers tomorrow night.
Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe left his forward lines intact for the most part, substituting Ryan Reaves in on the fourth line for Noah Gregor. That means that Pontus Holmberg will line up next to Tyler Bertuzzi and Auston Matthews on the top line once again as Mitch Marner continues to recover from an ankle sprain. Bobby McMann will also see his ice-time continue to increase as he skated next to Max Domi and William Nylander while John Tavares centered the two rookies in Nick Robertson and Matthew Knies.
On the back end, Ilya Lyubushkin was absent from practice, which forced Keefe to shuffle his defensive pairings. T.J. Brodie was back on the right side next to Morgan Rielly, and it appears that Simon Benoit will draw back into the lineup tomorrow after being a healthy scratch for the past three games. He skated with Jake McCabe on the second pairing while Joel Edmundson remained with Timothy Liljegren.
Benoit voiced his displeasure with being a healthy scratch last week, as did Leaf fans who believe "The Milk Man" should be in the lineup. Many believe it should have been Liljegren that was due to be a healthy scratch instead of Benoit, but Keefe chose to keep him in as he was a right-shot.
The usual suspects were manning the crease for the Leafs with Ilya Samsonov, Joseph Woll and Martin Jones all taking shots. No indication as of yet who will draw in for tomorrow's grudge match against the Flyers.
| POLL | ||
MARS 18 | 827 ANSWERS Leafs announce a handful of roster changes, including one very popular one Should T.J. Brodie be a healthy scratch with how poorly he's played this season? | ||
| Yes | 684 | 82.7 % |
| No | 143 | 17.3 % |
| List of polls | ||
