TSN’s Hockey Insiders discuss how much longer Leafs captain Auston Matthews will be sidelined for, the NHL’s investigation into Arthur Kaliyev, Team Canada’s next Olympic roster meeting, the Milan arena for the Games, Evgeni Malkin’s status and the Habs leaning on internal options for help.

JAMES DUTHIE: A full slate of Insiders today, Chris Johnston, Pierre LeBrun, and Darren Dreger.

There’s been a lot of rough news in Leaf land lately as the losses pile up and injuries with one of them to their captain, Auston Matthews.

C.J., it looks like it’ll last a little longer.

CHRIS JOHNSTON: Yeah, that’s right. Among the many challenges the Leafs have faced is the fact that that long list of injuries, there’s not a lot of clear timelines in terms of return for those players, and that includes Matthews.

When he was injured, Nov. 11 in Boston, there was a hope he would be only out a week. Well, here we are a week later and he only just skated for the first time on this day.

He’s looking at the possibility of another week before he’s ready to rejoin the lineup, and the reason for that is simple: the injury he’s recovering from requires some rest in addition to treatment.

It took a little bit more time for him to feel comfortable. He hasn’t been fully ruled out for Saturday’s game as a possibility, but given that they have a three-day window before playing next Wednesday in Columbus, it does seem as though he’s probably still looking at another couple games off here.

DUTHIE: The NHL has been investigating the Senators’ Arthur Kaliyev over accusations by a former girlfriend that he stole money from her to pay off gambling debts.

Where does that stand, Dregs?


DARREN DREGER: It’s ongoing but it’s getting close to finality.

I do think that we have to go back several weeks. The initial investigation by the National Hockey League found no evidence of a violation, but again, you look at a recent report with additional allegations in the New York Post.

The National Hockey League and the NHLPA felt that they needed to do their due diligence and follow up in the potential that there were some loose ends that weren’t closed off.

I think that process is getting to a place where it’s almost complete, and at this point, it doesn’t appear that Kaliyev has been found of doing anything that crosses the line.

DUTHIE: Alright, Olympic roster. I think when we were last updated, Pierre, they had that big, long meeting in Toronto and cut the roster to about 35-to-40 prospective players.

What’s next as far as the cutdown goes?

PIERRE LeBRUN: Yeah, Team Canada’s management group expects to meet again in person on Dec. 6 and 9. Three days of meetings, pretty critical in getting, again, a shorter list as they get closer to that Dec. 31 roster deadline for all countries.

GM Doug Armstrong telling me on this day that they hope to be at least “70 per cent comfortable” with their roster coming out of those three days of meetings.

That means about 18 of their 25-man roster should, more or less, be set after those three days of meetings. I can tell you this, I think the goalie position will still be pretty wide open heading into those final three weeks before the Dec. 31 deadline.

JOHNSTON: Meanwhile, there’s still a lot of concern about the status of the arena in Milan, the main venue where the men’s tournament is supposed to be played.

NHL officials are there on the ground now, and some of the initial reports back have been encouraging, and that’s a good thing because I’m told there is literally no ‘Plan B’ here.

It is Milan or bust for this Olympic Games and obviously there is a high level of concern from the NHL about where this arena is at, the fact that it is still not yet finished.

There had been, in recent days, some talk that maybe they could go to Switzerland, maybe there’s a venue there that would make sense. Multiple sources say that’s not happening.

There was a meeting last week in Stockholm that included members from the International Olympic Committee and the NHL, and it was made clear that the Olympic tournament has to happen at the Olympic venue, so they need to get that arena finished.

DUTHIE: One of the individual stories of the season this year has been Evgeni Malkin, who’s having a renaissance year with the Penguins at 39 years old, leading the team in scoring on an expiring contract.

Pierre, does the way he’s playing change Malkin’s plans, or change Kyle Dubas and the Pens’ plans with what they were thinking about end of season?

LeBRUN: It doesn’t change the plan from the Penguins’ perspective in the sense that – having checked on this again on this day, James – that the Penguins are sticking to this.

They had clear communication with Malkin and his agent, J.P. Berry, before the season that let’s see how this season plays out and let’s all of us chat during the February Olympic break to see how Malkin feels, how the team feels, where the team is and then talk about the future.

That’s still what they’re going to do, but you mentioned it, he’s having an unbelievable season. He leads them in scoring and the one thing that it might influence is, he hasn’t decided whether he’s playing past this year.

Does his play this year, if it continues, influence that decision? We’ll see.

DREGER: Yeah, and let’s look across the National Hockey League where injury now is fuelling some trade speculation, and certainly trade interest.

I look at the Montreal Canadiens. They’ve been ravaged of late by long-term injuries. The Canadiens are one of those teams that is scouring the league, they are looking for the right fit up front.

It doesn’t necessarily have to be a centre. We know that Kent Hughes covets a No. 2 centre, he’s just looking for help up front.

The problem is there are so few sellers and the prices are high, so in the meantime the Montreal Canadiens, like a ton of clubs, have to look for the answers internally.

DUTHIE: The Habs still third in the Atlantic despite their recent struggles. Insider Trading.