The Toronto Maple Leafs will begin their pursuit of the Stanley Cup sometime next week, depending on when the NHL scheduling gods determine what day the North Division playoffs will start. With two games remaining, the Leafs appear to be getting close to 100% healthy.
"We just got to get these guys healthy and ready to play games, that's the first step. We're not there yet with any of these guys." Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe said on Monday. "(In) relation to (Zach)Hyman and (Riley) Nash, today is the first practice where they (were) actually available for contact, but the nature of our practice today with the special teams (and) there really wasn't much or any contact involved in special teams, so tomorrow would be a good step for them."
At Tuesday’s practice, Hyman took his normal spot on the top line with Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner, Nick Foligno replaced Alex Galchenyuk on the second line with John Tavares and William Nylander, Nash centered the third line with Alex Kerfoot and Ilya Mikheyev, and Wayne Simmonds shifted to the fourth line with Joe Thornton and Jason Spezza.
On defense, the top two pairs (Morgan Rielly – TJ Brodie, Jake Muzzin – Justin Holl) remained the same, but Ben Hutton replaced Rasmus Sandin (a victim of the Leafs cap crunch) on the bottom pairing with Travis Dermott, but Keefe was quick to point out in his media availability after practice that the combos being used were not indicative of what could be used in the playoffs and that a lot of experimentation could take place in the final two games.
There has been no update on the progress of veteran Zach Bogosian, so it appears that either Hutton or Sandin will be in the lineup for Game 1 next week.
Jack Campbell and Frederik Andersen were the two goalies getting the work at the Ford Performance Centre, and Andersen (according to Keefe) felt good after playing with the AHL Marlies on Thursday and Saturday, but the goalie has not been cleared by the Leafs medical staff and it is unknown whether Toronto can clear enough space to fit Andersen’s salary under the cap to play in one of the two remaining games this week.
The Leafs still do not know who their postseason opposition will be. The Montreal Canadiens clinched a playoff spot with a loser point in a 4-3 overtime loss to Edmonton and Winnipeg lost 3-1 to Vancouver on Monday. The Habs trail the Jets by one point for third place, and Winnipeg could lock up a playoff match with the Oilers with one or two points against the Canucks on Tuesday.
Montreal finishes out their schedule with a rematch with the Oilers on Wednesday and Toronto may again be in the position of determining their postseason foe in their final game vs. Winnipeg at the Bell MTS Centre on Friday.
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