The Maple Leafs held a development practice on Monday at Ford Performance Centre.
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After a day off on Sunday, the slumping Leafs did not hold a full team practice on Monday.
“Well, there’s been a lot of guys playing a lot of minutes lately, injuries, all that,” coach Craig Berube explained. “A little extra mental and physical rest for some guys, and other guys just more of a reset day.”
Centre John Tavares, winger William Nylander, defencemen Morgan Rielly, defenceman Oliver Ekman-Larsson and goalie Joseph Woll all stayed off the ice as did the coaching staff.
The remaining players split into smaller groups to work on separate pads with members of the team’s development staff.
It was the first chance for the Leafs to get back to work following a 5-2 loss in Montreal on Saturday, which Berube described as “inexcusable.”
Veteran Leafs fail to dig in during ‘inexcusable’ second period in Montreal The Canadiens started the second period with a 16-1 edge in shots. “Until we decide to dig in and play the right way for 60 minutes on a consistent basis, it’s going to be hard to pull yourself out of anything,” said Craig Berube, who called the effort “inexcusable.”
“Just not good enough,” said defenceman Simon Benoit. “There’s no explanation, just not good enough. Had a day to rest yesterday, think about our game individually, and development day today. We just got to be better. That’s it. We have to be more hungry … We need to show that we want to win out there.”
The Leafs have dropped seven of eight games (1-5-2) to fall all the way to last-place in the Eastern Conference.
“There’s no easy answer,” said Rielly. “It just kind of feels like we’re in it right now and we’re trying to fight our way out.”
The Leafs have one win in their last eight games. Last time that happened was 9.5 years ago during the 2016 tank season.
— James Mirtle (@mirtle) November 23, 2025
Toronto will begin a five-game trip on Wednesday night against the Columbus Blue Jackets, who already beat them twice this season. There will also be stops in Washington, Pittsburgh, Sunrise, Fla. and Raleigh over the next 10 days.
“It’s critical for sure,” said Berube of the trip. “But, listen, I’m only focused on the game Wednesday. I’m not going to look beyond that. It’s a big game … But it is a big road trip for sure. It’s good for our guys to get on the road here together. We got to rally around each other.”
The Leafs have the worst road record in the NHL (1-6-0), but the team’s longest road excursion has only been two games. The hope is an extended journey will help the team build chemistry.
“You try and keep it light,” said centre Scott Laughton. “It’s tough right now. It’s tough sledding, but we’re all in this together. You got to come out of it together, and that’s what we’re trying to do here. And we’ll continue to work at it. This is a huge road trip for our team coming up. It’s a big one. We’ve got to get going here.”
It was hard to get a read on the mood of the team on Monday considering the spread-out nature of practice.
“I haven’t really seen the guys,” said Benoit. “I’ve been on the ice. Some guys do their own stuff. But I think everybody wants it. We’re all trying. It’s going to click at one point. I’m sure of it.”
Leafs get mental and physical reset ahead of ‘critical’ road trip After a full day off on Sunday, the Maple Leafs decided to not hold a full practice Monday, with their high-minutes players held off of the ice, while others working with development staff. Head coach Craig Berube said it was to give the team a mental break ahead of a critical Eastern Conference road swing.
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The Leafs played on Saturday without six regulars in the lineup due to injury. It looks like help is on the way.
Centre Auston Matthews, winger Matthew Knies and centre Nicolas Roy all skated again on Monday.
“Matthews, Knies and Roy are close,” said Berube. “I’ll probably know tomorrow if they’re available Wednesday.”
The Leafs have a full practice scheduled for Tuesday.
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Jake McCabe is expected to play on Wednesday after leaving the game in Montreal early. The defenceman took a puck to the side of the face in the second period.
“He’s fine,” Berube said.
Defenceman Brandon Carlo, meanwhile, has not skated since sustaining a lower-body injury on Nov. 13.
Defenceman Chris Tanev skated before practice on Monday, but there is no timeline for his return from an upper-body injury suffered on Nov. 1.
Anthony Stolarz has not hit the ice since suffering an upper-body injury on Nov. 11 in Boston. Initially, it was considered a minor injury, but Berube now says the goalie is “a way aways” from returning.
“There’s no excuses,” Tavares said of the injuries. “We believe we have a very deep team. Obviously, we’re missing some really good, key players, but I think that’s where you want to rely on your game and the identity that you build. We’re still having that come together consistently.”
William Nylander on the losses & injuries piling up:
“I think this builds, you know, character. So, obviously it’s tough right now, but in the end I think it’ll be good for our group”@TSN_Sports
— Mark Masters (@markhmasters) November 23, 2025
Matthews, Knies, Roy may return for Leafs on Wednesday; McCabe is fine The struggling Maple Leafs got some encouraging news on Monday as injured forwards Auston Matthews, Matthew Knies and Nicolas Roy could be back in the lineup Wednesday in Columbus. According to head coach Craig Berube, Jake McCabe is ”fine” after he left Saturday following a puck to the face. Despite the positive news, Berube added Brandon Carlo and goalie Anthony Stolarz have not resumed skating.
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Is Berube losing any sleep as the losses pile up?
“Do I sleep any differently? No,” the coach said. “Like, I enjoy it. I wake up and look forward to coming to the rink and trying to get better like everybody else.”
But, make no mistake, the grind is real right now.
“My job is to help these guys, to teach them, to work with them,” the coach said. “Everybody’s got to grind right now. It’s a grind. You’ve got to grind.”
Berube’s tone “goes up and down” as he seeks to find the right words to snap the team out of this skid.
“Sometimes my tone is not fun, but that’s part of it all,” the 59-year-old said.
“Craig means business,” said Benoit. “He wants us to succeed. He wants us to play at our level. We know we can be much, much, much better, and he’s pushing us to achieve that goal. And all the guys respect him a lot.”
Despite the underwhelming results, players aren’t sensing a big change in the man behind the bench right now.
“He’s great,” said Rielly. “He comes in here the same every day. He’s intense and he has high expectations for everyone in here as we all do for each other.”
“He’s the same,” said Laughton, who also played for Berube in Philadelphia. “He’s trying, for sure, and it’s hard. We have to play better, just plain and simple. And we have to start dominating teams and making them play 200 feet, making it hard on them to come out of their zone. I don’t think we’re doing a good enough job of that. We obviously need to be a little bit more connected. But, yeah, I think he’s been the same with us. He’s trying to get his point across, which is how you should play, and we have to follow that.”
Berube is no stranger to big in-season turnarounds. After the St. Louis Blues sagged to last place in the 2018-19 season, Berube replaced Mike Yeo as head coach and led the franchise to its first Stanley Cup.
“Same approach almost right now,” Berube said. “Same approach.”
Berube not losing sleep over Leafs slide, but admits ‘it’s a grind’ With a 9-10-3 record, the Maple Leafs sit dead last in the Eastern Conference. Having only one win in their last eight games, head coach Craig Berube admits he feels as bad as the players do right now, but hasn’t lost any sleep over the team’s current slide.
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Berube notes he’s made a couple system tweaks to try and spark the Leafs, but isn’t contemplating a more significant overhaul.
“I’m not really thinking about that at all,” he stressed.
Defence remains Berube’s top priority. The coach is keeping the faith that his team can rediscover the level of play that allowed them to finish eighth in goals against last season (2.79 per game). The Leafs sit 31st in goals against (3.73 per game) entering Monday’s slate of games.
“We prided ourselves on defence last year, checking, and we got to get back to that,” Berube said. “It’s something we’ve been banging away at for a bit here, and we’ve got to keep banging away at it.”
Berube points out that the Leafs have allowed too many odd-man rushes and are not defending the middle of the ice well enough.
“In the D zone, for the most part, it’s not been terrible, but just not tight enough,” Berube said. “I bring up the details of the sticks and things like that.”
It would also take some pressure off the defence if the Leafs are able to generate more offensive-zone time themselves.
“I don’t think our forechecks have been as good,” Berube said. “I don’t think we stall enough pucks in the offensive zone. We do create O-zone time, and it’s been getting better, but I think those stalls are important to neutralize the breakouts [by] the other team in the transition game.”
‘No easy answer’ as Leafs try to find their hunger The Maple Leafs have lost seven of their last eight games, most recently a 5-2 defeat to the rival Canadiens. Knowing that they are struggling, the Leafs know that they have to be better, but don’t have an immediate solution to get out of the tailspin.
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With Carlo and Tanev out, the Leafs need more from their healthy blueliners, including Benoit.
“I have to be better,” Benoit admitted. “I’ve been too passive. I don’t have the knife in my teeth right now. I got to be better for the team. I got to show up. I got to be hard to play against. I got to be, sorry my language, but like a pain in the ass for the other team.”
Benoit is minus-two on the season after being plus-12 last year. The gritty defenceman is also landing fewer hits. Benoit’s hits per 60 minutes have dipped from 9.48 last season to 7.89 this year.
“I’m looking forward for the next game just to be a better player for the team,” he said.
‘Don’t have the knife in my teeth’: Leafs continue to struggle defensively The main thing Toronto head coach Craig Berube wants to see improve come Wednesday in Columbus is defence. Blue liner Simon Benoit admits that he has been too passive, and needs to be more aggressive and tough to play against.
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Woll was pulled in the second period on Saturday night after allowing four goals on 25 shots.
“We were just giving freebies to them,” Berube explained. “I had enough.”
With Stolarz out, Berube was keen to protect Woll while also sending a wake-up call to the group of skaters.
The Canadiens outshot the Leafs 16-1 to open the second period.
“As a group that’s the ultimate one on us when you leave your goalie out to dry,” Tavares said. “He’s giving you everything he’s got, keeping you in the game, and we’re just not executing well enough to turn the game around.”
Woll is 1-2-1 with a .905 save percentage since returning from personal leave on Nov. 15.
Dennis Hildeby stopped all three shots he faced in relief. His save percentage is .906 in five games with the Leafs this season. Three of his appearances have come in relief.
‘The ultimate one on us’: Already down a goalie, Leafs hang Woll ‘out to dry’ Joseph Woll was pulled in the second period on Saturday after allowing four goals on 25 shots. “We were just giving freebies to them,” said Craig Berube. “I had enough.” The Leafs coach wanted to preserve Woll’s energy while sending his team a wake-up call.
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With Carlo and Tanev out, Dakota Mermis is doing his part to pick up the slack. The 31-year-old defenceman scored his first goal with the Leafs on Thursday.
Late in Saturday’s game, Mermis dropped the gloves with Florian Xhekaj after the Canadiens rookie skated into Hildeby’s crease at the end of a play.
“You want to have some pushback,” said Mermis, who still had blood on his knuckles during his post-game media session. “You’re down a D [McCabe] so that makes it hard maybe earlier in the game for something like that to happen. He’s obviously in his first [NHL] game and we know those guys, those [Xhekaj] brothers, and what they want to do. He comes to the net and I’m trying to have some pushback and spark something late in the game. Obviously, we’re able to get one [to pull within 4-2] and you see what happens from there. But just trying to hold your ground and you don’t give an inch.”
Teammates appreciated the effort.
“Showing some character there at the end,” Nylander noted. “A lot of guys were battling and showing a lot of emotion, so that’s great.”
“It’s good to see,” agreed Ekman-Larsson. “We’re sticking up for each other, and we need more of that.”
Ekman-Larsson on slash to back of the leg by Carrier:
“It’s part of it. I give & take a little bit. Yeah, it’s part of it.”
OEL had big ice pack taped to back of leg in post-game scrum @TSN_Sports https://t.co/WYhIrh57Z7
— Mark Masters (@markhmasters) November 23, 2025
‘Showing character’: Mermis provides pushback for Leafs with Xhekaj fight During the third period of Saturday’s loss in Montreal, Leafs defenceman Dakota Mermis initiated a fight with Canadiens forward Florian Xhekaj. “You want to have some pushback,” Mermis said. “Just trying to hold your ground and you don’t give an inch.”
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Attendance at Monday’s skills practice:
FORWARDS
Sammy Blais
Nick Robertson
DEFENCE
GOALIE