While he’s signing with a team in the Maple Leafs organization, his NHL rights are still held by Ottawa, albeit for what will likely be a short period of time. Tychonick’s exclusive signing rights will expire on August 15, 2023, standard procedure for collegiate players who have exhausted their college eligibility and have not yet signed an NHL contract.
Maple Leafs Rumors
Jordie Benn Leaves AHL Game With Injury
- With the playoffs just around the corner, a defensive depth piece in the Toronto Maple Leafs organization may be unavailable to them for a while. Jordie Benn was injured in last night’s AHL Toronto Marlies game and did not return, and Marlies head coach Greg Moore offered no postgame update. Benn, 32, has two points in 12 games while playing for the Maple Leafs this season but has fallen down the depth chart quickly after a flurry of trade deadline adds at the position.
Maple Leafs Recall Bobby McMann And Joseph Woll
In advance of their game tonight against Ottawa, the Maple Leafs have brought up a pair of players, announcing (Twitter link) the recalls of winger Bobby McMann and goaltender Joseph Woll from AHL Toronto.
McMann has been a strong scorer in the minors this season, notching 21 goals in just 30 games. He leads the Marlies in that category despite missing half of the AHL campaign. That scoring prowess earned him his NHL debut back in January where he got into eight games, logging just shy of 11 minutes a night while being held off the scoresheet. With Noel Acciari being injured last night against Carolina, McMann will take his place on the roster for the time being.
As for Woll, his recall was a bit more curious. However, he’s covering for Ilya Samsonov as head coach Sheldon Keefe told reporters including Lance Hornby of the Toronto Sun (Twitter link) that Samsonov didn’t travel with the team with his wife expecting to give birth soon plus a minor injury before they embark on a long trip starting on Tuesday. Woll, meanwhile, has been dominant with the Marlies, winning 16 of his 18 starts while posting a 2.37 GAA and a .928 SV%. His NHL numbers have been better, albeit in a much smaller sample size, as he has a 2.04 GAA with a .938 SV% in three starts with the Maple Leafs this season.
Noel Acciari Won't Play Versus Ottawa
- Maple Leafs forward Noel Acciari won’t play tonight against Ottawa, relays NHL.com’s Dave McCarthy (Twitter link). He suffered an injury on Friday against Carolina on a hit from Jesse Puljujarvi and did not return with head coach Sheldon Keefe indicating the 31-year-old wouldn’t be accompanying Toronto on the road. Acciari has three goals in 13 games with Toronto since being acquired from St. Louis last month while chipping in with 43 hits in a little under 13 minutes per contest.
Injury Notes: O’Reilly, Konecny, Couturier
Toronto Maple Leafs center Ryan O’Reilly, who broke his finger March 4 against the Vancouver Canucks, skated again Friday before Toronto’s optional morning skate, according to Terry Koshan of the Toronto Sun.
O’Reilly is currently on injured reserve, but is expected to be ready for the playoffs. If he were to return by April 1, he would have eight games left in the schedule to get back up to speed. If able to return for regular season action, he could be close to full health once the playoffs start. Toronto currently sits one point ahead of the Tampa Bay Lighting for second place in the Atlantic Division behind the Boston Bruins.
Other injury notes from around the NHL.
- Philadelphia Flyers forward Travis Konecny was on the ice wearing a non-contact jersey during practice Friday, according to Olivia Reiner of the Philadelphia Inquirer. Konecny, who has been out since Feb. 20 with an upper-body injury, may return this season, but Philadelphia is likely to be cautious with his return. Charlie O’Connor of The Athletic reports that coach John Tortorella said he’s not sure if Konecny could return this season. The Flyers are taking into account whether it would be worth Konecny to return this season, as allowing him the time to heal may be the course of action the team decides to take. Konecny has had a strong season, with 27 goals and 27 assists for 54 points in 52 games.
- Sticking with the Flyers, another player who took part in the morning skate was center Sean Couturier, who has missed the entire season due to injury. He wore a regular contact jersey during the morning skate, reports Charlie O’Connor of The Athletic. O’Connor also reports that Tortorella said Couturier is closer to a return than Konecny. In what has been a lost season in Philadelphia, Couturier’s return would be more symbolic than anything else. He could benefit from taking the rest of the season than risk re-aggravating the injury playing meaningless games down the stretch. If he were to return, the Flyers would surely bring him along slowly to get him back up to game speed.
Auston Matthews Confirms He Was Dealing With Hand Injury
- While it has been speculated for a while, Maple Leafs center Auston Matthews confirmed to Jonas Siegel of The Athletic (subscription link) that the upper-body injury he has been dealing with for most of the year is a hand issue. However, the 25-year-old indicated that the hand is feeling a lot better now as of late which is certainly good news for a Toronto team that has made several moves to augment their roster at the trade deadline in the hopes of a long playoff run. Even with the injury, Matthews still has 31 goals and 36 assists in 59 games so far.
Toronto Maple Leafs Sign Ryan Tverberg
The Toronto Maple Leafs have inked one of their interesting young prospects, signing Ryan Tverberg to a three-year entry-level contract. The deal will start next season and Tverberg will join the Toronto Marlies on a professional tryout for the rest of 2022-23.
General manager Kyle Dubas released a statement:
The Maple Leafs organization is very thankful to the University of Connecticut. Ryan’s development through his three seasons with the Huskies and subsequent signing today is a testament to the tireless work of head coach Mike Cavanaugh and all the staff within the UConn men’s hockey program.
Tverberg’s entry-level deal will carry an average annual value of $851,667.
It is rare for a player drafted so late to earn an NHL contract well before his eligibility runs out, but Tverberg has shown he’s not the average seventh-round pick. The 21-year-old was selected 213th overall in 2020 and quickly showed he could be a difference-maker at the NCAA level.
In three years at UConn, he racked up 69 points in 85 games, was selected as a Hockey East First-Team All-Star, and was nominated for the Hobey Baker. The undersized center was the engine on many nights, and will now see if his game can translate to the professional ranks.
Because the contract starts next year, it still leaves Toronto with one slot left for this spring—expected to be used on Matthew Knies.
Ryan O’Reilly Expected Back Before Playoffs
The Toronto Maple Leafs spent big at the NHL trade deadline to try and improve their team before the playoffs but ended up losing Ryan O’Reilly after just a few games when he was accidentally hit with an Auston Matthews shot. Today, general manager Kyle Dubas told reporters, including Chris Johnston of NorthStar Bets that O’Reilly should be able to return ahead of the playoffs.
After breaking a finger, the veteran forward was moved to long-term injured reserve on March 6, meaning he can return at the end of the month. The team has eight games in April to get him back up to speed, should he be ready to go for April 1.
It seemed like a perfect fit for the Maple Leafs and O’Reilly through his first few games with the team. After scoring just 19 points in 40 games with St. Louis, he had five in his three with Toronto, including an impressive hat trick performance against the Buffalo Sabres. However, things had gone quiet before the injury, as O’Reilly was scoreless in his other five games with the Maple Leafs.
While he won’t be asked to carry the load offensively, his addition was meant to give the team another high-impact forward for the playoffs. Winning faceoffs and playing strong defense is one thing, but it’s not exactly what the team was hoping for when they used several high draft picks to acquire him from the St. Louis Blues.
Luckily for Toronto, the other player they received in that deal—Noel Acciari—has also been making an impact, including a pair of goals against the Edmonton Oilers a few days ago. The bang-and-crash forward has already recorded 40 hits in his 11 games as a Maple Leaf, taking him over 200 on the season.
League Notes: Three Stars, Cut-Resistant Equipment, Challenges
This week’s Three Stars are in, courtesy of the NHL, and it contains a trio of high-octane forwards. Arizona Coyotes winger Clayton Keller earned first-star honors after he led the NHL with nine points in four games last week, helping the Coyotes earn a four-game point streak. Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby took home the second star, while Toronto Maple Leafs forward Mitch Marner was awarded the third.
Not only has Keller held his own, producing over a point per game on a team near the bottom of the league, but his presence has finally helped crack the offensive game of 2018 fifth-overall pick Barrett Hayton, who now has eight points in his last four games. Crosby’s strong play this week has once again helped keep the Penguins safer in the playoff picture, while Marner recorded six points in two games against two of the league’s best teams in New Jersey and Edmonton.
Some other league notes to begin the week:
- NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly told reporters, including NorthStar Bets’ Chris Johnston, that the league “would like to get to a point where cut-resistant equipment is mandated for all new players.” Daly notes that talks remain ongoing with the NHLPA on creating said regulation. The issue has come to the forefront in recent years in light of some scary injuries, especially incidents of skate cuts on wrists. Notably, players such as Evander Kane and Ilya Mikheyev have missed significant time in the past few seasons.
- TVA’s Renaud Lavoie reports that NHL general managers have discussed expanding the grounds of coaches’ challenges to include puck-over-glass penalties, as well as two-minute high-sticking infractions. With challenges becoming increasingly rare as the penalties for getting them wrong evolve, the danger of slowing the game down with too many reviews is also decreasing. The managers’ annual meeting is this week.
East Notes: Tavares, Lindholm, Flyers
During a hard-fought battle in front of the net of last night’s game against the Edmonton Oilers, John Tavares slashed the hand of Oilers’ defenseman Vincent Desharnais, sending him to the ice immediately. The NHL Department of Player Safety has announced that the Toronto Maple Leafs’ captain will be fined $5,000, the maximum allowable under the current Collective Bargaining Agreement. This will be the second time in his career that Tavares has been fined for slashing, the first time being in a similar incident with then Devils’ forward Zach Parise back in 2011.
Aside from the incident with Tavares, the Maple Leafs managed to secure another big win leading into the playoffs. The group has now managed to go 7-3-0 in their last ten games, gathering steam at just the right time.
Other notes:
- In a quick meeting with the press, Boston Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery stated that defenseman Hampus Lindholm will be held out of today’s game with the Detroit Red Wings. After blocking a shot in yesterday’s matchup between the two teams, Lindholm’s foot has apparently become very swollen, and he will return to the lineup against the Chicago Blackhawks on Tuesday. Replacing him in the lineup is defenseman Derek Forbort, who has seen his playing time cut since the Bruins deadline moves. With 42 points already this season, and an incredible 40 +/-, Lindholm’s absence shouldn’t have too big of an impact on the Bruins. Having one of the most dominant seasons of any team in NHL history, the Bruins have put themselves in a position to absorb the loss of Lindholm for one game.
- Flyers beat reporter Giana Han announces that the Philadelphia Flyers have sent down forwards Elliot Desnoyers and Tyson Foerster to their AHL affiliate Lehigh Valley Phantoms, becoming the first-ever transaction made by General Manager Daniel Briere. As the Flyers’ season has been lost, it will be important for the two forwards to continue their growth in the playoffs this year for the Phantoms.