Leafs make CRUCIAL moves... Great Injury Updates | Toronto Maple Leafs News

Breaking news, the Toronto Maple Leafs just not only got some great news, but have made huge changes to the lineup. And in what has been a very interesting past couple of weeks without Chris Tanev, without Dakota Joshua, Chris Tanev is officially back. And Jim Hiller made a bunch of changes. We're going to break down the latest news and discuss what Dakota Joshua's return means going forward for this team as one name is now out of the lineup, as well as a ton of other comments and updates from today's. Practice and also a note from John Chayka on the goaltending situation, as we now know who the projected starter is for the game tomorrow. And it's not what all you thought, but it's what we were all hoping for. Time to go over today before we get into it. Quick reminder to hit that subscribe button, you guys, and be sure to support. Darius, let's dive right into it. You can see right here, very late practice today. It started at like, I don't know, 4 p.m. or 3 p.m. Eastern, I think it was. We can see here Leafs about to begin practice here in Vancouver. And that's why, because, of course, on the West Coast, Dakota Joshua is taking part. So is Chris Tanev. Full first practice for him. So there is finally Chris Tanev is all but confirmed now to be playing in the game tomorrow. But maybe even more importantly, which we'll dive into later, but not more importantly, more interestingly, Dakota Joshua is making his return. But we do have the pairing. Chris Tanev slides back in paired with none other than Morgan Riley. And it does seem like at this point, Chris Tanev is going to be playing tomorrow, which is very good news. And I think he came back a lot faster than most of us thought because John Tavares still Weeks away, it seems like. You have Dromachenko also weeks away. So at least getting some help with the blue line will be much needed. Well, we were told he was going to be out week to week, and then some of the language that was used in some of the reporting early on was, oh, who knows if he ever plays ever again. That's what it kind of felt like. And now he's back in two weeks, so he's going to be back in the lineup tomorrow. I mean, you don't put him on a pairing. First of all, you don't shed the non-contact jersey and go on the road trip and then put him on a pairing with Riley in a practice the day before your next game where Nick Cappuccio said he's probably getting back into the lineup. If he's not getting back into the lineup, like he's going to play tomorrow night. So that's great news. Chris Tanev's back. And again, the big thing to watch the rest of the way for me, and I mentioned this the last couple of days is can you rely on him now? Is he a reliable player? We know what he can do when he's in the games, but is he a reliable player in terms of his health? Is he going to come back for four games and then get hurt again? Like that's something we got to watch here. And we knew that he probably with his play style and his age, wasn't going to finish the contract, but I was hoping it wasn't going to be this early that that was going to be a thing we had to talk about. But. Nonetheless, he's back in the lineup. That's good news. Now, you mentioned a couple changes they made in terms of goaltending, the forward group too. We should get into the forward group. Obviously, nothing changes from the Seattle game except for the third line where Dakota Joshua now comes back into the lineup. Gourde is the extra forward. We know what the fourth line brings. We know right now what that second line brings. And we know what that first line brings. And we know it was a low event game the other night in Seattle where the special teams kind of took over. I have no idea, Nick, what that third line is. Joshua Sissons, Letari. I mean, that is a line that is going to be lost tomorrow. So naturally, Joshua is probably going to score because I'm saying this now. So we'll see what happens. And he's playing his former team, which is pretty cool, too. A lot of people were speculating that maybe it was his conditioning. He didn't come into camp in shape. He sustained a really brutal injury that had his career in jeopardy last season. And I don't want to say that they're linked, but he was dealing with an abdomen thing. Came back. He's been with the Marlies on the conditioning stint. Hasn't done much. He's going to be in the lineup. He's going to be on the third line. And I just don't know what that third line does. So we'll see. We'll find out. Yeah, I. I'm a little bit less, I guess, upset about it. You are only because you're not changing the bottom line. Like, they're not going to change the fourth line. The first line looked really good yesterday. So the one thing they could have done is change the second line, at least in my eyes. It's Cowan, Paul Nylander. Maybe you throw Cowan on there. Would you want to see Dakota Joshua on the second line? Vinny Letari? Maybe. So that's where it becomes interesting. So I think they were kind of forced into this line. It's going to be a disaster, probably. It's also going to be fairly responsible defensively, at least. And Letari all of a sudden is fighting a bunch of guys. They were kind of, I think Jim Hiller's hand was kind of tied here, mainly because that fourth line is so good right now. You're obviously not going to change that. So Cowan would be the only guy. Maybe they could have went with Joshua and Nick Letari with Sissons up in the second line. That actually probably could have made some sense, considering we've seen some instances last game in the first period where Sissons played in the first line alongside Auston Matthews taking face-offs because he is one of the best in the league in Colton Sissons. But yeah, it's interesting there. And then on the blue line front, obviously the practice, the pairings in practice today defensively, It looks a lot better. It looks a lot better than what we've been seeing. So you have McCabe, Radish, which I think is going to be fine. Riley Tanev. OEL, Stecher is a little bit scary on the actual defensive side. I feel like that's a boom or bust kind of line here. But I don't know how you feel about the blue line. Clearly now, like the big conversation point has been the blue line, even though they've been a lot better as of late. Obviously, Sergei Bobrovsky has struggled. All signs point to Anthony Stolarz playing. We'll dive back into Josh in a minute. But for the blue line, it does seem like, well, Tanev is going to be returning I'm starting It's interesting because he played most of the season with, I think all the season basically, or most of it, with Jake McCabe. So returning from his injury, a brand new pairing. It is something to note. Yeah, and they were trying it right at the end there, to him and Riley, because they moved McCabe with, you know, speak Darren Radish and Darren Radish has been awesome so far this season. So they're going to continue to run that pairing because they just have been playing together. So I think that makes sense. now. Don't change that yet. But like you said, you know, it's it's pretty interesting with this lineup, because if you know, if you look at what they're running today at Morning Skate or Morning Skate practice, I guess Morning Skate tomorrow. We'll see you tomorrow. So it's exactly what the pairings were to start the season, or it's your guys, right? Those are your guys. They still have some guys out due to injury, but those were the extras, right? Like the Nick Blankenbergs of the world, the Marshall Rifai, right? These are the guys that you started the season with. This was the defense pairings that you were going to run anyway, right? So these are your guys. There's no excuse tomorrow to me on the defensive end, at least, right? Because these are your players. So I want to see what that looks like. And, you know, that. That dynamic, that pairing with Tanev and Riley, you know, what that looks like. Because I think you kind of already know what you have in the rest of these guys now. You know, Stetson on his right hand. uh are on a strong side and then oh we all same thing for him so I don't know it pushes uh you know uh Mermis out which is a good thing right obviously and we'll see what happens with uh with the game tomorrow because I have no idea what to think I mean a couple stinkers for the goaltending the last couple games then you got Stolarz coming in uh assuming he's coming in that's what it looks like right now into the next game but then you also have John Schleicher coming out and defending uh Sergei Bobrovsky and we talked about it yesterday and I think a lot of people got the I got the wrong message, by the way. I think we were also kind of defending Bobrovsky and a lot of people were saying that we were saying the opposite. I think we were defending Bobrovsky. That's what we were trying to get across, that he is notoriously a slow starter and he will figure it out. And at the end of the day, guys, like. There's no plan B, right? Like, he's not going to the AHL. He's not going to Robra Island. Like, none of that is happening. Like, he's got to figure it out. And he's a guy who's figured it out before. So, Nick, I don't know if you feel any differently about that. But, you know, the GM's coming up to bat. Matthews is coming to bat for his guys too, right? Like, he looks like a real captain this year. Like, it's awesome to see, genuinely. Because the last couple of years I've been defending him and everybody just continues to dump on him. But this year, like, genuinely, it just feels like he is a captain. So, he came to bat for him. The GM is. I think he's going to figure it out. Was it frustrating, you know, the last couple games so far this season, especially last game and how they lost? Yes, but I think that he will figure it out. But for the time being, Stolarz is hot. He's got to go in the net tomorrow. Yeah, Stolarz is going to get the net. Realistically, you ask Florida fans, they're saying this is Bobrovsky every year. He sucks in October and November. Kind of starts to pick it up towards the tail end of November into December. So, I'm not worried about it. Trey could fully back Bobrovsky. What else is he going to say? He paid him $7 million. That was his or Matt Sundin's decision. You can see here, Stolarz has been hot. He's been the better goalie. He's fresh. So, between him and Akhtiyamov, or rather between him and Bobrovsky, they're going to go with Stolarz for now. Keep an eye on Akhtiyamov. People want him to come back, or rather get called back up. Probably not going to happen barring injuries. Keep an eye on that. One final thing. Keep in mind, Dakota Joshua, he can have an impact. He was really good with the Canucks when they acquired him. That was obviously under the Bradshaw living era. So comment down below what you're most excited about. Chris Tanev being returning, or rather being back, is probably the most important one. Let us know what you guys think. Thanks for watching.