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Coach Keefe with an update on Matt Murray’s health

Zuma Press

This just in, the Toronto Maple Leafs have recalled goaltender Jospeh Woll on an emergency basis.

This means, more than likely, that starting goaltender Matt Murray is likely to be placed on long-term injury reserve (IR) sometime in the coming days. Murray, of course, suffered yet another freak injury this past weekend in a game against the Detroit Red Wings. 

Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe commented on Murray’s status moving forward saying that it’s “difficult” to pin down a timeline for his return and that the team is taking it day by day.

It looks like the Leafs will be relying mostly on Ilya Samsonov down the stretch and into the playoffs, with Erik Kallgren and Woll backing him up. Samsonov, to his credit, has been solid for the Leafs during stretches this season. He has 25 wins in 39 starts and sports a 2.41 goals against average and a .915 save percentage. To be frank, he’s been a much more consistent goaltender for the Leafs than Murray, but that’s not saying a lot. Murray has been plagued by injury and inconsistency for years now and has never been able to recreate the success he had early on in his career with the Pittsburgh Penguins.

As for Woll, he’s stellar. The 24 year old former 3rd round pick (62nd overall in 2016) has been tremendous at both the NHL and the AHL level this season. With the Leafs he has three wins in four starts with a 2.03 goals against average and a scorching .934 save percentage. With the AHL’s Marlies he has 16 wins in 21 starts and a 2.37 goals against average and a .927 save percentage. Rock solid. Here’s hoping the kid gets a shot on the big stage once and for all.

The big problem with the Leafs in goal, and stop me if you’ve heard this one before, is with their contracts. Samsonov has earned a contract extension, but he’s slated to become an restricted free agent this upcoming offseason. While the Leafs have control over his rights, it’s unclear what the path forward is for him in Toronto. Murray though is signed for next season at over $4.6 million. Woll is signed for two more seasons, but is effectively blocked by Murray and Samsonov. It’s clear to me that Murray’s got to go… but at what cost?

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Sutter gets lit up for his roster decisions ahead of Flames’ biggest game of the season

Zuma Press

In all likelihood, the fate of the Calgary Flames’ 2022-23 season will be determined in the next 36 hours.

The Flames are two points back of the Winnipeg Jets for the final Wild Card playoff spot in the Western Conference and have back to back games today and tomorrow against the Chicago Blackhawks and Jets. So… needless to say that tomorrow night’s game against the Jets is the game of the season for both teams. Having said that, the Flames can’t afford to look past the Blackhawks this evening.

So… what is head coach Darryl Sutter planning to do in goal with back to back situations? He’s going with his ace.

Sutter announced today that goaltender Jacob Markstrom will play both games in the back to back, despite the fact that the team’s season is on the line.

I’ve gotta say… while Sutter is taking some heat online for making this decision I have absolutely no problem with it. Markstrom is paid the big bucks for a reason and when you’re season is on the line you don’t want your backup option in goal, you want your ace. Of course, if Markstrom falters then Sutter’s experiment could blow up in his face, but personally I think it’s a safe bet. 

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Preds drop 24 year old forward on waivers

Zuma Press

This just in, the Nashville Predators have placed 24 year old forward John Leonard on waivers.

The left winger has played just five games for the Preds this season, putting up one goal. In total he has five goals and 16 points over 63 career NHL games split between the Predators and the San Jose Sharks.

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Reports of a goalie trade in Toronto following today’s news

Zuma Press

Earlier today the Toronto Maple Leafs recalled goaltender Jospeh Woll on an emergency basis.

This means, more than likely, that starting goaltender Matt Murray is likely to be placed on long-term injury reserve (IR) sometime in the coming days. Murray, of course, suffered yet another freak injury this past weekend in a game against the Detroit Red Wings. 

Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe commented on Murray’s status moving forward saying that it’s “difficult” to pin down a timeline for his return and that the team is taking it day by day.

It looks like the Leafs will be relying mostly on Ilya Samsonov down the stretch and into the playoffs, with Erik Kallgren and Woll backing him up. Samsonov, to his credit, has been solid for the Leafs during stretches this season. He has 25 wins in 39 starts and sports a 2.41 goals against average and a .915 save percentage. To be frank, he’s been a much more consistent goaltender for the Leafs than Murray, but that’s not saying a lot. Murray has been plagued by injury and inconsistency for years now and has never been able to recreate the success he had early on in his career with the Pittsburgh Penguins.

As for Woll, he’s stellar. The 24 year old former 3rd round pick (62nd overall in 2016) has been tremendous at both the NHL and the AHL level this season. With the Leafs he has three wins in four starts with a 2.03 goals against average and a scorching .934 save percentage. With the AHL’s Marlies he has 16 wins in 21 starts and a 2.37 goals against average and a .927 save percentage. Rock solid. Here’s hoping the kid gets a shot on the big stage once and for all.

The big problem with the Leafs in goal, and stop me if you’ve heard this one before, is with their contracts. Samsonov has earned a contract extension, but he’s slated to become an restricted free agent this upcoming offseason. While the Leafs have control over his rights, it’s unclear what the path forward is for him in Toronto. Murray though is signed for next season at over $4.6 million. Woll is signed for two more seasons, but is effectively blocked by Murray and Samsonov. It’s clear to me that Murray’s got to go… but at what cost?

In his latest column for Sportsnet, Leafs insider Luke Fox proposed an offseason move that would see the Leafs trade Murray or even buy him out.

From Fox:

Murray could be traded to a team trying to reach the cap floor, or even bought out at a not-awful price. Because the Ottawa Senators are paying freight too, a Murray buyout would cost the Leafs $687,500 against their cap in 2023-24 and $2 million in 2024-25, when the ceiling should spike.

Samsonov is a restricted free agent. No doubt, his performance in the first round against Tampa will factor into his next raise, whether that’s with the Leafs or someone else.

Regardless where Murray and Samsonov end up, we feel comfortable writing Woll’s name in pen for the Leafs’ 2023 opening-night roster.

The 24-year-old’s cap hit ($766,667 through 2024-25) is a godsend for a cap-tight franchise (nice work by GM Kyle Dubas to buy low last summer), and Woll, called up on an emergency basis on Tuesday, has proven his worth at the AHL level and in short NHL bursts.

– Luke Fox

Honestly, Leafs GM Kyle Dubas has already shown us that he’s not afraid to eat crow and make up for his mistakes when he shipped Petr Mrazek to the Chicago Blackhawks at a loss. I suspect he’ll try something similar this offseason with Murray.

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Patrick Kane finally “comfortable” with Rangers

Blue Line Station

Forward Patrick Kane certainly made no bones about his displeasure after the New York Rangers acquired forward Vladimir Tarasenko from the St. Louis Blues last month, which appeared to signal the end of their interest in bringing him aboard as well. But the good news for Kane is that he eventually did get his happy ending. 

Kane would ultimately be acquired by the Rangers from the Chicago Blackhawks in exchange for a conditional 2023 second-round pick and a 2023 fourth-round pick; the conditional second-round pick becomes a first-round pick in either 2024 or 2025 if Kane is able to help the Rangers win two playoff rounds this year. 

It certainly is an adjustment when you come to a new team after having worn a single NHL uniform for the first 16 years of your NHL career, and Kane said that it was no different from him coming from The Windy City to The Big Apple. He’s getting more and more acclimated to his new teammates and system, having tallied five goals and five assists in the 16 games he’s appeared in wearing the blue and red of the Rangers.

“I would say I’m comfortable,” Kane told NHL.com last week. “After the first four or five games I felt like I was getting somewhere and now it’s like kind of at that place where you’re in the mode of you feel you should still try to take over.” 

“I know they’ve had a lot of success here, so I’m viewing these 21 games to just get myself settled in, figure out the way I need to do things, figure out the way I need to play and then make sure everything is dialed once the playoffs start,” Kane continued.

The Rangers have championship aspirations, and will be looking for a return trip to the Eastern Conference Final, albeit with a better outcome than last year’s loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning. For Kane, his routine with the Blackhawks involved plenty of winning, having lifted the Stanley Cup three times in six years. He’s now grown accustomed to his new routine in New York that he’s envisioning being capped with more postseason success.

“You get into a routine for 16 years with things you’re so used to, so accustomed to that you don’t really have to think about it,” he said. “Then you come here and all of a sudden you have to think about it, like how you’re going to do your pregame warmup or where you’re doing it, or what’s you’re going to need from the trainers. It’s all things like that. They may not seem like meaningful things but they’re things you have to dial in to have a routine.”

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Wayne Gretzky pushes for the NHL to create a Bobby Orr Trophy

The Athletic

In case you missed it this past weekend, while performing his usual broadcast duties for the TNT crew, The Great One Wayne Gretzky made an impassioned case for the NHL to introduce a new award: The Bobby Orr Trophy.

In Gretzky’s own words, Bobby Orr and Gordie Howe are the greatest players in NHL history and deserve to be honored with an award named in their honor(s). Gretzky really pushed the Bobby Orr Trophy idea though, saying that that Norris Trophy which is awarded annually to the NHL’s best defenseman should essentially be sawed in half and that the NHL should honor the best offensive defenseman and the best defensive defenseman each season. 

“We need a Bobby Orr Trophy, for the most points for a defenseman, and then (a trophy) for the best defensive defenseman. Have two awards. You should honor Bobby Orr, him and Gordie Howe, the greatest players ever,” The Great One said

Honestly, I like this idea. In fact, make the Orr Trophy an easy one. No votes… you get the most points, you win. Just like the Art Ross Trophy or the Rocket Richard Trophy. Love it!

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Brad Marchand mired in major slump

Fox News

The good news for the Boston Bruins this season is that they’re easily the top squad out of all 32 National Hockey League teams, having already secured the President’s Trophy as the top regular season squad with plenty of games to go still on the schedule. 

The bad news is that forward Brad Marchand, who is one of the focal points of the offensive attack, is mired in a pretty big slump of late. To be specific, it’s been 13 games since he’s last lit the lamp, which took place on March 9 against the Edmonton Oilers. It’s been eight years since he’s experienced something like this, as it was in 2015 that he underwent a career high slump of 15 games of not finding the back of the net.

For Marchand, who missed the first portion of the regular season after recovering from offseason surgery, he’s admitted to feeling not in perfect form. 

“I thought I’d feel better now than I do, to be honest with you,” Marchand said on March 8, just before the start of his current drought. “I think it’s been great, it’s been really relieving that we have the team we have and we’re as deep as we are. That definitely takes pressure off. But I thought I’d be kind of where I was last year right now, and I don’t necessarily feel like that.

“It just gets a little frustrating when I have an expectation to play a certain way and it’s not necessarily there yet,” he added.

Right now, Marchand has tallied 63 points in 68 games played, good for just slightly under a point per game pace.

He and the Bruins will be back in action tomorrow night when they take on their division and Original 6 rival Toronto Maple Leafs at Scotiabank Arena in downtown Toronto.

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Leafs hit the ice for LGBTQ+ celebrations, but one player refuses to participate

Toronto Maple Leafs

UPDATE: The Toronto Maple Leafs have hit the ice at Scotiabank Arena for tonight’s Pride Night game against the Columbus Blue Jackets wearing rainbow coloured decals on their helmets/masks. All save for goaltender Ilya Samsonov who has elected to not wear anything that promotes the LGBTQ+ community.

Read below for our earlier report on this developing story.

The Toronto Maple Leafs will celebrate the LGBTQ+ community this evening when they take on the Columbus Blue Jackets for their annual Pride Night.

Incidentally, the Leafs will NOT wear a special Pride themed warmup jersey for the evening, but this isn’t a change in their protocol as they’ve never worn anything other than their usual warmup jerseys. They will however be sporting special helmet decals for the entirety of the game and will feature special messages on the arena video screen during stoppages in play. The organization has held Pride Night celebrations since 2017. Head coach Sheldon Keefe and defeneman Morgan Rielly both donned a rainbow-themed t-shirt during media availability this morning.

“I believe actions speak louder than words,” Rielly said Tuesday. “And especially speak louder than attire.”

Yesterday, the St. Louis Blues announced that they had changed their plans for Pride Night and had ditched the rainbow-themed warmup jerseys that the team was scheduled to wear. The Minnesota Wild and Chicago Blackhawks also elected to drop their own jerseys after concerns that their Russian born players would face legal problems in Russia for “supporting non-normal lifestyles”. The Russian government recently instituted new laws regarding LGBTQ rights and the promotion of what they call “alternative sexualities”. Philadelphia Flyers defenceman Ivan Provorov, San Jose Sharks goalie James Reimer, Eric and Marc Staal of the Florida Panthers, Buffalo Sabres blue-liner Ilya Lyubushkin and Vancouver Canucks forward Andrei Kuzmenko have all opted out of Pride celebrations citing religious and political reasons.

My thoughts on this matter have been well stated on this website. I believe that the NHL should do away with every ‘special interest’ evening, including Pride Night. That means Military Appreciation Night and Law Enforcement Appreciation night too. These causes, along with LGBTQ+ causes, have become too politicized and are just dripping with drama. To me, hockey is just hockey. Nothing more. I don’t tune into a hockey game or buy tickets so that I can be part of Pride celebrations or to witness the glorification of war. Just drop the puck and let’s smash some teeth already. Anyone else with me?

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Nazem Kadri gets dragged through the mud on live TV!

YouTube

It looks like Nazem Kadri doesn’t care if the Calgary Flames make the postseason or not. Not saying it’s a fact but he’s sure acting like it.

During the first period of the Flames’ game against the Chicago Blackhawks on Tuesday night, Kadri nonchalantly turned the puck over to allow the Hawks to gain back the lead at the end of the first period.

During the intermission, Sportsnet’s Eric Francis called out Kadri and dragged him through the mud on live television, wondering if the veteran forward even cared about the playoff race. It was quickly discussed how his teammates are probably fed up with his lack of fight with just a few games to go.

The TV segment was over but the critics kept going on social media, pointing at Kadri’s mistakes and wondering why a young player like Jakob Pelletier is a scratch when he cares more about making the postseason then defending champion Kadri.

Recent chatter emerged that Kadri could want out of Calgary and his attitude does not speak to his commitment to the Flames.

The Flames ended up losing 4-3 at the hands of the Blackhawks and that goal that Kadri gave to Chicago feels even worse.
Tonight, the Flames face the Winnipeg Jets in a battle for the last spot of the postseason. The Jets are currently in the last wild-card spot of the West, two points over Calgary.

Kadri cannot afford to make another mistake like this tonight – or you know he will hear about it…

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The true story behind Darryl Sutter/Jakob Pelletier feud revealed and it’s worse than we thought…

Habsolument Fan

It has gone downhill for Calgary Flames head coach Darryl Sutter especially since his disrespectful conduct after being asked about rookie Jakob Pelletier’s debut in January.

As you may recall, Sutter responded satirically about Pelletier’s NHL debut, asking what his number was before reading out his stats.

The rest of the dressing room did not appreciate it and Sutter was met by GM Brad Treliving to discuss the incident.

The incident was brought into people’s mind earlier this week when Sutter decided to scratch Pelletier as part of a significant shakeup of the lines after snapping a six-year losing skid in Vegas.

Fans were upset and got even more fuelled by insider Frank Seravalli who revealed the true story behind this ongoing Sutter / Pelletier feud on Daily Face-Off, as they discussed how players in the Flames’ dressing room are unhappy under Sutter. This is what Seravalli revealed:

“The short story of it is they wanted to know if [Pelletier] was going to make his debut or not, and they wanted to get his parents in there to see it, and Darryl wouldn’t give them an answer. So finally it took another player to go upstairs and say ‘what are we doing here? This kid is hanging around, is he making his debut or not? And if he is, at least give him enough courtesy to say you’re in, let’s get your parents in here to make sure they see your first NHL game.’ Apparently the story goes that after that happened and he finally said yes he’s playing, that’s the reaction that you then get. ‘Oh you forced my hand into me playing this kid, this is how I’m going to handle it publicly. Just to let everyone know that this should have been my call.’ That was his way of pushing back. And that’s the stuff that goes on behind the scenes that drives people absolutely bananas.”

When Pelletier was scratched, the 22-year-old forward demonstrated a maturity far beyond his years, saying:
“It’s part of the process,” said Pelletier. “We’re still young guys, so we just have to learn from the mistake you made.

Pelletier was out of the lineup again on Tuesday in a 4-3 loss at the hands of the Chicago Blackhawks.

Sutter would never admit to his mistake in this case. And it explains how he could likely be fired this summer, especially if the Flames cannot clinch a playoff spot in the coming week.

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