Just because he already tracked down the Russian Bear does not mean Kyle Dubas is done hunting.
The Toronto Maple Leafs GM made it crystal clear he’ll be scoping out another defenceman for his club’s playoff bid.
Meeting with reporters at Tim Hortons Field in Hamilton, Ont., Friday to promote next weekend’s Heritage Classic, Dubas shot down the idea that an impact forward or a goaltender might be his priority.
That said, what price level, style, and handedness of defenceman Dubas will prioritize depends greatly on the readiness of Jake Muzzin, whose $5.625-million cap hit is currently resting on long-term injured reserve.
If Muzzin returns to action during the regular season, Toronto may only have a couple million dollars in wiggle room to add a player without subtracting from its roster. If consecutive concussions keep him out past April 29, then one would have to imagine a left-shot Muzzin replacement would be aggressively sought.
Do you pluck an affordable defender like Justin Braun from Philadelphia or Luke Schenn from Vancouver?
Or go big-game hunting for an established top-four blueliner like Jakob Chychrun, John Klingberg or Ben Chiarot?
“A lot of it is gonna depend on Muzzin’s health and where we’re at. We still have quite a bit of flexibility to get creative and try to make something happen. But unless we get the news we don’t want on Muzz, I think we’ll just have the one move left in us here,” Dubas told reporters, 17 days out from the NHL’s trade deadline.
“It’s not one of these things where we’re going to try to wait and have him come back in the playoffs. A style of player like him, if he’s healthy and he’s good to go, we need to get him back in and play and get him in form before the playoffs.”
Agreed.
Muzzin, 33, has logged 12 years of hard pro minutes and had been struggling by his standards even prior to suffering concussions in January and February. To expect him to take two months off and hit the post-season ice flying like Patrick Kane or Nikita Kucherov in their prime is a tough ask.
“It’s not an imminent return, and we just have to be really careful with him. It’s two concussions and in a very brief amount of time, so we’re going to continue to be slow and cautious with him,” said Dubas, conceding his players need to tighten up in their own end.
“We’ve shown of late, especially against good teams, that we’re able to defend really well as a group. And then when we let our foot off the gas a little bit, like on Wednesday night, it’s ugly. And so that’s going to be on our group to continue to work on that.”
Dubas reiterated that he’d prefer to make his next trade days in advance of March 21, just as he did with the Ilya Lyubushkin deal.
Don’t worry about our crease… nothing to see here
The solution to the troubling inconsistency in the Maple Leafs’ net since the calendar flipped to 2022 must come from within.
Dubas gave a firm endorsement of his tandem of Jack Campbell and Petr Mrazek, shutting down the notion that he’ll poke around a goaltending market led by rental Marc-Andre Fleury.
After getting caved in by the Buffalo Sabres 5-1 Wednesday, Mrazek’s save percentage dropped to .890.
Campbell has cooled off alarmingly from his incredible start. He’s back to his career average of .917 goaltending on the year and has admitted to mental hurdles. Nevertheless, Dubas is pinning his hopes to the duo.
“I think we tend to get a little bit game to game in this marketplace, and I’m not concerned about either one of them,” Dubas said. “They both have shown themselves to be good goalies, and they will be.”
Rodion Strong
The Maple Leafs have known for a while that prospect Rodion Amirov had been diagnosed with a brain tumor. The hopeful young man has endured his first treatment and is in Germany, working out and skating when able. Amirov’s attitude has wowed the organization.
“You see how optimistic he is, how he’s passionate about the fact that he’s gonna fight it all the way,” Dubas said. “It’s remarkable to see — and, really, quite inspiring. I couldn’t imagine that happening. You never expect to hear that when you have a 20-year-old athlete.”
Dubas’s message to his most recent first-round pick: “Get healthy. We know he’s not going to play here in the short term at all. He’s not going to play this season. Certainly, the hockey part is not a huge concern for us right now at all.”
Rodion Amirov shares the video the Leafs made for him at their morning skate, and then gives his thanks for the support.
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Security for Russian Leafs
In light of recent reports of threats and harassment of some Russian hockey players on this side of the pond, Dubas made a point to check in with Ilya Mikheyev and Lyubushkin and has asked them to keep communication open.
“Our director of security is around the team every single day on the road and at home,” Dubas said. “There have been no issues reported by them or anything with toward their families.
“So, we just need to monitor. They’re members of our team, and we care about them and want to make sure they’re safe and that we’re taking care of them as best we can. Anything that comes up, they know to report it right away.”
Disturbing news… I confirm Rick Westhead’s report that my teenage Russian born client on OHL Northbay Battalion team was targeted with Anti-Russian slur at yesterday’s game. Elsewhere, Terrant County College professor sent this on LinkedIn…2 days later school didn’t respond… pic.twitter.com/V8bvG4J46q
GUADALAJARA, Mexico – Canada’s Marina Stakusic fell 6-4, 6-3 to Poland’s Magdalena Frech in the quarterfinals of the Guadalajara Open tennis tournament on Friday.
The 19-year-old from Mississauga, Ont., won 61 per cent of her first-serve points and broke on just one of her six opportunities.
Stakusic had upset top-seeded Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (0) on Thursday night to advance.
In the opening round, Stakusic defeated Slovakia’s Anna Karolína Schmiedlová 6-2, 6-4 on Tuesday.
The fifth-seeded Frech won 62 per cent of her first-serve points and converted on three of her nine break point opportunities.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
TORONTO – Alejandro Kirk’s long single with the bases loaded provided the Toronto Blue Jays with a walk-off 4-3 win in the 11th inning of their series opener against the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday.
With the Cardinals outfield in, Kirk drove a shot off the base of the left-field wall to give the Blue Jays (70-78) their fourth win in 11 outings and halt the Cardinals’ (74-73) two-game win streak before 30,380 at Rogers Centre.
Kirk enjoyed a two-hit, two-RBI outing.
Erik Swanson (2-2) pitched a perfect 11th inning for the win, while Cardinals reliever Ryan Fernandez (1-5) took the loss.
Blue Jays starter Kevin Gausman enjoyed a seven-inning, 104-pitch outing. He surrendered his two runs on nine hits and two walks and fanned only two Cardinals.
He gave way to reliever Genesis Cabrera, who gave up a one-out homer to Thomas Saggese, his first in 2024, that tied the game in the eighth.
The Cardinals started swiftly with four straight singles to open the game. But they exited the first inning with only two runs on an RBI single to centre from Nolan Arendao and a fielder’s choice from Saggese.
Gausman required 28 pitches to escape the first inning but settled down to allow his teammates to snatch the lead in the fourth.
He also deftly pitched out of threats from the visitors in the fifth, sixth and seventh thanks to some solid defence, including Will Wagner’s diving stop, which led to a double play to end the fifth inning.
George Springer led off with a walk and stole second base. He advanced to third on Nathan Lukes’s single and scored when Vladimir Guerrero Jr. knocked in his 95th run with a double off the left-field wall.
Lukes scored on a sacrifice fly to left field from Spencer Horwitz. Guerrero touched home on Kirk’s two-out single to right.
In the ninth, Guerrero made a critical diving catch on an Arenado grounder to throw out the Cardinals’ infielder, with reliever Tommy Nance covering first. The defensive gem ended the inning with a runner on second base.
St. Louis starter Erick Fedde faced the minimum night batters in the first three innings thanks to a pair of double plays. He lasted five innings, giving up three runs on six hits and a walk with three strikeouts.
ON DECK
Toronto ace Jose Berrios (15-9) will start the second of the three-game series on Saturday. He has a six-game win streak.
The Cardinals will counter with righty Kyle Gibson (8-6).
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
CALGARY – Mired in their first four-game losing skid in 20 years, the Calgary Stampeders are going back to Jake Maier at quarterback on Saturday after he was benched for a game.
It won’t be an easy assignment.
Visiting McMahon Stadium are the Eastern Conference-leading Montreal Alouettes (10-2) who own the CFL’s best record. The Stampeders (4-8) have fallen to last in the Western Conference.
“Six games is plenty of time, but also it is just six games,” said Maier. “We’ve got to be able to get on the right track.”
Calgary is in danger of missing the playoffs for the first time since 2004.
“I do still believe in this team,” said Stampeders’ head coach and general manager Dave Dickenson. “I want to see improvement, though. I want to see guys on a weekly basis elevating their game, and we haven’t been doing that.”
Maier is one of the guys under the microscope. Two weeks ago, the second-year starter threw four interceptions in a 35-20 home loss to the Edmonton Elks.
After his replacement, rookie Logan Bonner, threw five picks in last week’s 37-16 loss to the Elks in Edmonton, the football is back in Maier’s hands.
“Any time you fail or something doesn’t go your way in life, does it stink in the moment? Yeah. But then the days go on and you learn things about yourself and you learn how to prepare a little bit better,” said Maier. “It makes you mentally tougher.”
Dickenson wants to see his quarterback making better decisions with the football.
“Things are going to happen, interceptions will happen, but try to take calculated risks, rather than just putting the ball up there and hoping that we catch it,” said Dickenson.
A former quarterback himself, he knows the importance of that vital position.
“You cannot win without good quarterback play,” Dickenson said. “You’ve got to be able to make some plays — off-schedule plays, move-around plays, plays that break down, plays that aren’t designed perfectly, but somehow you found the right guy, and then those big throws where you’re taking that hit.”
But it’s going to take a team effort, and that includes the club’s receiving corp.
“We always have to band together because we need everything to go right for our receivers to get the ball,” said Nik Lewis, the Stampeders’ receivers coach. “The running back has to pick up the blitz, the o-line has to block, the quarterback has to make the right reads, and then give us a catchable ball.”
Lewis brings a unique perspective to this season’s frustrations as he was a 22-year-old rookie in Calgary in 2004 when the Stamps went 4-14 under coach Matt Dunigan. They turned it around the next season and haven’t missed the playoffs since.”
“Thinking back and just looking at it, there’s just got to be an ultimate belief that you can get it done. Look at Montreal, they were 6-7 last year and they’ve gone 18-2 since then,” said Lewis.
Montreal is also looking to rebound from a 37-23 loss to the B.C. Lions last week. But for head coach Jason Maas, he says his team’s mindset doesn’t change, regardless of what happened the previous week.
“Last year when we went through a four-game losing streak, you couldn’t tell if we were on a four-game winning streak or a four-game losing streak by the way the guys were in the building, the way we prepared, the type of work ethic we have,” said Maas. “All our standards are set, so that’s all we focus on.”
While they may have already clinched a playoff spot, Alouettes’ quarterback Cody Fajardo says this closing stretch remains critical because they want to finish the season strong, just like last year when they won their final five regular-season games before ultimately winning the Grey Cup.
“It doesn’t matter about what you do at the beginning of the year,” said Fajardo. “All that matters is how you end the year and how well you’re playing going into the playoffs so that’s what these games are about.”
The Alouettes’ are kicking off a three-game road stretch, one Fajardo looks forward to.
“You understand what kind of team you have when you play on the road because it’s us versus the world mentality and you can feel everybody against you,” said Fajardo. “Plus, I always tend to find more joy in silencing thousands of people than bringing thousands of people to their feet.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
