When all was said and done in game 2 of the Maple Leafs-Capitals series, Toronto had watched their top two defensmen play 40 minutes each and seen another right-handed shot go down early. They were desperate for some good news on Nikita Zaitsev, and he may have shared it himself. “Skating. See you soon Toronto!” he tweeted Sunday, accompanied by a video of him skating hard in practice by himself. He has since deleted the tweet and video but as Kristen Shilton of TSN reports, will play tonight.
The Leafs could use him back after losing Roman Polak to a season-ending leg injury on Saturday night. The coaching staff clearly doesn’t trust Connor Carrick in the advanced role—he played just under 19 minutes, more than ten less than Martin Marincin despite being the only right-handed shot left in the game—and did not have good early results from Alexey Marchenko in the regular season.
- As the Rochester Americans season comes to an end, one player believes it will be his last stint with the club. John Vogl of the Buffalo News reports that Nicholas Baptiste believes he can make the jump to the Buffalo Sabres next year, and provide a similar role as a goal-scoring forward. Baptiste had 25 goals for the Amerks this season, and actually contributed four points in his 14 games with the big club. The 21-year old was a big point producer in junior, and will try to continue that at the highest level in the world next year.
- After an ugly end to his season that saw Aaron Ekblad return too early from a head injury, he’s already looking forward to next year. Ekblad admitted to Henry Fialkov of the Sun Sentinel that early in the season he was afraid of being hit, his mind racing back to the Leo Komarov hit in the World Cup that had left him with whiplash. He had just turned things around when he suffered the second head injury, this time keeping him out for 13 of the final 14 games—the one being a misguided attempt at a return. He’ll head into next year at just 21-years of age and already a superstar in the league, should he get back to his puck-carrying self. The Panthers will welcome his return, as their team somewhat mirrors his results.