Although the Toronto Maple Leafs are secure in third place in the Atlantic Division and are essentially guaranteed a first-round matchup against the Boston Bruins or Florida Panthers for now, every point they can collect helps limit the stress of Leaf fans wondering if the Tampa Bay Lightning will catch them. Unfortunately, the Leafs left one point on the table last night as they blew a two-goal lead in the final two minutes and lost to the Carolina Hurricanes in a shootout.
Following the game, the Leafs made a pair of late-night roster moves. They placed Calle Jarnkrok on LTIR after he suffered a hand injury Thursday against the Philadelphia Flyers. They also activated defenseman Conor Timmins from LTIR as he appears to have fully recovered from mononucleosis.
The pair of roster moves gives the Leafs $1.35M in cap space which will allow them to activate Mark Giordano when he is recovered from his concussion as well. With 8 healthy defensemen on their roster, the Leafs have tremendous depth at the position.
Given Jarnkrok is out "week-to-week", according to Sheldon Keefe, it would not be surprising if the Leafs kept him sidelined until the playoffs began to allow them to carry an expanded roster.
