To be or not to Hildeby.
That is the question, actually one of many, as the Maple Leafs embark on tonight’s final NHL exhibition game in Detroit ahead of Wednesday’s regular-season opener.
Dennis Hildeby is expected to start in net, looking to extend a strong pre-season (a .944 save percentage in two games) and make the opening night roster ahead of 37-year-old James Reimer in the continuing absence of Joseph Woll as Anthony Stolarz’s back-up. Reimer, on a professional tryout contract at present, will be on the bench in Detroit, his first time in a Leaf uniform in nine years.
The Leafs, who could wrap the pre-season schedule with the unlikely circumstance of winning all three road exhibitions and losing three at home, will be sending a cautionary, watered-down lineup to the Motor City. Emphasis on staying healthy was underlined after Thursday’s 3-1 home loss to the Wings when it was revealed centre Scott Laughton suffered a lower-body shot block injury and is out week-to-week.
The club is awaiting Saturday afternoon’s NHL waiver results to see if centre/winger David Kampf and his $2.4 million US salary clear, so he can get in line as Laughton’s replacement, at or near the top, with Calle Jarnkrok and Nick Robertson possibly being worked in.
That determination will be part of practices before Wednesday versus Montreal, an ever-improving playoff team in the Atlantic Division.
More Takeouts and Breakouts:HOME STICKING
When the main group practiced Saturday after the Detroit-bound Leafs, Max Domi had been moved off the first line with Auston Matthews and Matthew Knies to centre, with Kampf on right wing and Dakota Joshua on the left. It remains to be seen what the opening night plan is, but Domi’s overall skill set is better suited for more ice time in the middle.
The trade-off is another delay, letting Domi build chemistry with the two stars in the departed Mitch Marner’s place, with only one game together to date, while coach Craig Berube reverted to Matias Maccelli on the first line as he did when Domi was hurt early in camp.
HILDEBEAST OUT Of HIDING
The 6-foot-7 Hildeby is an interesting story, a fourth-round pick in 2022 from Sweden, once considered on a direct path to the NHL after playing 41 games in his first full AHL season in 2023-24.
But he was lost in the shuffle last season as Stolarz and Woll were healthy enough to allow him just six NHL games (3-3 with an .878 save percentage), while the farm team utilized both veteran Matt Murray and newly-arrived 2020 draft pick Artur Akhtyamov in 20-plus games as well. Murray has moved on to Seattle.
No netminder from Hildeby’s draft class has emerged yet. Of the five chosen ahead of him, only Niklas Kokko of Seattle has played one NHL game, while Pittsburgh is debating to promote its fourth rounder, Sergei Murashov, after his good camp.
Hildeby has had a strong few weeks and was further encouraged when general manager Brad Treliving said Reimer wouldn’t be prioritized if the time had come to test Hildeby’s big-league readiness.
PLATE FULL OF WINGS
Saturday’s game against an expected significant number of Detroit’s NHLers will be the fourth meeting in 11 days between the clubs, counting a regular season home-and-home during the Thanksgiving Weekend.
Detroit’s rebuild under GM Steve Yzerman has been slower than others in the league and the prospect of a 10th straight season out of the playoffs. The early NHL schedule does them no favours, facing Montreal (albeit at home the night after Habs play the Leafs) and home against Florida, Tampa Bay and Edmonton, then a long early November trip to California and Vegas.
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