Panthers vs. Maple Leafs - Apr. 8th, 7:00pm - TSN4, TSN 1050

[CarltonTheBear]

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Florida Panthers 44-29-4, 92 pts​	vs.​	Toronto Maple Leafs 47-25-4, 98 pts​

Projected Line-ups​

Luostarinen-Lundell-Marchand Verhaeghe-Rodrigues-Puljujarvi Greer-Nosek-Gadjovich Samoskevich-Asplund-Boqvist Mikkola-Jones Megna-Balinskis Kiersted-Schmidt Bobrovsky​

Knies-Matthews-Marner McMann-Tavares-Nylander Laughton-Domi-Jarnkrok Lorentz-Holmberg-Robertson Rielly-Carlo OEL-Tanev Benoit-Myers Woll​

Scratches​

Aleksander Barkov Sam Reinhart Sam Bennett Nico Sturm Gustav Forsling Dmitry Kulikov​

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David Kampf Jake McCabe​

Injuries​

Aleksander Barkov - Upper Body - Day to day Sam Reinhart - Unknown - Day to day Sam Bennett - Unknown - Day to day Nico Sturm - Upper Body - Day to day Gustav Forsling - Unknown - Day to day Dmitry Kulikov - Upper Body - Day to day Matthew Tkachuk - Groin - Injured Reserve Aaron Ekblad - PED - Suspended​

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David Kampf - Upper Body - Day to day Jake McCabe - Undisclosed - Day to day Max Pacioretty - Undisclosed - Injured Reserve Jani Hakanpaa - Knee - Injured Reserve​

Game Notes​

FLA -Sergei Bobrovsky (31-18-2, 2.54 GAA, .906 Sv%) will likely start for the Panthers -Florida's injured list is obviously long and significant. The majority of those appear to be more minor issues as the team is allowing players to rest up heading into the playoffs. Barkov and Reinhart seem to be the most likely to get back into the line-up on Tuesday but that won't be confirmed until the morning skate or maybe even closer to puck drop

TOR -Joseph Woll (25-13-1, 2.78 GAA, .906 Sv%) will likely start for the Leafs -McCabe and Kampf both skated at practice on Monday but neither will be traveling with the Leafs on this short road trip

Streams​

Streameast Sportsurge OnHockey NHL66​

 

[ZBBM]

I don't care of it's Ottawa, Florida, or Tampa in R1, the Leafs will have their hands full.

 

[cw]

Playoffs are likely to start April 19th
They can probably sleep walk to home ice in the first round.
Beyond that, resting those with aches and pains like Florida is doing is a reasonable consideration - and might be better for them than knocking themselves out trying to win the division.

 

[bustaheims]

Playoffs are likely to start April 19th
They can probably sleep walk to home ice in the first round.
Beyond that, resting those with aches and pains like Florida is doing is a reasonable consideration - and might be better for them than knocking themselves out trying to win the division.

Problem is that, right now, the Leafs don't have the cap space to bring up extra players to cover for guys to sit and rest. They have to go with the healthy bodies they have on the roster. Because they're in LTIR space, they have to be able to fit the full season's cap hit, and they have less than $200K of space.

 

[Joe S.]

I don't care of it's Ottawa, Florida, or Tampa in R1, the Leafs will have their hands full.

In all honesty, is any team in either conference an easy opponent? Every matchup looks tough across the league. Except maybe for Carolina and NJ. Neither of those teams seem overly impressive.

 

[bustaheims]

I don't care of it's Ottawa, Florida, or Tampa in R1, the Leafs will have their hands full.

I mean, that's generally how the playoffs work these days. There are very few - if any - matchups that don't have potential to be a handful for their opposition.

 

[herman]

Basically the reverse of our first game against them this season?

 

[herman]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1909606782286069920

 

[cw]

Problem is that, right now, the Leafs don't have the cap space to bring up extra players to cover for guys to sit and rest. They have to go with the healthy bodies they have on the roster. Because they're in LTIR space, they have to be able to fit the full season's cap hit, and they have less than $200K of space.

They have 2 on LTIR & two hurt, leaving 20 on the current roster. If two more of those 20 sit due to injury, can they not use emergency recall which doesn't count against the cap to dress 20 players?

 

[bustaheims]

They have 2 on LTIR & two hurt, leaving 20 on the current roster. If two more of those 20 sit due to injury, can they not use emergency recall which doesn't count against the cap to dress 20 players?

In theory, yeah. They may have to play a game with not enough players to make that option available (we've seen that be the case in the past). Not sure how much scrutiny the league would give to a move like that, though.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1909606782286069920

https://twitter.com/x/status/1909610200006304149

 

[cw]

In theory, yeah. They may have to play a game with not enough players to make that option available (we've seen that be the case in the past). Not sure how much scrutiny the league would give to a move like that, though.

They have a whole season of evidence to establish beyond any reasonable doubt Matthews is not 100%

 

[herman]

They have a whole season of evidence to establish beyond any reasonable doubt Matthews is not 100%

Fun fact: very <100% Matthews is out producing everyone on the Panthers other than Sam Reinhart (who has 15 more GP), while playing 1C.

 

[cw]

Fun fact: very <100% Matthews is out producing everyone on the Panthers other than Sam Reinhart (who has 15 more GP), while playing 1C.

His 1.16 ppg this season is11th in the league. That is kind of amazing under the circumstances.
Statement of the obvious: This team's record and playoff chances would be considerably better if he was 100%

 

[CarltonTheBear]

In theory, yeah. They may have to play a game with not enough players to make that option available (we've seen that be the case in the past). Not sure how much scrutiny the league would give to a move like that, though.

They would have to play a game short yeah, not may. We end the season with a road game in Buffalo and then at home in Detroit. Maybe we play with 11 forwards against the 25th place Sabres and then call-up Steeves or Quillan for the final game. Matthews gets 2 games off before playoffs.

Another option once/if Kampf and McCabe return is to just play 11F/7D for a game or two.

 

[herman]

His 1.16 ppg this season is11th in the league. That is kind of amazing under the circumstances.
Statement of the obvious: This team's record and playoff chances would be considerably better if he was 100%

Absolutely. Runaway train level. I do think the adversity and other players working through it and stepping up (and now knowing they can do it) will help in the long run.

There are a few little misses, but by and large, Treliving and Berube have basically done their job, and it's up to the players to hold up their end.

 

[cabber24]

They would have to play a game short yeah, not may. We end the season with a road game in Buffalo and then at home in Detroit. Maybe we play with 11 forwards against the 25th place Sabres and then call-up Steeves or Quillan for the final game. Matthews gets 2 games off before playoffs.

Another option once/if Kampf and McCabe return is to just play 11F/7D for a game or two.

We only play two lines anyway.... lots of ice time to go around.

 

[bustaheims]

His 1.16 ppg this season is11th in the league. That is kind of amazing under the circumstances.
Statement of the obvious: This team's record and playoff chances would be considerably better if he was 100%

11th in goals/game, too (excluding guys who only played a handful of games, obviously). His down seasons are still career years for the overwhelming majority of the league.

 

[cw]

Absolutely. Runaway train level. I do think the adversity and other players working through it and stepping up (and now knowing they can do it) will help in the long run.

There are a few little misses, but by and large, Treliving and Berube have basically done their job, and it's up to the players to hold up their end.

8 of the 20 who dressed for game 1 of the 2023-24 season and 9 of the players who dressed in the Bruins Apr 2024 series are gone.
They changed all those players and the coaching staff.
The team is currently 5th in pts win%.
Depending on who you listen to, they have very roughly about a 6% chance to win a Cup - which is probably better than 80+% of the league. Not many get much north of 10%. I've seen the Caps at 13% this season.
I don't agree with everything they have done or how they did it but I would have to agree that "Treliving and Berube have basically done their job, and it's up to the players to hold up their end."
But I would add Bill Torrey's thoughts: they need some luck with injuries, calls and bounces.

 

[cujo4ever]

Go Leafs Go!