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Minor league shuffle and the need for goalie depth; Leafs vs. Canes

December 11, 2018, 6:28 PM ET [469 Comments]
Mike Augello
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The Toronto Maple Leafs look to end their two-game losing streak as they continue their five-game December road trip against the Carolina Hurricanes at the PNC Arena in Raleigh. The Leafs will not have winger Zach Hyman in the lineup, who begins a two-game suspension for his hit on Bruins defenseman Charlie McAvoy in the loss to Boston on Saturday, which will force Mike Babcock to alter his line combinations.

Connor Brown will shift to left wing and play on the top line with John Tavares and Mitch Marner. The second and third lines of Andreas Johnsson-Auston Matthews-Kasperi Kapanen and Patrick Marleau-Nazem Kadri-William Nylander remain intact, and Frederik Gauthier will return to the lineup, centering a fourth line of Par Lindholm and Tyler Ennis.

The Leafs recent struggles have been due in part to their season-long difficulty of getting off to good starts. Detroit erased an early lead and scored four straight before Toronto rallied in the third period to force overtime. Boston outworked and outhit the Leafs in the first two periods, building a 4-0 lead that Toronto could not come back from.

Nowhere has the tendency for slow starts been more apparent than against Carolina, where Toronto surrendered an NHL record 29 shots in the first period and 45 shots overall on Frederik Andersen in a 5-2 loss on November 21.

“We lost every race and every battle in the first period in this building, we had a real good second and we got ourselves back in (the game).” Leafs head coach Mike Babcock said on Tuesday morning. “You’ve got to start on time in the league. We all know that, that’s the way you have success.”

Former Leaf Curtis McElhinney was victorious over his former team, but will not get another chance as he is out with a lower body injury. Petr Mrazek is expected to get the start for Carolina, while Andersen hopes to bounce back after being pulled for allowing six goals on 28 shots against the Bruins.

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Leafs GM Kyle Dubas and Asst.GM Laurence Gilman have been quite busy over the last 24 hours. Following the signing of defenseman Calle Rosen to a two-year, $1.5 Million contract extension, the club made a pair of minor trades involving depth players on the AHL Marlies.

The Anaheim Ducks in need of some organizational help between the pipes acquired Marlies netminder Jeff Glass for future considerations. The two clubs also swapped veteran minor-leaguers, as blueliner Steven Oleksy heads to Toronto in exchange for forward Adam Cracknell.

Glass was signed to an AHL contract in early October after the Leafs lost both McElhinney and Calvin Pickard on waivers and Kasimir Kaskisuo to injury. With Eamon McAdam and a healthy Kaskisuo, the Marlies moved Glass to Anaheim, who lost backup Ryan Miller for six weeks with a MCL sprain, claimed Chad Johnson off of waivers from St. Louis and recalled former Red Wing Jared Coreau.

Toronto’s goaltending situation is still rather dicey. Andersen has played at a level that may make him a finalist for the Vezina Trophy, but Garret Sparks continues to struggle with consistency. Neither McAdam or Kaskisuo have any NHL experience and are both below .900 save percentage in the AHL.

It does not appear likely that the Hurricanes will place McElhinney on waivers, as he leads the Canes in wins, goals against and save %, and Calvin Pickard will likely remain in Arizona for the rest of the regular season after the announcement that Antti Raanta may miss the rest of the season with a lower body injury.

While further down the Leafs shopping list than a right handed defenseman or the addition of some sandpaper before February 25, Toronto is likely still looking to add a goalie with NHL experience currently in the minors (like Eddie Lack or Michael Hutchinson) in case of injury or Sparks continuing to struggle.

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