Leivo Recalled and van Riemsdyk Broken

You know it’s a bad Monday morning when you wake up to learn about David Bowie passing away. Your Monday doesn’t get any better when you read this…

Yes, it’s been fun watching the Leafs play the role of the plucky underdog who manages to find more wins than anyone reasonably expected them to, but with JVR out until March, it’s time to shift our attention back to tanking.

If you are looking for any kind of silver lining in this situation it’s probably this…

Josh Leivo, who was recently named to the AHL All-Star team will be joining the Leafs and we’ll have an opportunity to assess whether his impressive year with the Marlies translates to NHL success. 

Leivo’s 30 points have come alongside William Nylander and Kasperi Kapanen, so he’s certainly had some help getting to where he is, but being a complimentary player to creative offensive talent isn’t a bad niche. The downside for Leivo is that van Riemsdyk is the kind of player he generally feeds off of and that’s who he’s replacing. 

Right now I’d hypothesize that Joffrey Lupul or Brad Boyes will be looked at to fill the void on Tyler Bozak’s line with JVR out, and Leivo is likely to be start off with a fairly sheltered role and fourth line minutes.

The elephant in the room has to be that if William Nylander hadn’t been hurt in the World Juniors, this would have been his call up.

I guess we now have the answer to how things can get worse after losing 7-0.