TSN Toronto Reporter Mark Masters reports on the Maple Leafs, who practised at Ford Performance Centre on Friday ahead of Saturday’s game against the Minnesota Wild.
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Mitch Marner left Friday’s practice early following a collision with Jake Muzzin.
“Scary,” said goalie Joseph Woll, who watched the accidental impact happen in front of his net. “I just hope everyone’s OK. Two very important players on our team and Mitchy looks like he took the worse of it so I hope he’s good. He’s a battler.”
Marner was slow to his feet and spoke with assistant athletic therapist Jon Geller at the bench. A few minutes later, he left the ice.
“Precautionary,” said head coach Sheldon Keefe. “We’ll see how he is in the morning. It’s not looking like anything serious at this point. He’s going to travel and prepare to play.”
Before departing practice, Marner and Muzzin had a conversation along the boards. It appeared to be heated.
“I was told there was a little bit of an exchange,” said Keefe, “but, especially those two guys, I don’t worry about that kind of stuff at all. Things happen out there whether it’s practice, games, whatever. Our team’s really close and that kind of stuff will be shaken off pretty quickly.”
Marner is known for his fun-loving personality but, like many elite athletes, he also has a fiery side.
“Practice or a game, he can give you a couple lines there on what you should’ve done on the play or stuff like that,” said defenceman Rasmus Sandin. “But that’s just the competitiveness in him, which we love to have. You need competitive guys and when you have a top player like that showing competitiveness – it’s contagious to the other guys.”
Marner and Muzzin exchange words after ‘scary’ collision
Mitch Marner and Jake Muzzin exchanged words after the two collided at Maple Leafs practice on Friday. Marner would eventually leave practice but head coach Sheldon Keefe doesn’t believe it’s anything serious. Mark Masters reports.
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The injury scare comes at a time when Marner is building momentum alongside Auston Matthews. The dynamic duo combined on a couple highlight-reel plays against the Colorado Avalanche on Wednesday night.
“They make it look it very easy out there sometimes and you just shake your head and just laugh at it because it’s ridiculous,” said Sandin.
Marner and Matthews dominated the league last season, but their chemistry took a while to flow again this year. They played just three games together before being separated as the Leafs struggled out of the gate. Matthews then played with William Nylander for 10 games while Marner linked up with John Tavares.
Matthews and Marner were reunited ahead of a game against Nashville on Nov. 16. Wednesday was the first time this season that Marner picked up the primary assist on a Matthews’ even-strength goal.
“Two players like that, especially at their age, there’s room to grow still,” Keefe said. “There’s room to grow in their chemistry, there’s room to grow in their games individually. I don’t think we’d say they’ve maxed out their potential in any regards, especially with that drive that they have paired with the talent and competitiveness. I wouldn’t limit those guys at all. But, certainly, nice to see those guys connecting and can’t leave out the fact [Michael] Bunting has really contributed well to that line.”
“Both of them want the puck all the time,” Bunting said, “and good things happen when it’s on either of their sticks. I just try to get it to them as much as I can.”
On the first Matthews goal, Marner drew the Avalanche defenders to him before finding his good pal all alone in front of the net.
“He’s thinking about the next play,” Bunting said of Marner. “You can see it when I passed it over to him from behind the net and he was already looking to see where Matty was. He put it right on his tape and Matty made an unbelievable play, nice deke to put it upstairs.”
On the second Matthews goal, Marner fed his pal with a brilliant no-look, backhand pass.
“Mitch made some unbelievable plays,” Matthews said.
Bunting took a big hit to create that second Matthews goal.
“I was on my back,” he said with a chuckle. “I didn’t even get to see it until I saw the replay and then, when I saw the replay, I was like, ‘Wow, Mitchy, that was a nice play!’ All the soreness goes away. It was a good hit and I felt it, but once we scored the adrenaline hits. I’ll take that any day.”
This is Bunting’s second look on the first line this season. He mustered just two assists during a nine-game run with Matthews and Nylander.
“I’m trying to play simple, play my game and play with confidence,” the 26-year-old rookie said. “I feel like, at the start of the year, I wasn’t playing with as much confidence with the puck and I wasn’t holding onto it as much as I am now.”
Bunting has two goals and seven assists in the five games since joining the Matthews-Marner line.
‘It’s ridiculous’: Matthews-Marner magic back and can be even better
Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner have combined for 11-points over the Maple Leafs last four games and their teammates and coach believe this is just the start of the type of production they can have this season.
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Morgan Rielly missed practice on Friday.
“Morgan blocked a shot when we were out on the California trip and it acted up here in the last couple days so they sent him off to get pictures of it rather than practising today,” Keefe revealed. “Everything came back negative so he’ll be on the trip with us and continue to manage it, but I expect him to play.”
Toronto’s top defenceman took a Timo Meier shot off the inside of his right foot in San Jose. It forced him to the dressing room, but he quickly returned to the ice.
The team enjoyed a day off on Thursday so Rielly’s absence at practice raised some eyebrows.
“It was a bit surprising because he’s been playing through it,” Keefe acknowledged, “but it acted up to the point where they wanted to get further imaging on it.”
Rielly averages 24 minutes and three seconds of ice time per game, which leads the team.
Leafs Ice Chips: Rielly dealing with after effects of shot block
Morgan Rielly was absent from Maple Leafs practice on Friday, head coach Sheldon Keefe says it was due to a blocked shot on their road trip. Mark Masters has more on the injury report and who’s trending towards a return to the lineup.
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In Rielly’s absence, Sandin moved up to the top pair alongside T.J. Brodie. The 21-year-old also took Rielly’s spot as quarterback on the top power-play unit. Sandin has played in all but one game this season and appears to have established himself as an every-day player.
“I just feel comfortable coming in every night,” the Swede said. “You grow as a player when you get that belief from staff and from your teammates. It helps playing every game so you’re not getting out of the game rhythm and game speed. It helps, for sure.”
Sandin is dynamic on the attack, but he points to a defensive adjustment as being key to his success this season.
“Taking that extra half second on the defensive side of the puck instead of rushing to the o-zone right away,” he said. “Taking that extra second and really playing the defence side first.”
Keefe was quick to point out that Sandin, who is plus-6 with seven assists, can’t let his foot off the gas.
“He’s still in a competition for his spot and his ice time and he’s got to continue to stay on top of that,” the coach cautioned. “We believe in him and he’s played very well for us. You talk about him being an every-day player and he’s only sat the one game to this point but he, like [Timothy] Liljegren and like [Travis] Dermott and Justin Holl, all those guys that have sat games healthy, they got to be at their best every day and that’s the biggest challenge in the NHL.”
Liljegren has sat as a healthy scratch in 10 games. Dermott has sat out seven games while Holl had a five-game stretch in the press box.
Sandin missed one game, which was in Buffalo on the second half of a back-to-back set. What’s allowed him to stay in the lineup?
“The power play and his ability to contribute on that is a big part of it,” Keefe explained. “He has a unique skill-set in that regard when you look at the group that we have. Those same skills that allow him to play on the power play, that’s also unique to our D group in terms of breaking the puck out, helping us move through the neutral zone and helping us at the offensive blue line. Those things really help him stay in and are important intangibles. So, that’s part of it. The other part is the maturity he’s shown as a young player even when he came in with the Marlies.”
Sandin’s potential on the power play is so great that he got a look with the top unit down the stretch last season, including in the playoffs. Sandin has been on the second unit this season as Rielly reclaimed the top-unit position.
“We’ll call it his veteran status,” Keefe explained last week. “We wanted to really give him that opportunity here with [new assistant coach] Spencer [Carbery] coming in and running it. Spencer felt really strongly, as he looked at it, that he wanted to go that way … We wanted to start that way and really haven’t seen a reason to change it yet.”
‘I loved it’: Sandin surprised fan made ‘Ra Ra Ras Sandin’ song in his honour
After a fan-made song ‘Ra Ra Ras Sandin’ went viral on social media, Rasmus Sandin says although he was surprised to come across a song in his honour, he and his family loved it.
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After missing three games with an upper-body injury, right winger Ondrej Kase returned to practice on Friday.
“Kase got through practice today,” Keefe said. “Very positive. It looks like he’s trending towards a return. He’s going to travel with the group. We’ll see how he is in the morning and take it from there.”
Kase skated in his usual spot on the third line with David Kampf and Pierre Engvall.
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After not dressing on Wednesday night due to stiffness, Woll was also back on the ice at practice.
“The past couple days I got some really good treatment and did a lot of stuff to help and felt really good today,” the 23-year-old said. “So, just take it day by day … I’m going in the right direction.”
Woll and Michael Hutchinson will travel to Minnesota. If he’s healthy enough, Woll appears to be in line to start on Sunday night in Winnipeg, which would likely mean a showdown with fellow American Connor Hellebuyck.
“He’s a guy you can take a lot from,” Woll, a St. Louis native, said. “He’s very calm and composed in the net. That would be a really cool challenge if I get the chance.”
Woll has made the most of his chances so far. He’s 3-0-0 with a .939 save percentage. Woll’s latest appearance was last week in San Jose where he allowed an early goal and then committed his first NHL penalty. Teammates were impressed with how he reacted after shooting the puck over the glass for a delay-of-game call.
“I was kind of laughing, to be honest,” Woll said. “It was just unlucky. It might’ve rolled up and I just like slingshot it or lacrosse shot it or something right out of the ice. I thought it was the right play, just not executed the right way.”
Woll worked hard on the mental side of the game during the pandemic, which left him feeling ready for this NHL audition despite sporting a sub .900 save percentage in the American Hockey League.
“Something I’ve worked on a lot is trying to stay in the moment as much as I can and accept I’m going to make mistakes and not be perfect,” he said. “That was a big hump for me to get over. I really try to enjoy what happens. Whether I let in 10 goals or zero goals, my goal is to have the same mindset. I think I did that well the past couple games and I hope to continue it.”
It’s been an emotional run for Woll, who had friends and family in attendance for his NHL debut in Buffalo on Nov. 13. He followed up that win with his first ever shutout in his next start on Nov. 21 on Long Island. He was mobbed by teammates on the ice and then got doused by water in the dressing room.
Through it all, Woll has been steady.
“Consistency,” he said of what it takes to make it at the highest level. “There’s a big difference between playing in the NHL and being an NHL player and ultimately that’s consistency and being able to come in on a daily basis, whether it’s practice or a game day, and treat it the same.”
Justin Holl on celebrating Joseph Woll‘s shutout in Long Island:
“Those are the moments you live for & not just for Joe, but for everybody. Those are exciting things for the team. Right when the shutout happens everyone’s talking like, ‘We got to get the waters going.'” https://t.co/BW97oEv5pd
Sunday’s game may be Woll’s last NHL look for a while. Petr Mrazek is close to returning from a groin injury. He’s been sent to the AHL on a conditioning stint.
“The Marlies were supposed to play tomorrow night and that’s been postponed so he’s going to play on Sunday and we’ll take it from there,” said Keefe.
Mrazek has been sidelined since Oct. 30. He’s only played five periods this season.
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Ilya Mikheyev has played even less. The Russian winger broke his thumb in Toronto’s last pre-season game on Oct. 9. On Friday, he practised with the team for the first time since then.
“It’s really nice to see him taking those steps,” said Keefe. “Part of it is the conditioning piece and getting back out on the ice and being around more than an open sheet of ice and having lots of guys out there. That’s part of making your way. And then the other piece is being with your teammates again. He’s been isolated a lot, as injured players tend to be, and we’ve been trying to get him integrated in our meetings the last little while and coming on the road is a big part of it too.”
Mikheyev skated in a grey extras sweater on Friday. He will travel with the team to Minnesota.
“It feels good,” he said. “Much better every day. Little step every day.”
This is a big season for Mikheyev. He’s in the final year of his contract and was skating on the Tavares line before the injury. How is he handling the frustration?
“It’s tough question,” the 27-year-old said. “Just work. Keep working. It’s no secret. It’s life. It happens. I can change nothing so let’s try again.”
Teammates urged him to lead the stretch at the end of the workout.
“The guys give me a chance,” Mikheyev said with a big smile.
Ilya Mikheyev led the stretch at the end of today’s workout
“The guys give me a chance,” he said with a grin
It was his first practice since suffering an injury in the final pre-season game pic.twitter.com/MJUBBv4TjH
‘Better every day’: Mikheyev returns to Leafs practice
Ilya Mikheyev returned to Maple Leafs practice on Friday for the first time since suffering an injury in the Leafs final preseason game. Sheldon Keefe says it’s good to see Mikheyev and he will be joining them on their trip to Minnesota.
CALGARY – The Calgary Flames have re-signed defenceman Ilya Solovyov and centre Cole Schwindt, the NHL club announced Wednesday.
Solovyov signed a two-year deal which is a two-way contract in year one and a one-way deal in year two and carries an average annual value of US$775,000 at the NHL level.
Schwindt signed a one-year, two-way contract with an average annual value of $800,000 at the NHL level.
The 24-year-old Solovyov, from Mogilev, Belarus, made his NHL debut last season and had three assists in 10 games for the Flames. He also had five goals and 10 assists in 51 games with the American Hockey League’s Calgary Wranglers and added one goal in six Calder Cup playoff games.
Schwindt, from Kitchener, Ont., made his Flames debut last season and appeared in four games with the club.
The 23-year-old also had 14 goals and 22 assists in 66 regular-season games with the Wranglers and added a team-leading four goals, including one game-winning goal, in the playoffs.
Schwindt was selected by Florida in the third round, 81st overall, at the 2019 NHL draft. He came to Calgary in July 2022 along with forward Jonathan Huberdeau and defenceman MacKenzie Weegar in the trade that sent star forward Matthew Tkachuk to the Panthers.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 18, 2024.
KING CITY, Ont. – Oman scored 10 runs in the final over to edge Nepal by one wicket with just one ball remaining in ICC Cricket World Cup League 2 play Wednesday.
Kaleemullah, the No. 11 batsman who goes by one name, hit a four with the penultimate ball as Oman finished at 223 for nine. Nepal had scored 220 for nine in its 50 overs.
Kaleemullah and No. 9 batsman Shakeel Ahmed each scored five in the final over off Sompal Kami. They finished with six and 17 runs, respectively.
Opener Latinder Singh led Oman with 41 runs.
Nepal’s Gulsan Jha was named man of the match after scoring 53 runs and recording a career-best five-wicket haul. The 18-year-old slammed five sixes and three-fours in his 35-ball knock, scoring 23 runs in the 46th over alone when he hit six, six, four, two, four and one off Aqib Ilyas.
Captain Rohit Paudel led Nepal with 60 runs.
The 19th-ranked Canadians, who opened the triangular series Monday with a 103-run win over No. 17 Nepal, face No. 16 Oman on Friday, Nepal on Sunday and Oman again on Sept. 26. All the games are at the Maple Leaf Cricket Ground.
The eight World League 2 teams each play 36 one-day internationals spread across nine triangular series through December 2026. The top four sides will go through to a World Cup qualifier that will decide the last four berths in the expanded 14-team Cricket World Cup in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia.
Canada (5-4) stands second in the World League 2 table. The 14th-ranked Dutch top the table at 6-2.
Oman (2-2 with one no-result) stands sixth, ahead of Nepal (1-5).
Canada won all four matches in its opening tri-series in February-March, sweeping No. 11 Scotland and the 20th-ranked host Emirates. But the Canadians lost four in a row to the 18th-ranked U.S. and host Netherlands in August.
Canada which debuted in the T20 World Cup this summer in the U.S. and West Indies, is looking to get back to the showcase 50-over Cricket World Cup for the first time since 2011 after failing to qualify for the last three editions. The Canadian men also played in the 1979, 2003 and 2007 tournaments, exiting after the group stage in all four tournament appearances.
The Canadian men regained their one-day international status for the first time in almost a decade by finishing in the top four of the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier Playoff in April 2023 in Bermuda.
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 18, 2024
PENTICTON, B.C. – Rick Tocchet has already warned his Vancouver Canucks players — the looming NHL season won’t be easy.
The team made strides last year, the head coach said Wednesday ahead of training camp. The bar has been raised for this year’s campaign.
“To get to the next plateau, there are higher expectations and it’s going to be hard. We know that,” Tocchet said in Penticton, B.C., where the team will open its camp on Thursday.
“So that’s the next level. It starts day one (on Thursday). My thing is don’t waste a rep out there.”
The Canucks finished atop the Pacific Division with a 50-23-9 record last season, then ousted the Nashville Predators from the playoffs in a gritty, six-game first-round series. Vancouver then fell to the Edmonton Oilers in a seven-game second-round set.
Last fall, Jim Rutherford, the Canucks president of hockey operations, said everything would have to go right for the team to make a playoff push. That doesn’t change this season, he said, despite last year’s success.
“The challenges will be greater, certainly. But I believe the team that we started with last year, we have just as good a team to start the season this year and probably better,” he said.
“As long as the team builds off what they did last year, stick to what the coaches tell them, stick to the system, stick together in good times and bad times, this team has a chance to do pretty well.”
Some key players will be missing as Vancouver’s training camp begins, however.
Canucks general manager Patrik Allvin announced Wednesday that star goalie Thatcher Demko will not be on the ice when the team begins it’s pre-season preparation.
Allvin did not disclose the reason for Demko’s absence, but said the 28-year-old American has been making progress.
“He’s been in working extremely hard and he seems to be in a great mindset,” the GM said.
Demko missed several weeks of the regular season and much of Vancouver’s playoff run last spring with a knee injury.
The six-foot-four, 192-pound goalie has a career 213-116-81 regular-season record with a .912 save percentage, a 2.79 goals-against average and eight shutouts across seven seasons with the Canucks.
Allvin also announced that veteran centre Teddy Blueger and defensive prospect Cole McWard will also miss the start of training camp after each had “minor lower-body surgery.”
Vancouver previously announced winger Dakota Joshua won’t be present for the start of camp as he recovers from surgery for testicular cancer.
Tocchet said he’ll have no problem filling the holes, and plans to switch his lines up a lot in Penticton.
“Nothing’s set in stone,” he said. “I think it’s important that you have different puzzles at different times.”
The coach added that he expects standout centre Elias Pettersson to begin on a line with Canucks newcomer Jake DeBrusk.
Vancouver inked DeBrusk, a former Boston Bruins forward, to a seven-year, US$38.5 million deal when the NHL’s free agent market opened on July 1.
The glare on Pettersson is expected to be bright once again as he enters the first year of a new eight-year, $92.8 million contract. The 25-year-old Swede struggled at times last season and put 89 points (34 goals, 55 assists) in 82 games.
Rutherford said he was impressed with how Pettersson looked when he returned to Vancouver ahead of camp.
“He seems to be a guy that’s more relaxed and more comfortable. And for obvious reasons,” said the president of hockey ops. “This is a guy that I believe has worked really hard this summer. He’s done everything he can to play as a top-line player. … The expectation for him is to be one of the top players on our team.”
A number of Canucks hit milestones last season, including Quinn Hughes, who led all NHL defencemen in scoring with 92 points and won the Norris Trophy as the league’s top blue liner.
Several players could once again have career-best years for Vancouver, Tocchet said, but they’ll need to be consistent and not allow frustration to creep in when things go wrong.
“You’ve just got to drive yourself every day when you have a great year,” the coach said. “You’ve got to keep creating that environment where they can achieve those goals, whatever they are. And the main goal is winning. That’s really what it comes down to.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 18, 2024.
