Habs Beat Leafs/Leafs Make Another Trade

 

Photo From San Diego Tribune

Tonight, the Leafs were supposed to play in Montreal against the Canadiens, the problem is I don’t think the Leaf players knew they had a game. I am writing this after forty minutes and the Leafs are down 5-0 to the Habs and you know what? Good for them they showed up ready to play on the second game of a back-to-back where the Leafs are the rested team. Right from the opening faceoff the Leafs were not prepared to play. Just as I say that the Leafs open the third period with two quick goals from Ilya Mikheyev and Engvall both their eighth goals of the season 45 seconds apart. Defense in this current stretch has been a concern of Sheldon Keefe’s and with Toronto giving up 11 goals in their last two games all it does is support the coaches concern. As we know the other night Toronto addressed the teams defense somewhat by picking up Ilya Lyubushkin who likely won’t be available for a few days as he is coming from Arizona and some immigration requirements need to be addressed. Toronto can’t be finished addressing their defense and if you were to just focus on Justin Holl its clear to see he needs to sit in the press box for a little while and let’s remember the last time Justin Holl was out of the lineup Toronto had their best month in franchise history when in November the team went 12-2. I know it’s a long season and of course the Leafs will win games again but when you are playing teams that are below you in the standings especially as low as Montreal, I don’t care what the situation is these are games you have to win because when you drop points like the Leafs will in this one these are games that are sure to be a factor when determining playoff seeding. The Leafs wound up losing this game 5-2. After the game Sheldon Keefe said sometimes a game like this can be a wake-up call for your team and hopefully he is right because the Leafs are back in action Tuesday night as they travel to Columbus to face the Blue Jackets. To make the news even worse for Toronto they will be without Jake Muzzin as he suffered an awkward fall where he hit his head on the ice, this happened in the final minute of the second frame and even though Muzzin was able leave the ice on his own power he will spend the night in Montreal where he can be monitored as a precaution. As we know Jake Muzzin has dealt with a concussion earlier in the season so of course all anyone can ask for is that Muzzin will be alright, and he returns soon.

Photo From Sportsnet

During the first intermission it was announced that Toronto and Arizona had made another this time the trade consisted of the Leafs receiving goalie Carter Hutton for Future Considerations. Hutton comes with a cap hit of $750,000 but Hutton had cleared Waivers prior to this deal happening so I am sure that was a factor, but Carter Hutton will now report to the Toronto Marlies. Carter who is 36 has made just three appearances for Arizona and his numbers like the team has been terrible his goals against average is above seven. Now I’m sure Leaf fans reading this are likely wondering why this deal was made. I wouldn’t put too much thought in it because the Marlies need help in goal because Michael Hutchinson although he won this afternoon against Laval for the most part has not played all that well. I still don’t think the Leafs and Dubas are done I still believe the Leafs will strengthen their defense some more, but they may also look at strengthening their Forward depth because in case you didn’t hear the news but yesterday the Leafs placed Ryan Dzingel on Waivers and this afternoon, he was claimed by the San Jose Sharks which helped the Leafs because they gained 1.1 million dollars in space. Thankfully I am not in the shoes of Kyle Dubas because he is the one that must navigate the Leafs through the madness that is the Salary cap and with the trade deadline four weeks away business is likely to pick up in Leaf land. As usual if anything happens, I will have an article to go along with any news.

 

I apologize if the quality of this article isn’t at the same level as previous ones but in a 5-2 thrashing against Montreal there really wasn’t much to say about the game because from top to bottom the game was brutal and with the Leafs making a minor trade there wasn’t a lot of news to go along with the move.

The Leafs are back in action Tuesday night against the Blue Jackets and hopefully Tuesday night in Columbus is a much better game than tonight’s in Montreal.

Thanks as always for reading.