Just like the TransCanada pipeline, the Toronto Maple Leafs and Calgary Flames share West-to-East connections — and some shared concerns.
We check on a few items before Tuesday night’s lone visit of the regular season by the Flames to the Scotiabank Arena.
STRUGGLING STARTS
The combined record of the clubs is 6-11-2 and, though Calgary sits 32nd of 32 NHL teams with just two wins, the pressure on the Leafs to finally make some hay in this homestand has only been partly relieved by the diversion of Blue Jays’ coverage.
Calgary has five players from the GTA, including ex-Leaf Nazem Kadri, linemate Morgan Frost and Markham-born rookie defenceman Zayne Parekh.
That usually means an adrenalin rush to make up for any jet lag the Flames could experience in starting this four-game Eastern trip.
“They’ll be fired up for sure,” Leafs coach Craig Berube forewarned. “Nothing has changed with their team the past couple of years in my opinion. They do create a lot of odd-man rushes, they do things quickly (which has been the Leafs’ Achilles heel this month).
“We have to focus on rush defence, but let’s get to their blueline tonight, get pucks deep, work on our forecheck.”
After an optional practice, Berube said injured first-line right winger William Nylander (lower body) will be a game-time decision, but Calle Jarnkrok (lower body) is out.
SCORCH MARKS
This is Leafs general manager Brad Treliving’s old team and, as such, many observers have wondered if Chris Tanev isn’t the only former Flame that Treliving sought to extract in a potential future trade.
There was a summer buzz about the Leafs looking to bring back Kadri, whom Treliving lured north with a seven-year, $49-million US deal after winning the Stanley Cup in Colorado, as Toronto sought a top six-forward re-shuffle after Mitch Marner departed.
Kadri tried to pump the brakes on such talk in a summer conversation with Postmedia. He’s already 35 years old with a deal not expiring until 2028-29.
Meanwhile, the Leafs ended up bringing back John Tavares as their No, 2 centre and they like Nicolas Roy in the middle of their bottom six.
Yet Kadri is still a force, leading the Flames with 67 points again last year and is on top with seven through these first 10 games.
“That (rumour) certainly picked up momentum,” Kadri said in the summer. “Everyone knows my connection with Tree and his family. But Calgary is a great city and I certainly enjoy it for the time being. No one knows what the future holds.”
Kadri, nearing 1,000 NHL games early next month, has the grudging admiration of Berube, who said Tuesday “he’s the type of guy who you never know what you’re going to get. We once played him in playoffs in Colorado when I (coached) St. Louis and he had a huge hit on (Justin) Faulk.
“I know he got suspended for it and he’s capable of that stuff, but he’s also a very good player. He can score, make plays, a gamer.”
GOALTENDING GALLERY
It’s a position that’s vital for any team, but the Leafs and Flames are sensitive to burning out their No. 1 goalies too early.
Dustin Wolf, second to Lane Hutson in Calder Trophy voting last season, won 29 games in his first full NHL season and played in nine of 10 games to date in his sophomore campaign.
The Flames’ inability to provide support has resulted in some unflattering numbers, such as an .885 save percentage.
It’s much the same situation for the Leafs’ Anthony Stolarz at .886. While he’s 31 and won a Stanley Cup, Stolarz still is adjusting to the workload of a designated starter and truly needed to be off skates on Saturday after another long night opening the home-and-home with Buffalo.
Wolf is not unfamiliar to Leafs winger Nick Robertson, both from a unique minor-hockey background in the Los Angeles area, right through Team USA at the world junior and world championships.
“A great kid, one of my first teammates,” Robertson said. “He was really good then and really good now, a great goalie to watch.
“I always knew (his potential). He was a seventh-round pick (the fourth-last player taken in 2019), but had good junior stats in the WHL and in the AHL did really well.”
Wolf stands six-feet tall and is slight, rather small for today’s netminders.
“I don’t know, I was pretty small at the time, too,” Robertson, who now stands 5-foot-9, said with a laugh.
STOPPING TAVARES
What Wolf or stablemate Devin Cooley want to avoid is being on the wrong end of a Tavares milestone goal on Tuesday.
Tavares is one away from 500 for his career and, with a sprinkling of puck kismet, could reach it against the same team in the same building as another former Toronto captain, Mats Sundin. The latter notched it in October of 2006 against Flames’ Mikka Kiprusoff, short-handed in overtime to complete a hat trick.
Tavares, still steaming along at age 35, badly wants to do it at home in front of friends and family before the Leafs play in Columbus (Wednesday) and Philadelphia (Saturday).
BERUBE FOR DOUG GILMOUR?
Not quite the trade that was made in 1992, but the Leafs’ playoff points leader and the enforcer changed teams as part of a record 10-player swap between Calgary and Toronto.
Gilmour powered the Leafs to two conference finals after arriving with Jamie Macoun, Ric Nattress, Kent Manderville and goalie Rick Wamsley.
Berube, who had just arrived from Edmonton four months earlier, went West with Gary Leeman, Michel Petit, Alex Godynyuk and goalie Jeff Reese.
“I was upset at the time, I really liked Toronto and things were going well for me here,” Berube said. “I know the team was different then and we weren’t very good, but they had to do something.
“You get Doug Gilmour, it doesn’t matter who you’re trading back, does it?”
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