Tuesday was an eventful day for the Maple Leafs.
Off the ice, it was announced that Joseph Woll would be taking a leave of absence to tend to a personal matter. Then, on the ice, the Leafs tangled with the Ottawa Senators at Scotiabank Arena.
Simply put, the season opener can’t come soon enough. We kicked off the show by giving our quick thoughts on the current preseason format. After that, you just knew we had to discuss the Season 2 trailer for Amazon Prime’s Faceoff: Insider the NHL docu-series. There was a specific Mitch Marner clip that got our attention. Start hitting people! Furthermore, we also spent way too much time talking about Auston Matthews’ making a smiley face during warmups on Tuesday night with pucks to pay homage to his former teammate who now calls Vegas home.
Brought to you by Simply Spiked, we broke the 3-2 OT loss to the Sens. Shane Pinto scored the OT winner. The most newsworthy things to come out of the game: Dennis Hildeby was solid, Auston Matthews scored, and both Easton Cowan and Ben Danford impressed once again. The result didn’t matter. Meantime, it was cool to see Matias Maccelli and Dakota Joshua play their first games. Maccelli tallied two apples, and Joshua was throwing his body around all night.
Suffice it is to say, this could prove to be a big moment in Hildeby’s career. While the details are scarce on Woll, the way people are talking, it doesn’t sound like he will be back anytime soon. Enter Hildeby, who’s fresh off signing a three-year contract extension. In the absence of Woll, the Leafs need the 24-year-old Swede to seize the moment and rise to the occasion. Plain and simple.
To talk more about that, among other things, The Fourth Period’s David Pagnotta dropped by the show. In addition to the Woll/Hildeby conversation, we also got the latest on the Anthony Stolarz contract talks. In short, Pagnotta didn’t have much new to report. That said, he does think there’s a good chance that Stolarz signs an extension by October 8th. Additionally, the debated some looming roster decisions. Does Cowan make the team? Do the Leafs trade some guys out? We covered a bunch of different pertinent topics.
The next edition of Leafs Morning Take will come your way on Friday morning at 11 AM ET. Join us as we recap Thursday night’s tilt with Montreal. Plus, we’ll dissect the latest news and notes as well as look ahead to Toronto’s weekend.
You can subscribe to TheLeafsNation (TLN) YouTube channel HERE. Additionally, we’re available in podcast form, too —wherever you get your podcasts. While you’re at it, be sure to leave us a 5-star review!