Leafs make MULTIPLE moves… This is WILD | Toronto Maple Leafs News

Leafs make MULTIPLE moves… This is WILD | Toronto Maple Leafs News

There’s some big news to go over today. The Toronto Maple Leafs have made multiple moves and ahead of a big game this evening. They not only made some big lineup changes, but one move in particular that has big implications going forward. And as fans being very encouraged to break that down as well as a ton of other things on this episode, folks, before we get into it all, if you’re part of the percentage who aren’t subscribed to the channel, quick reminder to hit that subscribe button. Darius, a lot to go over today. And obviously, we’re at a point now in the season where the deadline is slowly inching closer and closer and the Leafs ahead of a game tonight, they are continuing to shuffle the lineups. They haven’t found a thing that works just or a lineup rather that works quite yet. But I want to start before we dive into lineup changes about a player that we haven’t discussed about too too much on this channel and it is Marshall Rafi because he has been injured all of this year but he has officially been assigned to the Toronto Merlies on a conditioning loan as he prepares now to return to what potentially could be the uh the NHL team here. So this one is interesting. Again, in case you missed it, this is the conditioning stint in the final recovery phase of his wrist injury, which required wrist surgery. And this is a player that I mean, for a team that needs defensive depth at this point, they will very much so welcome Marshall Rafi back in some capacity once he finishes his conditioning loan with the uh with the Marlies. >> Yeah, and it’s been a pretty brutal recovery for Marshall Rafi. broke his hand in the preseason and uh he obviously has been skating for a while at this point, but being sent back down to the Marlies on a conditioning stint. He’s going to come right back up after this conditioning stint. He’s going to be with the NHL club. They’re going to have him because of the injuries that they have in the lineup. They trust him. I’m a big fan of Marshall Rafi like what he did last year and ever since he’s come to the organization anytime he was called upon like he looks solid. He looks steady. He’s 6’2. This is exactly what they need in the lineup. Just somebody who can, you know, be mobile but is also big. plays with that kind of edge as well. So, uh, they’re going to get him back into the lineup. I think he’ll be back with the Leafs. This also has salary cap implications, so we have to, you know, consider that. And the fact that there is a bunch of guys out with injuries still and they’ll be coming back at some point. And, you know, stolars and obviously Chris Tanv, like what’s happening there. Chris Tanv is actually traveling with the team on this trip, but he’s not playing tonight. So, that’s pretty interesting and something to to keep in mind. So, we’ll see what happens with that. But, I imagine after this conditioning stint, he will be back with the team and he’ll probably be in the lineup. they trust him a lot and I think he’s a pretty good young player too. So, we’ll see what he what he does on this conditioning stint, but I think it’s headed towards that direction. >> Yeah, we’ll dive into who he’s going to replace and like that. He is 27 years old, $775,000 towards the capit, which as you look at things, there’s going to be have to be some uh some maneuvering around here, but again, he’s been out since the preseason. I think he went down similar time to Scott Lton as well, and then of course, they kind of got matched together, so people weren’t really talking about it. for a team that again acquired Troy Stcher. They seem to be in the market at the trade deadline for a defenseman whether that be Raso Sanderson or others. This will be a band-aid or potentially an actual good, you know, fit in the meantime here. But let’s dive into some of the things from the morning skate today cuz it all kind of lends together here. So, just before it begins, Craig Rubé engaged in a long chat with Matias Machelli who hasn’t been, which is crazy now, he hasn’t been in the lineup the entire month of December. We’re now two almost three weeks into it. And a couple notes here. Dennis Hillby, he is starting tonight against Washington, which I love the idea of that. But Darius, let’s just waste no more time, not waste more time here rather, and dive into some of the changes because there are a few and one obviously major one here. So you can see it’s N Matthews, Knander, Robertson, Tvarz, Cowan. So a much different second line. Joshua Juan McMahon, Lorent L, and Doi with Michelli once again on the outside looking in, which maybe this was a conversation about him potentially getting the lineup in the next game. Whatever it ends up being, he’s out once again. And we’ll dive into the blue line here shortly with those extras being Tanvan Meyers and of course with Rafi on the outside looking in. We’ll dive into that. But Cowan now on the second line with Robertson and Tvarez. A bit of a veteran leadership with youth surrounded, you know, in between Tvarz there quite notable and um they continue to shuffle things even though they won yesterday’s game. Breub usually doesn’t change things after a win, but it wasn’t the most convincing win in the in the world of course. >> No, it wasn’t. And we talked about it yesterday and that’s what that conversation was exactly to a tea because they came out and said, you know, after morning skate that Bubé said, first of all, I love the idea of Hill to be starting because you have a busy schedule coming up. So, you don’t want to run Joseph Wall right into the ground as soon as he came back from injury. But, uh, that’s exactly what that conversation was. Machelli is going to get into the lineup one game this weekend for sure. And they have a backto-back. They’re playing Nashville and Dallas on Saturday and Sunday. So, I do wonder if he gets into the lineup against his future team in the Nashville Predators like we’ve been talking about on the channel on Saturday. And I do think that this conversation was basically, hey, we’re going to have to use you for one game this weekend. We have a backto-back. These are the things we need out of you. If we see this, maybe you stay in the lineup, right? Cuz there’s a couple guys like Doy [snorts] that hasn’t really been offering too much. Now he’s on the fourth line. Cowan’s up on the second line. That third line you don’t want to touch because McMahon’s been awesome with Wah and uh, you know, Dakota Joshua on the left side there. They’ve been awesome together. So you don’t want to mess with that. So now do goes back to the fourth line. So, I wonder if this is an opportunity coming up here this weekend where they’re sitting Machelli down. They’re going, “Listen, we need X, Y, and Z out of you. You are going to get back into the lineup.” And Brew did say he wants to get him back in the lineup one of these games coming up here cuz he hasn’t played in almost a month at this point. We’re getting into that territory with Christmas around the corner. He hasn’t played since November 28th. So, uh, he wants to get him back into the lineup. I imagine it’s one game this weekend. I imagine it’s against Nashville. And if he does execute on the things they’re asking him to do, I think Max Doi could be in trouble in terms of, you know, he could be the next man out with uh being a healthy scratch. So, very interesting stuff there. Rafi is coming back to at some point probably after Christmas. So, some things to look forward to there. But uh you know, busier schedule coming up before the end of uh or the break here before Christmas. >> Yeah. And obviously in the blue line, if Marshall Roi, they want to get him in, you can replace him with Ben, you can replace him with Henry Throne. those two guys. At this point, I don’t think many people would be too too upset. And again, you mentioned it, TANF did travel with the team, so will he be playing? We uh we don’t really know quite yet, but we’ll keep you up to date on that. Their power play units remain pretty similar. They’re kind of juggling between Riley and Oel these days. And something else I want to discuss, and you mentioned it as well, is Craig Brew kind of, >> you know, speaking about just the way that he’s been mixing up his lines. And he says, and this is about multiple different guys, most importantly, it’s about uh, you know, Rafi in this case. He says, “He’s always in the mix since I’ve been here. He’s a guy that can give you game to be ready to play.” And this is about Marshall Five. To clarify, a guy like Kim, he gets in there and plays some games and gains confidence. And he’s got a lot of ability. He can skate essentially. I’m not going to read the whole thing, but Craig Bub praised him a lot. And this is something that, you know, coaches usually do in preparation at least in for a player to return and actually get, you know, minutes in the lineup. So, obviously, the injuries happened, things like that. They haven’t had a blue line that’s ran away with it by any means. You know, guys like even Ben was had a down year. Henry Thron he’s been you know serviceable since he came back up. The only guy who has run with it is Troy Stetcher out of the guys who are on the fringe and the outside looking in. We could see a world where it’s something like I’m not saying the direct you know mix of matches this way but Riley Oel Mabe Stcher and then you could have Tanv and Marshall Rafi in there and they could of course move around you know Rafi and Benoa Rafi and Thrron but at the end of the day here it’s clear from his comments that Marshall Rafi is going to get in at some capacity once he comes back and maybe Cristana fraternity changes things in that and throws a little bit of a wrench in there. But it’s good to know that Breway thinks very highly of Marshall Rafi as well cuz a lot of people do. >> Yeah, definitely. And I think it to me it’s probably Thrun that’s being sent back to the Marlies. Although I think Rafi would have to show something in his conditioning stint that he is ready to go right away into the NHL. So I do think that there is a world where through the next couple games, you know, on his conditioning stint, you go, okay, maybe he does need a little bit more time in the AHL. But I think that he’s ready to go. He’s been skating with this group. He’s been skating for a while, uh, morning skates, stuff like that on his own. And I think that he’s just going down there to get in-game action and then back up to the NHL level cuz again they just trust him a lot and you could see that quote from Breub as well. He does a lot of really good things. So, uh, Thron is a little bit younger. I imagine he goes down, he’s going to be like a number one, you know, the power play guy. Uh, you know, I watched a game a couple weeks ago where he was on the power play quarterbacking. He was playing a ton of minutes. He was the number one guy. So, just being in that opportunity and then, you know, being able to bring that to the Leafs in the future, I think is a big thing for him now. So, I think Rafi gets back into the lineup. But, yeah, a lot of interesting moves coming up. I think this weekend Machelli is probably getting gonna get into one game. Tanv could return on this road trip. That’ll be interesting to keep in mind because he did travel with the team. He’s skating in a regular jersey now. We’ll see what happens with that. But uh lots going on and a big game tonight. You need to pick up another big two points. And the last time they were in Washington, absolute stinker uh where they were up two nothing and ended up losing 4 to2 and stopped playing after they scored that second goal. So big two points here. We’ll see what the power play can do cuz it’s been horrible besides Austin Matthews goal last game. Uh it’s a it’s a big one. They need another two points. >> Yeah, let us know your thoughts on this and if you’re encouraged about Marshall or Fi nearing return. Thank you guys for watching.

Nick Gosse and Darius Domingues break down the Toronto Maple Leafs making multiple moves and discuss what it means going forward.

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