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Atlantic Notes: Stolarz, Hildeby, Sabres

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TSN’s Darren Dreger is reporting that the Toronto Maple Leafs are waiting for results on the severity of an injury that forced goaltender Anthony Stolarz from last night’s game. The 30-year-old Stolarz has had a torrid start to his first season in Toronto, going 9-5-2 with a 2.15 goals-against average and a .927 save percentage. Stolarz is currently ranked sixth in the NHL in goals saved above expected with 9.3 (as per Money Puck).

Stolarz’s injury has forced Toronto to recall netminder Dennis Hildeby from the Toronto Marlies of the American Hockey League. Hildeby will presumably take on a backup role to Joseph Woll during Stolarz’s absence. Hildeby has seen action in two NHL games this season, going 1-1 with 4.03 goals against and a .869 save percentage.

In other Atlantic Division notes:

  • Buffalo Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff benched two of his top players on Wednesday night as the team dropped their eighth straight game (as per Bill Hoppe of Buffalo Hockey Beat). Ruff sat defenseman Owen Power and winger JJ Peterka for significant stretches of the game after they made crucial mistakes. Both players responded well, with Power scoring a goal in the third period of the game. The Sabres sit sixth in the Atlantic with a record of 11-14-4 but hold a goal differential of just -8. They have lost six one-goal games in their eight-game skid.
  • Speaking of the Sabres, Darren Dreger reported on TSN’s Insider Trading yesterday that Buffalo’s general manager Kevyn Adams is looking to make moves to shake up his roster but might not find a desirable move. Adams is receiving calls on younger players like Jack Quinn but doesn’t appear likely to force a move like that. The Sabres would like to make a trade that helps them now, but if they continue to slide it does appear that they will miss the playoffs once again. Should that happen, it would likely mean that veterans on expiring deals, such as Jason Zucker would be moved.

Leafs Notes: McCabe, McMann, Kampf, Stolarz

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The Toronto Maple Leafs have activated defenseman Jake McCabe off of injured reserve, per the Toronto Sun’s Terry Koshan. McCabe was moved to IR on December 7th, and hasn’t played since suffering a wrist injury while blocking a shot from Nicklaus Perbix in Toronto’s November 30th win over Tampa Bay. McCabe returned to full practice just two days after his IR placement and is expected to return to the lineup on Thursday.

That’s great news for the Maple Leafs, who have leaned heavily on McCabe this season. He’s averaged 21:20 in ice time through 23 games this season, narrowly leading the team’s blue-line in average time on ice – just two seconds ahead of Oliver Ekman-Larsson, and seven seconds more than Morgan Rielly. McCabe has recorded five assists, a +11, and 21 penalty minutes in his opportunities. More encouraging, McCabe also ranks third among Leafs defenders in goals-against per-60 (GA/60) with a 1.22 average – just narrowly behind bottom-pair defenders Simon Benoit (1.17) and Conor Timmins (0.98). Those results will return McCabe immediately back to his top-pair, defense-oriented role next to summer addition Chris Tanev.

Other notes out of Toronto:

  • Forward Bobby McMann is also nearing a return to the lineup, head coach Craig Berube told David Alter of The Hockey News. McMann suffered a lower-body injury on November 27th and has since missed six games. He returned to practice on December 6th and could return to the lineup within a week, shares Alter’s colleague Evan Doerfler. McMann has continued his dazzling goal-scoring into this season, with six goals and an 11.5 shooting percentage in 21 games. He played his first full year in the NHL last season, netting 15 goals and 24 points in 56 games. McMann has proven a reliable middle-six winger on and off of the puck, and should slot back into the middle-six as soon as he returns.
  • Berube also shared with Alter that center David Kampf is still a ways away from returning. Kampf was placed on IR with a lower-body injury on November 19th, and hasn’t played since November 16th. He recorded three assists in 18 games as Toronto’s third-line center prior to his injury. Kampf has 75 points in 260 games over the last four seasons with Toronto, largely comprised of 26-point and 27-point seasons across his first two years with the team. He’ll eye a return in 2025, and may need to fight to regain a spot in the team’s top-nine.
  • Top Toronto goaltender Anthony Stolarz left the team’s Thursday game against Anaheim with a lower-body injury, shares Sportsnet. He seemed to suffer the injury on Anaheim’s first goal of the game, appearing in pain after stretching to try and make a save. Stolarz has been tremendous for the Leafs early on. He leads all goaltenders in save percentage, maintaining a .928 through 16 games this season – narrowly ahead of Filip Gustavsson and Connor Hellebuyck who each have a .927. Stolarz has added a 9-5-2 record to boot, performing well enough to earn the Leafs’ starting role while Joseph Woll sorted out injuries. Stolarz is an eight-year veteran of the NHL. He’s tallied a 99-52-36 record and .916 save percentage through 124 career games. Leafs fans and management alike will hold their breath for an update on his long-term health, after an injury that didn’t appear to be severe.

Utah Claims Dakota Mermis Off Waivers From Maple Leafs

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The Utah Hockey Club has added some veteran defensive depth in the form of Dakota Mermis, plucking him off the waiver wire from the Maple Leafs, per Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet. The Leafs’ other waiver placement yesterday, winger Alexander Nylander, passed through unclaimed and was immediately assigned to AHL Toronto, allowing them to activate defenseman Jake McCabe from injured reserve, according to a team announcement.

Utah has been in need of extra bodies on defense seemingly all season long after John Marino sustained a lower-back injury in preseason and Sean Durzi hurt his shoulder just four games into the campaign. Other names, such as Maveric Lamoureux and Robert Bortuzzo, have landed on the shelf in recent days, leading Utah to reach deep into its minor-league depth. Just yesterday, they recalled Kevin Connauton from AHL Tucson – a 34-year-old lefty who last saw NHL ice in the 2021-22 campaign.

Mermis isn’t a gigantic upgrade over internal options like Connauton, but he does have more recent NHL experience. The 30-year-old skated in a career-high 47 games with the Wild last season, posting eight points, a -2 rating, 33 PIMs, and 45 hits while averaging 14:05 per game. He inked a one-way contract with the Maple Leafs over the summer but sustained a jaw injury in training camp. He returned to action on a conditioning loan with their AHL affiliate over the past couple weeks, posting an assist in three outings, and had landed on waivers to continue his tenure in the minors after the two-week limit on his conditioning stint ran out.

Utah had 22 players on the active roster before making the claim for Mermis, so they won’t need to make a corresponding transaction.

Maple Leafs Reassign Marshall Rifai, Recall Nikita Grebenkin

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While Maple Leafs rookie Nikita Grebenkin was assigned to the minors earlier this week to allow Max Domi to come off injured reserve, his time on the NHL roster isn’t over. The team announced Thursday that the 21-year-old winger had been brought back up from AHL Toronto, while defenseman Marshall Rifai was sent down in a corresponding move to keep their active roster count at 23.

That roster count will drop to 22 later today after winger Alexander Nylander clears waivers or is claimed by another team. Recalling Grebenkin and reassigning Rifai temporarily leaves the Leafs with 15 forwards and six defensemen on the active roster. Hence, it’s fair to assume that Nylander’s waiver placement was to make room for a defenseman coming off IR – likely Jake McCabe, who’s missed five games with an upper-body injury but still carries a day-to-day designation.

Grebenkin, a fifth-round pick in 2022, gives the Maple Leafs a potentially higher-ceiling option for fourth-line minutes over someone like established veteran Ryan Reaves, who provides little intrigue at this stage of his career outside of one-on-one physical battles. The 6’2″, 210-lb Russian skated in seven games over the past few weeks amid a rash of forward injuries for Toronto, his first in the NHL. However, he managed only two shots on goal and failed to record a point while posting a -3 rating, averaging 8:45 per game. The Leafs were also heavily out-chanced in his even-strength minutes, generating just 0.6 expected goals while allowing 3.3 xG.

Nonetheless, Grebenkin has flashed some offensive upside during his time in the minors this season. In his first season in North America, the winger has four goals and 10 points in 13 AHL games. That production comes after a breakout season in the Kontinental Hockey League with Metallurg Magnitogorsk in 2023-24. He finished second among the eventual league champions in scoring with 19 goals, 22 assists and 41 points in 67 games.

Grebenkin’s ability to play both wings should work to his advantage as he re-establishes his spot in the lineup. Four bodies compete for two places on the wing in Toronto’s bottom six, with Grebenkin joining Reaves, Pontus Holmberg and Nicholas Robertson in the fight.

Meanwhile, Rifai returns to the minors after not seeing any action since being recalled 10 days ago. The 26-year-old lefty sat as a healthy scratch for Toronto’s last five games, serving as a last-minute option to enter the lineup if an additional defender sustained an injury with McCabe already sidelined. Standing at 6’2″ and 213 lbs, Rifai skated in his first two NHL games last season, averaging 11:40 per game and logging four hits with a +1 rating. He has four points and a team-leading +10 rating in 17 AHL games and didn’t need waivers to head back since his stint on the active roster lasted less than 30 days.

Maple Leafs Place Dakota Mermis, Alexander Nylander On Waivers

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The Maple Leafs placed defenseman Dakota Mermis and winger Alexander Nylander on waivers Wednesday for assignment to AHL Toronto, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports.

Mermis’ waiver placement comes after being presumably activated from long-term injured reserve. The 30-year-old lefty has been on a conditioning loan to the AHL since Nov. 27 and has played three games, notching an assist and a +2 rating.

Those games were his first action since sustaining a broken jaw early in training camp with the Leafs. The longtime depth piece for the Coyotes, Devils, and Wild underwent surgery on Sep. 26 and has provided a small amount of cap relief for Toronto since landing on LTIR at the beginning of the regular season.

Mermis landing on waivers removes his $775K cap hit from the Maple Leafs’ LTIR pool, bringing down their current cap space to $765K. That can increase back to the $1MM range tomorrow after Nylander clears waivers or is claimed by another team.

Mermis, an Illinois native, played in a career-high 47 NHL contests with Minnesota last season, posting eight points and a -2 rating while averaging 14:05 per game. He parlayed that performance into the first one-way contract of his career, albeit a league-minimum one, with Toronto on the open market over the summer.

Save for additional injuries on Toronto’s back end, though, his jaw injury likely cost Mermis a chance at NHL ice in a Leafs organization that shored up their defensive depth in a big way over the offseason. Assuming he clears waivers, he’ll likely spend most of the season in the AHL, where he’s played 434 of his 513 professional games.

Meanwhile, Nylander hits the wire after having his AHL contract torn up and replaced by an NHL commitment on Nov. 22. The 26-year-old got the summons from the minors amid a rash of forward injuries for the Maple Leafs that’s largely cleared up with Auston Matthews, Max Domi, Matthew Knies, and Max Pacioretty all returning from injuries in the past week or so.

The younger brother of Toronto star William Nylander made five NHL appearances for Toronto but did not record a point. He also had a -1 rating and averaged just 9:53 per game. Before the call-up, he had eight goals and 12 points in 14 AHL games.

Despite the lack of production, there may be some interest in his services on the waiver wire after he ended last season with 11 goals in 23 games for the Blue Jackets. The 2016 eighth-overall pick by the Sabres has 25 goals and 49 points in 126 NHL appearances in parts of seven seasons, and claiming him would require no long-term commitment – he’ll be an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season.

Getting Nylander off the active roster one way or another tomorrow will allow the Leafs to activate one of their few IR-bound players, likely winger Bobby McMann or defenseman Jake McCabe.

Maple Leafs Activate Max Domi From Injured Reserve

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The Maple Leafs announced that center Max Domi has been taken off injured reserve ahead of tonight’s game against the Devils. Rookie winger Nikita Grebenkin was returned to AHL Toronto in a corresponding transaction to open up a necessary roster spot.

Domi, 29, will likely return to action after missing the last eight games with a lower-body injury. He last suited up on Nov. 16 against the Oilers and landed on injured reserve a few days later.

Before hitting IR, the Winnipeg native had gone without a goal in 19 games this season, registering six assists and averaging 15:18 per game. The veteran of nearly 700 NHL contests inked a four-year, $15MM extension with the Leafs a day before he would have otherwise hit the unrestricted free-agent market last summer.

After spending most of the early going down the middle, the Leafs will shift Domi to the left wing alongside William Nylander and John Tavares tonight in an effort to kickstart his offensive production, David Alter of The Hockey News reports. That news bodes well for 20-year-old rookie pivot Fraser Minten, who has four points in eight games since being called up last month and will continue to center Toronto’s third line for the time being, now flanked by Max Pacioretty and Pontus Holmberg.

While the Leafs’ roster count remains at the maximum of 23, they gain space in their LTIR pool with the move. They now have roughly $1.5MM in flexibility after reassigning Grebenkin with David Kämpf, Calle Järnkrok and Dakota Mermis still on the long-term injured list.

Domi’s absence did yield the first seven NHL appearances of the 21-year-old Grebenkin’s career. The 6’2″ Russian winger, who the Leafs drafted 135th overall in 2022, was quite the effective physical presence in fourth-line minutes with 13 hits in seven games.

Other than that, though, there wasn’t a ton to write home about. Grebenkin didn’t get on the scoresheet and posted a -3 rating while averaging 8:45 per game, and Toronto controlled just 37.8% of shot attempts with the rookie on the ice at even strength. The 2022-23 Kontinental Hockey League Rookie of the Year will look to get back on track offensively in the minors, where he had four goals and 10 points in 13 games before the call-up.

Max Domi Could Return Tomorrow

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According to David Alter of The Hockey News, the Toronto Maple Leafs had a pair of injured players at practice today. Alter shared that forward Max Domi and defenseman Jake McCabe were full participants at today’s practice and the former could even return tomorrow (X Link).

It’s been nearly a month since Domi suited up for the Maple Leafs since his last game came on November 16th against the Edmonton Oilers. In the first year of a four-year, $15MM contract signed in Toronto this past offseason, Domi has tallied six assists in 19 games for the Maple Leafs while primarily centering the team’s second line.

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Easton Cowan Won't Be On The Ice For Team Canada Selection Camp

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Former Carolina Hurricanes forward Brendan Lemieux has signed a contract with HC Davos, matching a report earlier this week that the 27-year-old would move overseas to continue his career. The Hurricanes and Lemieux mutually split this past week, allowing him to move to Switzerland to play in the National League. Lemieux spent this season with the AHL’s Chicago Wolves, making $775K on a one-way deal. It was the first time Lemieux was in the AHL since the 2017-18 season, and the former second-round pick was struggling offensively, with just two goals in 12 games.

As for why Lemieux chose to go overseas, it does appear that he was chasing a new opportunity. Derek O’Brien of The Hockey News writes that Lemieux has signed for the rest of this season as well as two additional years.

In other morning notes:

  • Hockey Canada tweeted that Toronto Maple Leafs prospect Easton Cowan will attend the team’s selection camp but won’t participate for precautionary reasons. The news caps off an eventful, albeit difficult couple of days for the 19-year-old. Cowan recorded a point for the 56th consecutive game on Friday, unofficially setting an OHL record, but was injured a short time later by an open-ice hit. In a corresponding move, Team Canada added Anaheim Ducks prospect Beckett Sennecke to their selection camp. The 2024 third-overall pick has 21 goals and 23 assists in 26 OHL games this season and has 14 points over his last four games.
  • It’s being reported that the Anaheim Ducks were hoping to include defenseman Cam Fowler in the trade to acquire Jacob Trouba (as per Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet). Fowler has been looking for a trade for quite some time, but the Rangers wanted to keep flexibility for this year and next and wouldn’t have realized much savings if they were to add Fowler’s $6.5MM cap hit. Friedman notes that the Ducks and Fowler are looking for a solution to their situation that will help both the team and the long-time Ducks veteran. The 33-year-old Fowler has been a perennial 40-point player for most of his career but has struggled this season with just three assists in 14 games.

Maple Leafs Activate Max Pacioretty, Place Jake McCabe On IR

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The Maple Leafs have made a pair of roster moves heading into tonight’s game against Pittsburgh.  The team announced (Twitter link) that winger Max Pacioretty has been activated from LTIR.  To make room on the roster, blueliner Jake McCabe was placed on IR retroactive to November 30th.

Pacioretty will wind up missing only the minimum of 10 games since his placement last month when he sustained a lower-body injury against Montreal.  The 36-year-old has been limited to just 13 games so far in his first season with Toronto.  However, he has been relatively productive in those outings, collecting four goals and two assists despite averaging just 12:11 of playing time per night, a career low.

Pacioretty has already reached the first half of his $626,230 bonus pool when he played in his tenth game of the season early last month.  He needs to get to 35 to collect the other half of it so he’ll be looking to stay healthy the rest of the way.

As for McCabe, he has missed the last week due to an upper-body injury sustained against Tampa Bay at the end of November.  Thanks to the retroactive placement, he has already missed the required seven days and thus is eligible to be activated as soon as he’s cleared to return.

After putting up a career-high 28 points last season, the 31-year-old earned a five-year, $23.5MM extension back in late October.  However, he has been a bit quieter offensively so far this season, collecting just five assists through his first 23 games although he’s averaging a career-best 21:20 in playing time.  After being a frequent healthy scratch early on, Philippe Myers has played the last three games in McCabe’s absence.

Maple Leafs Notes: Hakanpää, McCabe, McMann

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Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube said Thursday that defenseman Jani Hakanpää recently underwent a second minor procedure on his knee that shouldn’t keep him out of action for too much longer, per David Alter of The Hockey News.

Hakanpää, 32, has suited up only twice this season for Toronto after finalizing a one-year, $1.47MM deal late in free agency. He underwent a knee procedure early in the offseason after missing the last 13 regular-season and all 19 playoff games for the Stars, keeping him out of action until he got his season started in early November on an AHL conditioning stint.

The veteran defender, who was named to Finland’s roster for the 2025 4 Nations Face-Off yesterday, suited up in back-to-back contests for the Leafs on Nov. 13 and Nov. 16 before exiting the lineup. Toronto moved him to injured reserve on Monday to open up a roster spot, and he’s eligible to return at any time. With Berube claiming that he should start skating soon, it’s fair to anticipate a return to action before the end of the month.

The 6’6″ Hakanpää posted a -1 rating and averaged only 14:05 per game across his two appearances, adding two shots, four blocks, and one hit. The stay-at-home defender was paired with Morgan Rielly, but the duo struggled defensively, controlling only 38.1% of expected goals and allowing 3.36 expected goals per 60 minutes, per MoneyPuck.

There’s more from Leafland today:

  • Defenseman Jake McCabe will remain out of the lineup tomorrow against the Capitals, Berube told reporters, including Mark Masters of TSN. He did skate today, though, according to Masters, and Berube said he’s “feeling better” after missing the last two games with an upper-body injury. The Leafs eagerly await getting their top-four fixture back in the lineup – Philippe Myers has played spot duty alongside Rielly the past couple of games while Oliver Ekman-Larsson shifted to McCabe’s usual spot alongside Chris Tanev.
  • Winger Bobby McMann is progressing in his recovery from his lower-body injury but won’t play in Toronto’s remaining two games this week. Berube told reporters that “he could hopefully be an option for next week” if he starts skating the next couple of days (via Masters). The 28-year-old has missed the last three contests after sustaining the injury on Nov. 27 against the Panthers. The late-blooming forward has been productive when in the lineup, scoring six goals in 21 games while averaging a career-high 14:01 per game.

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