EDMONTON – The Toronto Maple Leafs are on the mend, so Sheldon Keefe is stitching together a new-look lineup.
As the head coach game-plans for Tuesday’s showdown against the Edmonton Oilers and the top two scorers in hockey, the Leafs are set to welcome back two regulars to the lineup.
Forward Ilya Mikheyev is ready to make his long-awaited season debut after suffering a broken thumb in preseason action, and Travis Dermott will draw back in alongside Justin Holl on the third defence pairing after missing four games with a banged-up shoulder.
“[Mikheyev] was having a tremendous camp for us. We were looking to find ways to expand his role, and he was taking advantage of every opportunity we were giving him through camp and the preseason,” Keefe said.
“This has been a big setback for him, but he has worked hard to get himself ready to go. It’s going to take him some time to get back to game level and what we come to expect from him, but he’s an important piece of our team.”
The recalled Brett Seney, 25, will make his Maple Leafs debut, centring the fourth line and pushing Alex Steeves up to the press box.
Seney has played 53 NHL games with the New Jersey Devils and earned the call onto the Western Canadian road trip through his solid play with the Marlies (10 goals, 16 points in 19 games).
“Steeves has played quite well for us, and we’re really happy with him. That line scored a big goal for us the other night [versus Chicago],” Keefe explained. “We wanted to move up [Pierre] Engvall to the third line. Plus, we need somebody with some centre experience. Seney has that; he’s played centre in pro hockey. Steeves doesn’t have that. So that’s really where he got the edge.”
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The injured Rasmus Sandin (knee) has taken a positive step in his recovery from the hit he took from Winnipeg’s Neal Pionk as well.
“Up until Sunday, he was still on crutches, but he’s moving on to the next phase and starting to skate again,” Keefe said. “That’s what we expected, is that it would turn quickly once he was able to be weight-bearing and it has.”
On the home side, Zach Hyman (day-to-day, upper body) will be sidelined against his former team, while defenceman Duncan Keith (upper body) is expected to play his first game since Nov. 23.
Forward Ryan McLeod has entered COVID-19 protocol ahead of the game.
Certainly sounds like Sheldon Keefe will try to get Rielly-Brodie against McDavid-Draisaitl as much as possible tonight, but Timothy Liljegren will inevitably face some tough minutes as well. Big test for the rookie.
— luke fox (@lukefoxjukebox) December 14, 2021
Here are Tuesday’s projected lines:
Maple Leafs
Bunting — Matthews — Kase
Kerfoot — Tavares — Nylander
Mikheyev — Kampf — Engvall
Clifford — Seney — Simmonds
Rielly — Brodie
Muzzin — Liljegren
Dermott — Holl
Campbell starts
Oilers
Draisaitl – McDavid – Kassian
Foegele – Nugent-Hopkins – Puljujarvi
Shore – TBD – Yamamoto
Benson – Ryan – Sceviour
Nurse – Bouchard
Keith – Ceci
Niemelainen – Barrie
Koskinen starts
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