Friedman Drops HUGE Leafs Trade Update...

Here's the big news to go over today. He's ahead of a massive game against the New York Rangers. We have multiple big updates, including a note surrounding Jake McCabe. That is very good news. But not only that, a brand new injury that has just been revealed surrounding a Leafs defenseman. We're going to break all that down as well. Some interesting notes surrounding Easton Cowan, Elliot Freeman. He also dropped a very notable trade update surrounding the Toronto Maple Leafs and what their plan is going forward surrounding their next move. A lot to go over today. But before we get into it, a very quick reminder to hit that subscribe button. we have a lot to discuss we have some morning skate stuff of course a big game tonight some injuries a lot of news to discuss but i want to start with a quick update from elliot freeman surrounding their trade plans and we're not going to dive into it too too much today but i do want to touch on this report that dropped because it kind of foreshadows probably tomorrow's video uh pretty well here so it says i do think that they are looking to see what kind of big swing they can take on the blue line and ultimately there is it's going to be a very interesting next few weeks next few days even potentially here the biggest thing and it's an interesting note from Elliot Freeman he talked about availability and he basically said that Toronto would like to go big in the blue line but he doesn't know where that player is there's not a lot of these players available now there's McKeishen there's Simon Edvinsson there's a few other names that are going to be happening that we'll dive into in you know probably a video tomorrow or later on in the week what are your thoughts on this it is I guess reassuring to see that John Chayka is trying to go fairly big here yeah well obviously you want to you know get a really good difference making defenseman on the blue line but like Elliot Friedman's talking about there aren't that many available and then we've been talking about you know what goes back the other way and we've been chatting about Easton Cowan but it also sounds like from Elliot Friedman the Leafs have no interest in trading Easton Cowan which makes a lot of sense I mean he's been brilliant I mean we were talking about you know Kirill Marchenko versus Matthew Knies who's better obviously it looks like Kirill Marchenko right Easton Cowan might be better than Matthew Knies in terms of point production this season right so um that's a huge factor into things as well but not only that just this play on the penalty kill like a newfound role in the penalty kill where he was really good in the OHL in London in that role and you know just the backtracking and being all over the ice on you know going up and down the length of the ice like four times on one shift like his motor right like he's just a great player so uh we mentioned it last week and just because we mentioned it doesn't mean we want him traded he's a great piece but it's more like hey if you're gonna go out and get a defenseman probably take a big swing right like are you really looking to upgrade the defense or just add another guy right like what does that really look like and according to Friedman they're looking to take a big swing but who's really available now I would bet that John Chayka wants to and will make a trade that's how I see it and a lot of people are talking about Darius you hit the panic button the other day I still kind of am like the forwards look great but the defense is a problem and you should be like looking to take a big swing and we'll talk about that in the coming days but speaking of betting are you tired of the fake picks the money that you keep losing the paid tipsters all that type of stuff well it's time to stop guessing and it's time to try Otis Edge Otis Edge is uh you can try for free you can download for free six analysts one subscription and it's less than a dinner out the monthly subscription and if you download the free Otis Edge app today you get access to a full content library you get access to the free pick of the day every single day that's right yes free picks every single day just for downloading the app and if you become a subscriber you unlock access to Otis Edge University, which is where you get access to bankroll management strategies betting strategies, uh, emotional discipline, how to you know work through all of that stuff as well, you can follow one analyst or you can follow all six, it's all included with your subscription, yeah that will be happening this month, the playoffs that is a great time to explore the app right now Use code DIGEST at checkout for 50% off for life as long as your membership remains continuous. It's the hottest time for sports, so make sure you bring your perspective to your picks. Download the Otis Edge app today using the links in the description. That's the Otis Edge. Thank you once again to them for sponsoring this video. And there, let's dive into a player that gives the Leafs an edge tonight, and that's going to be Jake McCabe. And there was updates and rumblings about the potential of him not being available tonight, but the aftermath of the high sticking Cape took on Tuesday is that he will be in the lineup. So he is good to go for the game tonight, which is probably the best news we could have gotten here because, now, they did lose the defenseman, which we'll dive into in a minute. But when we look at Jake McCabe's defensive role this season, even if he's not having the best year, one of the best shot blockers in the NHL, 94th percentile. More importantly, maybe, we talked about it on the stream and just kind of in general, the special teams. He led the team in the PK, you know, minutes on ice, I guess, if you want to call it that. So he is going to be available. However, we do have an update that just dropped surrounding Mr. Marshall Rafai's. He left the Leafs skate early. So instead of, and he was supposed to, factor in for a second game in a row, Nick Blankenberg now is going to be paired with OEL, which I still think is fine. Like, I don't know who's actually better between the two. Very unfortunate, though, because I was kind of liking seeing Marshall Rafai who had his first goal last game get some more reps and maybe become a serviceable defenseman. But it goes back to Nick Blankenberg, and hopefully it's nothing too serious. They have not confirmed that Marshall Rafai won't play tonight it's just that when he left and there was nothing obvious according to reports that you know he didn't smash into the boards or anything like that but he left the morning skate he was like you said slotted to play tonight uh they have not confirmed that he's not going to play but there's no update either apparently jim hiller said that they're still waiting for like you know something on him i guess he went to go see the doctors whatever that looks like and working with the training staff so at the time of the media availability they had no updates so um that definitely sucks for him nick blankenberg kind of slots back into the lineup i think Marshall Rafai obviously scoring his first goal last game that's all that's great and clearly you know usually goes to your legs so uh that would have been good to see him in the lineup tonight but with you know that still can't happen but we'll see how that factors a big storyline heading into tonight's game you mentioned the penalty kill and jake mccabe huge part of this team he's been playing top line or top pairing minutes with darren radish darren radish by the way he's playing like 25 to 30 minutes every game like an absolute horse right now so a lot of people are not talking about it he's actually been really good the first you know two games of the season a lot of people were pointing fingers what's happening here he's been really good since then but huge factor going into tonight's game the rangers also have one of the best penalty kills the rangers have the best penalty kill the rangers have a really good penalty kill as well but the leafs power play is operating at a much higher clip so the leafs have an advantage tonight which uh and let me make it clear too the rangers are going to be a huge test this is a big game right it's probably going to be a very tight game the rangers don't let in a lot of goals they really don't they're uh they're second in goals against in the entire league only behind the the dallas stars so um they're going to make it tough on the leafs forwards this is going to be a challenging game and the rangers forwards can score they're just not doing it on the power play right now so it's going to be an interesting game in that way where i think special teams will factor into the result of the game because the rangers power play is not very good at least penalty kill is very good but the leafs power play has been operating pretty good but the rangers have a good penalty kill so it might come down to five on five and the Rangers are pretty good defensively five on five so we'll see how that factors tonight I think it's going to be a low scoring you can see McKenna of course with Tavares out still on the first power play unit which is good but uh this might be a weird one Nick I'm not gonna lie against the Rangers they are uh they've been rolling as well but uh good opportunity for Letartery to get back into the lineup he's looked good on the third line no reason to take him out I think he's looked fine uh and then Bo Gru still with the team as an extra as well but i think the biggest thing going into tonight is special teams and who ends up in the lineup on the back end is it Blankenberg does Refi you know whatever happened to him does he get into the lineup later yeah and there is obviously no changes for the first time it feels like a while to the actual lines now again you have McHugh coming in he actually played a pretty good game starting to find his role a little bit and then on the blue line you see the pairings here initially was Refi now you have Blankenberg in so McCabe Radish Riley Stetcher and Stetcher is coming off of some really, really good games. It's going to be a very interesting one, and Roffski also gets the start. I think you have to keep riding him out, obviously, it's still his last game, but you've got to keep riding out Roffski's start. I think he's in a little bit of a routine here, and you can kind of see how the workload has been split thus far this season, and they're busy. They're getting busy, and at the end of the day, I think having him continue to play is going to be very important. Of course, his last start came on the 19th, the first game of the back years. Any final thoughts on this? You look at the standings, it's too early to fully look at them, but they are in the thick of it now. They have a couple games in hand on a lot of these teams. For some reason, the Leafs have played a lot more games than some of the other teams, but you're in a decent spot now all of a sudden. Darius, you can see here, you're obviously in a wildcard spot right now. They're in a playoff spot. It's October, though. But yeah, the Rangers are, again, they're a very good team. This is going to be a big test for the Leafs, right? One thing I wanted to bring up, because you brought up the goaltending, you know, Bobrovsky, can he be better? Yes. Am I putting all the blame on him? no I don't think so however if you look on the other side of things I know Igor Shesterkin's out for the year and Spencer Martin is like a fringe NHL goaltender but the starter tonight is Dylan Gregorian and he has been brilliant this season a .917 save percentage and there's a couple games in there where he has quite literally won them the game so he's been really good he is a rookie goaltender though so you know going against Austin Matthews William Nylander guys of that ilk right like I wonder what he looks like against the Leafs top scorers because they played some good teams and some top scorers but um this could be a pretty good test for the rangers goaltending and defense as well so i think it might be a low scoring game maybe i'm completely wrong but if you look at everything that's happened to this point with both of these teams um i think it's going to be a tight one let us know down below your thoughts on this there'll be a live stream after the game as well so make sure to stay tuned for that thank you guys for watching