Nate Thompson believes that the Leafs have it in them to crawl out of his hole: Leafs Morning Take
Simply put, it’s been a busy news day in Toronto.
The Leafs are IN one —there’s no doubt it.
First off, it was revealed that Auston Matthews will miss at least one week with a lower body issue. Craig Berube doesn’t think it’s serious, but as we know by now, take anything the Leafs say about injuries with a grain of salt. For what it’s worth, the Leafs are 45-24-2 all-time without Matthews in the lineup. Everyone will need to elevate against the Los Angeles Kings.
Meantime, the David Kampf saga is finally headed for a resolution. He’s played his last game in Toronto. The Leafs are set to place the disgruntled centre on waivers for the purpose of contract termination. That means Toronto will get the cap space and Kampf can pick a new team – if he wants – by Friday afternoon.
After that, we got into a full preview of Leafs/Kings. Toronto’s lost three in a row. Dennis Hildeby will get the call in goal. At this point, Anthony Stolarz is being considered day-to-day with an upper body issue. We’re wondering how much this is about getting Stolie away from the rink for a few days for a reset. He needs it. The Leafs will be in tough against Los Angeles, who are one of the best road teams in the NHL. The good news is that Toronto’s one three straight meetings with the Kings. To start, it looks like the Leafs will deploy a top line of Knies, Tavares, and Nylander. We’ll see where that goes. In other roster news, Scott Laughton was placed on IR retroactive to November 8th and Artur Akhtyamov was called from the Marlies to back-up Hildeby. You would have to think Joseph Woll’s close to being recalled. For what it’s worth, he gave up three goals on 28 shots in a 3-2 OT loss versus Grand Rapids on Wednesday morning.
Former NHLer turned broadcaster Nate Thompson then stopped by the show to preview the game. He thinks this could be a trap game for the Kings, who are coming off an impressive 5-1 beatdown of Montreal. Furthermore, Thompson dished on Matthews and Stolarz, and how the Leafs can overcome these big injuries. Additionally, he brought a depth players’ mentality to the table. Simply put, he thinks the Leafs need to simplify their game, zone in defensively, and play uneventful hockey. He also predicted that Berube’s bunch would turn things around eventually.
Lastly, Jay Rosehill AKA Jay Friedman dropped a bomb to finish off the show. He heard from a well-placed source that the Leafs are very interested in acquiring Calgary’s Rasmus Andersson. The fit makes sense, but what would that cost? Toronto’s not in a good position to add right now, that’s for sure.
Win or loss, we’ll be back for the Friday edition of Leafs Morning Take to break things down. Also, 2x Stanley Cup champion & former Maple Leaf Dave Bolland will drop by the show once again.