Leafs @ Coyotes - Jan. 12th, 10:00pm - TSN4, Fan 590

[CarltonTheBear]

@

23-8-3, 49 points | 7-23-3, 17 points

Projected Lines

Bunting-Matthews-Kase Kerfoot-Tavares-Nylander Mikheyev-Kampf-Simmonds Clifford-Spezza-Ritchie Rielly-Brodie Muzzin-Holl Sandin-Dermott Mrazek ​

Ladd-Boyd-Keller Crouse-Larsson-Kessel Roussel-Nash-Fischer O'Brien-Galchenyuk-Schmaltz Gostisbehere-Mayo Moser-Lyubushkin Kolyachonok-Crotty Vejmelka​

Scratches

Brett Seney Timothy Liljegren Joey Anderson Alex Biega Michael Hutchinson​

Loui Eriksson Blake Speers Jan Jenik Victor Soderstrom Ivan Prosvetov​

Game Notes

TOR
?Mrazek (2-1-0, 4.13 GAA, .880 Sv%) will start for the Leafs
?This will be Mrazek's first game in 32 days

ARI
?Vejmelka (3-13-1, 3.30 GAA, .904 Sv%) will likely start for the Coyotes
?In case you couldn't tell from their roster... the Coyotes are bad. They have a .258 points percentage and are on pace for just 42 points this season. For some context, in the Tank-For-McDavid season Buffalo finished last with 54 points
?Checking in on some former Leafs... Kessel has 23 points in 33 games this season but only 5 goals. Boyd has a very respectable 16 points in 25 games. Gachenyuk, who started the season on the IR and then missed some time due to COVID, has 0 goals and 3 points in 15 games. Riley Nash also recently joined the team after being claimed off waivers by Tampa who claimed him off waivers from Winnipeg earlier in the season

Injuries

?Pierre Engvall - COVID-19 Protocol - Out ?Mitch Marner - COVID-19 Protocol - Out​

?Jay Beagle - Lower Body - Injured Reserve ?Ryan Dzingel - Upper Body - Injured Reserve ?Barrett Hayton - Hand - Injured Reserve ?Carter Hutton - Lower Body - Injured Reserve ?Dmitrij Jaskin - Upper Body - Injured Reserve ?Conor Timmins - Knee - Injured Reserve ?Jakob Chychrun - Upper Body - Injured Reserve ?Anton Stralman - COVID-19 Protocol - Out ?Scott Wedgewood - COVID-19 Protocol - Out ?Cam Dineen - COVID-19 Protocol - Out ?Kyle Capobianco - COVID-19 Protocol - Out​

Stream Options

BilaSport.net
Sportsurge.net
​

 

[Frank E]

Can you imagine being a Coyotes fan right now?

What a sadsack bunch over overpaid underachievers...and they only have like 7 players signed past this season...it's just absolutely embarrassing both on the ice and off.

 

[Can8899]

That Arizona team is an embarrassment.  I consider myself not only a Leaf fan but pretty well-educated NHL fan and I had no idea Andrew Ladd was still in the NHL.  I was sure that he retired years ago due to injury.

I know Covid has taken it's toll on rosters but I've never heard of many of these players.

 

[L K]

Can you imagine being a Coyotes fan right now?

What a sadsack bunch over overpaid underachievers...and they only have like 7 players signed past this season...it's just absolutely embarrassing both on the ice and off.

You can 1967 to me and all that but I honestly don't see how you can be a fan of the Coyotes.  Its from a non-traditional market.  They have constant ownership instability.  They have "where are we going to play tomorrow" instability.  Their team sucks most of the time.

https://www.sportsnet.ca/nhl/article/report-coyotes-not-currently-enough-votes-approve-new-arena/

This is their 25th season as a franchise.  They have won 2 playoff series in their existence and both of them came within the same playoff run when they made it to the Conference finals in 2011-2021. 

It's a back to back tonight but if the Leafs don't win this one handily I will be very disappointed.

 

[bustaheims]

You can 1967 to me and all that but I honestly don't see how you can be a fan of the Coyotes.  Its from a non-traditional market.  They have constant ownership instability.  They have "where are we going to play tomorrow" instability.  Their team sucks most of the time.

Yeah. When the team's high water mark is basically sustained mediocrity, it's hard to maintain a real interest as a fan.

I understand the appeal of the market, but without being able to ice a quality team on a regular basis, it's a futile effort.

 

[ZBBM]

That Arizona team is an embarrassment.  I consider myself not only a Leaf fan but pretty well-educated NHL fan and I had no idea Andrew Ladd was still in the NHL.  I was sure that he retired years ago due to injury.

I know Covid has taken it's toll on rosters but I've never heard of many of these players.

I didn't know Stralman was still in the league....

 

[ZBBM]

Can you imagine being a Coyotes fan right now?

What a sadsack bunch over overpaid underachievers...and they only have like 7 players signed past this season...it's just absolutely embarrassing both on the ice and off.

You can 1967 to me and all that but I honestly don't see how you can be a fan of the Coyotes.  Its from a non-traditional market.  They have constant ownership instability.  They have "where are we going to play tomorrow" instability.  Their team sucks most of the time.

https://www.sportsnet.ca/nhl/article/report-coyotes-not-currently-enough-votes-approve-new-arena/

This is their 25th season as a franchise.  They have won 2 playoff series in their existence and both of them came within the same playoff run when they made it to the Conference finals in 2011-2021. 

It's a back to back tonight but if the Leafs don't win this one handily I will be very disappointed.

The occasional flutterings of Will Auston want to go back home after his Leafs contract is up don't seem very realistic.

 

[L K]

Can you imagine being a Coyotes fan right now?

What a sadsack bunch over overpaid underachievers...and they only have like 7 players signed past this season...it's just absolutely embarrassing both on the ice and off.

You can 1967 to me and all that but I honestly don't see how you can be a fan of the Coyotes.  Its from a non-traditional market.  They have constant ownership instability.  They have "where are we going to play tomorrow" instability.  Their team sucks most of the time.

https://www.sportsnet.ca/nhl/article/report-coyotes-not-currently-enough-votes-approve-new-arena/

This is their 25th season as a franchise.  They have won 2 playoff series in their existence and both of them came within the same playoff run when they made it to the Conference finals in 2011-2021. 

It's a back to back tonight but if the Leafs don't win this one handily I will be very disappointed.

The occasional flutterings of Will Auston want to go back home after his Leafs contract is up don't seem very realistic.

I think the biggest factor is really just that he rooted for the Coyotes growing up and that he still lives in Arizona during the offseason. 

But as we have seen with the Leafs ability to attract free agents, simply being the team you rooted for as a kid/the place you grew up doesn't automatically make you want to play for them.

I have no doubt that if the Coyotes are still around, their ownership/arena is stabilized and their plan to draft all of the picks in the next 2-3 drafts pan out that they could be an attractive place for a guy like Matthews to come home. 

But in its current iteration there is no way that I see him going there.

 

[Frank E]

That Arizona team is an embarrassment.  I consider myself not only a Leaf fan but pretty well-educated NHL fan and I had no idea Andrew Ladd was still in the NHL.  I was sure that he retired years ago due to injury.

I know Covid has taken it's toll on rosters but I've never heard of many of these players.

I didn't know Stralman was still in the league....

I didn't know that Ladd, Stralman, and Eriksson were still in the league.

 

[Big Daddy]

I hate to be so blatantly obvious in my love for the way Matthews is playing but this is the first time in 35 years that I?ve felt Sittlers record is in jeopardy. Then I looked up how old Sittler was that night and he was 25 and guess who turns 25 this year!!  Coincidence??

 

[Joe S.]

Can you imagine being a Coyotes fan right now?

What a sadsack bunch over overpaid underachievers...and they only have like 7 players signed past this season...it's just absolutely embarrassing both on the ice and off.

You can 1967 to me and all that but I honestly don't see how you can be a fan of the Coyotes.  Its from a non-traditional market.  They have constant ownership instability.  They have "where are we going to play tomorrow" instability.  Their team sucks most of the time.

https://www.sportsnet.ca/nhl/article/report-coyotes-not-currently-enough-votes-approve-new-arena/

This is their 25th season as a franchise.  They have won 2 playoff series in their existence and both of them came within the same playoff run when they made it to the Conference finals in 2011-2021. 

It's a back to back tonight but if the Leafs don't win this one handily I will be very disappointed.

The occasional flutterings of Will Auston want to go back home after his Leafs contract is up don't seem very realistic.

I think the biggest factor is really just that he rooted for the Coyotes growing up and that he still lives in Arizona during the offseason. 

But as we have seen with the Leafs ability to attract free agents, simply being the team you rooted for as a kid/the place you grew up doesn't automatically make you want to play for them.

I have no doubt that if the Coyotes are still around, their ownership/arena is stabilized and their plan to draft all of the picks in the next 2-3 drafts pan out that they could be an attractive place for a guy like Matthews to come home. 

But in its current iteration there is no way that I see him going there.

I think the more realistic danger is losing Matthews to a team like the Rangers or Kings.

 

[Highlander]

Matthews is not going anywhere unless we can get McDavid to replace him. And McJesus wants to come home.  Believe it.

 

[berserker]

I would rather have Matthews
over McDavid
Thank you

 

[Palmateer29]

You would be the only GM in the league who would take that.

I would rather have Matthews
over McDavid
Thank you

 

[leafsjunkie]

You would be the only GM in the league who would take that.

I would rather have Matthews
over McDavid
Thank you

I think they are closer than you think and Auston seems to maybe be a better all around player.
But this is all moot. We all know McDavid is coming home to play with Matthews.  :-*

 

[azzurri63]

Liljeren is in tonight. Are the Leafs going with 7 d tonight or is someone out ?

 

[disco]

https://twitter.com/kevin_mcgran/status/1481455274628108291

 

[Guilt Trip]

Liljeren is in tonight. Are the Leafs going with 7 d tonight or is someone out ?

Sandin is probably back with the Marlies/Taxi Squad...Leafs don't have the space to carry 7 D and an extra forward.

 

[ZBBM]

https://twitter.com/kevin_mcgran/status/1481455274628108291

Looks like you could accomplish that with about 25 Leafs fans.

 

[rdowdall]

Auston:  Dad, how will I know where you are?
Auston's Dad:  Son, we are going to be the only ones there.