Some quick news from Sheldon Keefe’s media availability tonight …
Per Sheldon Keefe, Timothy Liljegren & Joey Anderson are with tonight
Marner & Engvall expected to join the team in Arizona tomorrow @TSN_Edge
– Mark Masters (@markhmasters) January 13, 2022
The most exciting aspect of this is the return of Mitch Marner (and Pierre Engvall.) With the Leafs having a fully healthy forward-looking group (knocking on the tree that something bad is not happening tonight), the Leafs can roll their ideal lines.
This probably also means that if you’re a fan of Nick Ritchie, you would like to tune in tonight, because it may take a while before you see him again.
As for the second half of that news, with a gassy Leafs team heading to a shootout last night, it makes a lot of sense to put a couple of reserve players in the ranks. Liljegren is an obvious choice and I’m sure there will be no shortage of fans who are excited about his return. Playing against Arizona is a great chance for both Liljegren and Anderson to come back in a comfortable turn.
Keefe says Clifford will not play and that there is a gametime / cap-related move that could see Sandin become the defender coming out of the ranks tonight.
– David Alter (@dalter) January 13, 2022
The downside of the move to put Liljegren in is that Sandin is coming out, and if Keefe alludes to salary cap-related shuffle, no one is easier to mix than the dispensed Rasmus Sandin. Other options would include Clifford (who is still temporarily exempt from being dispensed) or Nick Ritchie. Although Sandin and Clifford are out, it’s probably one of the two walking around. St. Louis becomes a different story.
Playing time tonight is 22:00 ET, and can be found on TSN 4. Start slapping energy drinks now.
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