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Toronto FC’s Michael Bradley could be out four months after ankle surgery

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Toronto FC, no stranger to drama, opened training camp with a bang Monday.

First came the unexpected news that captain Michael Bradley was scheduled to undergo surgery Tuesday in New York City on what GM Ali Curtis called a “very severe and complicated ankle injury.”

Bradley was hurt at the Nov. 10 MLS Cup final in Seattle but finished the game and downplayed the injury, saying the right ankle might take two to three weeks “to calm down.”

On Monday, that prognosis stretched to four months.

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Adding to the drama was star striker Jozy Altidore, who tossed a medical grenade when he told reporters the Bradley injury had been mishandled by the MLS club.

“Make no mistake. In my opinion, for me, it was handled poorly,” Altidore told reporters minutes after Curtis outlined the injury news. “This was an injury from two months ago and it’s not the first time this has happened (at the club) … For two months to have gone by and now he’s having surgery and to be out ’til June.”

“I don’t think it’s good enough,” Altidore added. “He’s a guy that takes care of himself in an incredible way, an incredible professional … I think he was let down.”

Coach Greg Vanney, his exasperation at Altidore’s comments plain to see, was then left to clean up the mess.

“Jozy has his opinions,” Vanney said dismissively.

Vanney, unfortunately, has firsthand experience of the injury, saying his daughter has suffered a similar issue from gymnastics.

He called it a “contact injury” affecting the area between the ankle and the tibia. And he said it’s not easy to catch, with a specialist not seeing the severity of the injury from initial images.

“I understand that that this is not an easy find and an easy fix,” Vanney said.

“It’s an injury where you feel like you can pretty much do everything,” he added. “But there’s something that just tells you it’s not right and there’s a little bit of annoyance and a pain. So you can be at 95 per cent and feel like everything’s good but that last five per cent just doesn’t feel right.

“And the problem is that that last five per cent, you’re not going to get over it and it’s going to make things worse. Then you have to deal with it and that’s what he’s doing with it now.”

Adding to the injury surprise is the fact Bradley is a workhorse who takes care of his body and is rarely sidelined.

It’s not the first time Altidore, a designated player who made US$6.33 million last season, has taken a pop at the club. Last April he laid into Bill Manning after a game, saying the team president’s ego was hurting player welfare by banning trainer Giuseppe Gueli because of his affiliation with the now-departed Sebastian Giovinco.

Altidore, who has been dogged by injury in his career, apologized soon after and Gueli returned to the club.

Bradley injured his ankle in the 32nd minute of the championship game when Seattle defender Roman Torres, attempting a shot, caught the Toronto player on the foot with his follow-through. Bradley subsequently withdrew from the U.S. squad for CONCACAF Nations League games against Canada and Cuba just days later.

He spent much of the off-season trying to rehab the ankle at the club’s training facility.

Curtis, who called going under the knife “the last resort,” put the recovery at approximately four months.

“In Michael’s case, we are going to be careful and cautious about this,” the GM told reporters. “But we’re confident that, once he has the surgery, that he’ll be able to return to play. It’ll take probably approximately four months. Now that could be shorter or it could be lengthier depending on how we manage that process.”

The MLS Cup final represented Bradley’s 200th appearance for Toronto FC in all competitions. A month later the 32-year-old midfielder signed a new deal with Toronto that covers three years plus a club option.

Team officials will be looking to 21-year-old Canadian Liam Fraser to deputize for Bradley.

Players reported Saturday for medicals, arriving on a chilly weekend with a dump of snow. Monday was the first day training was open to the media.

TFC officials had been hoping for a quieter pre-season than last when GM Tim Bezbatchenko left to take over Columbus, star attackers Giovinco and Victor Vazquez departed for greener pastures and Dutch international defender Gregory van der Wiel was sent packing after a training camp bust-up.

That left Curtis, the new GM, with plenty of holes to fill with little time to do it ahead of the regular season. It took until the summer transfer window to fix the roster.

It seemed going into this season that the search for a designated player was going to be the main question mark. Monday added a few more.

Coaches and players leave Thursday for warm-weather training in Orlando through Jan. 29. They then return home briefly before leaving Feb. 5 for Irvine, Calif., for the rest of training camp. They have five MLS pre-season games scheduled from Feb. 8 to 22.

The team opens the regular season Feb. 29 at the San Jose Earthquakes.

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Allen on trade to Devils from Habs: 'Sometimes you've got to be a little bit selfish' – Yahoo Canada Sports

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Jake Allen loved being a member of the Montreal Canadiens.

The hockey-mad market, the crackling Bell Centre on a Saturday night, the Original Six franchise’s iconic logo.

The 33-year-old goaltender is also realistic.

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With the Canadiens still in full rebuild mode — and two young netminders in Sam Montembeault and Cayden Primeau ready for more playing time — Allen could see the writing on the wall.

Desperate for help in their own crease, the New Jersey Devils asked Montreal about the veteran’s availability. But the team, general manager Tom Fitzgerald told reporters earlier this month, was initially on Allen’s no-trade list.

There wasn’t anything the Fredericton product disliked about the organization or city. The Devils simply appeared to have their crease set for years to come.

But when the club that finished with 112 points and made the second round of the playoffs in 2022-23 was badly hampered by poor play from Vitek Vanecek, Nico Daws and Akira Schmid — each netminder owned save percentages below .900 — the Devils circled back.

And Allen had changed his tune.

“Loved my time as a Hab,” he said of pulling on Montreal’s red, white and blue threads. “I always will cherish that. Put on probably the most special jersey in hockey, in my books. But you realize in your career, it doesn’t last forever.

“You’ve got to make decisions sometimes.”

Allen, who is signed through next season, eventually agreed to a deal that sent him to New Jersey ahead of the NHL’s March 8 trade deadline for a conditional third-round pick at the 2025 draft.

Apart from playing meaningful hockey on a team trying to claw its way back into the Eastern Conference playoff race, the swap gave him more runway to get his family settled in a new city instead of waiting to see what this summer’s crowded goalie market might bring.

“Sometimes you’ve got to be a little bit selfish,” said Allen, a Stanley Cup champion with the St. Louis Blues in 2019. “Look yourself in the mirror and wonder what’s best for you and your family.”

He’s been really good for his new team.

Allen was lights out in Tuesday’s first period against the Toronto Maple Leafs, making an eye-popping 25 saves in what would turn into New Jersey’s 6-3 victory.

So far he’s 4-2-0 with a .925 save percentage and a 2.51 goals against average in six starts for the Devils, who sit five points back of the East’s second wild-card spot.

“A real pro,” said interim head coach Travis Green.

Allen is a combined 10-14-3 in 2023-24 with a .900 save percentage and a 3.39 GAA. Across his 11 seasons with St. Louis, Montreal and now New Jersey, he’s 193-164-41 with a .908 save percentage and 2.75 GAA.

“Makes the saves we need to get some momentum back,” Devils captain Nico Hischier said. “If you have a solid goalie in the net, that makes your work easier.”

Allen is also 11-12 with a .924 and a 2.06 GAA all-time in the playoffs — a good sign for his new club should New Jersey manage to make the cut.

For now, though, he’s just enjoying being back in a post-season race.

“I thought this was a good opportunity to come in the rest of this year, play some games,” Allen said.

“It’s been a good start.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 28, 2024.

___

Follow @JClipperton_CP on X.

Joshua Clipperton, The Canadian Press

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Matthews game-time decision for Maple Leafs against Capitals with illness – NHL.com

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TORONTOAuston Matthews will be a game-time decision for the Toronto Maple Leafs against the Washington Capitals at Scotiabank Arena on Thursday (7 p.m. ET; SN1, MNMT) because of an illness.

“It’s going to be on how he feels throughout the day,” Maple Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe said.

The forward did not participate in Toronto’s morning skate. Max Domi took his place as the center on a line between Tyler Bertuzzi and Mitch Marner, a right wing recovering from a high-ankle sprain sustained March 7 and will be out the next two games.

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Matthews leads the NHL with 59 goals, one from becoming the ninth player in NHL history with at least two 60-goal seasons. He scored 60 in 73 games in 2021-22, when he won the Rocket Richard Trophy, Hart Trophy and Ted Lindsay Award. He had one goal and nine shots in 23:44 of a 6-3 loss to the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday, which extended his point streak to five games (four goals, seven assists).

He missed one game this season with illness, a 7-0 win against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Dec. 16.

“Of course, it’s an adjustment when your best player is out of the lineup,” Domi said, “when anybody is out of the lineup, but I think we’ve done a great job all year of guys stepping up when they have to, and we just have to continue to do that.”

Toronto defenseman Morgan Rielly will miss his second straight game with an upper-body injury.

“He just remains day to day,” Keefe said. “We’re hopeful he’s going to bounce back here. The one thing that is good is once he gets through this day or two here, it’s not going to be a lingering situation. It’s not going to be an injury that’s ongoing. Once he’s past it, he’s past it so we just need to give him some time.”

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Canucks place goalie Thatcher Demko on long-term injured list

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The Vancouver Canucks have placed all-star goalie Thatcher Demko on the long-term injured reserve list retroactively.

“It’s just cap related,” coach Rick Tocchet said after practice Wednesday. “We get some cap relief, that’s all it is.”

The 28-year-old netminder has been considered week to week since being sidelined with a lower-body injury midway through Vancouver’s 5-0 win over the Winnipeg Jets on March 9.

That injury designation hasn’t changed, Tocchet said.

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Demko boasts a 34-18-2 record this season, with a .917 save percentage, a 2.47 goals-against average and five shutouts.

Casey DeSmith has taken over the starting job for Vancouver, going 3-2-1 since Demko’s injury. He has a .899 save percentage on the season with a 2.73 goals-against average and one shutout.

The earliest Demko could be back in the Canucks’ lineup is April 6 against the Kings in Los Angeles.

He’s expected to be a key piece as Vancouver (45-19-8) prepares for its first playoff appearance since the COVID-shortened 2019-20 campaign.

Canucks general manager Patrik Allvin also announced Wednesday that the club has called up forward Arshdeep Bains from the Abbotsford Canucks of the American Hockey League.

“I’d like to see where [Bains is] at,” Tocchet said, noting he isn’t sure whether the 23-year-old winger will slot into the lineup when the Canucks host the Dallas Stars on Thursday.

WATCH | Bains makes NHL debut

 

Surrey, B.C.’s Arshdeep Bains makes Canucks debut

1 month ago

Duration 2:20

Arshdeep Bains from Surrey, B.C., has made his NHL debut with the Vancouver Canucks Tuesday night against the Colorado Avalanche. As CBC’s Joel Ballard reports, it’s been a hard-fought journey for the hometown kid to the big leagues.

Bains played five games for the NHL team in February before being sent back to Abbotsford.

“He went down, he’s done a couple of things that we like, and he’s got some speed,” Tocchet said.

Vancouver may get another forward back in the lineup Thursday.

Dakota Joshua practised in a full-contact jersey on Wednesday for the first time since suffering an upper-body injury in Vancouver’s 4-2 win over the Blackhawks in Chicago on Feb. 13.

The physical winger, who’s set to become an unrestricted free agent this summer, has a career-high 26 points (13 goals, 13 assists) this season.

Sitting out injured “hasn’t been fun,” Joshua said.

“It feels like forever,” he said. “But at this point, that’s behind me and I’m moving forward.”

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