The Leafs play their ninth game of the season tonight. Tonight’s lucky contestant’s are the 6-2-2 Rangers which on paper have already won this game. Of course the Leafs record is far more impressive on the road this year, an astonishing 1-3-1, so the Rangers would be wise to not take this game lightly.

The news of the day is that a $700k player who attended Leafs camp on a pro tryout has been scratched for a player who has had a nice stretch of hockey in the American Hockey League. Given the fact that the Leafs roster has done nothing to show it doesn’t warrant constant shakeup, this seems like a reasonable move. If you are expecting most Leafs fans to react as such, I hope you’re enjoying your first day on the internet.

As I’ve subtly hinted at, Brad Boyes has been scratched for the recently signed Rich Clune, who will play on a line with former Marlies teammate Byron Froese. We are also being treated to the return of Tyler Bozak, and Jake Gardiner. Mark Arcobello has cleared waivers and will be a Marlie until further notice, and in further proof that Mike Babcock is a regular reader of mine, Peter Holland has been promoted to the second line. In further proof that Mike Babcock has no idea who I am, Scott Harrington has been scratched in favour of Roman Polak (apparent Harrington is hurt, so we cool Babs).

They might be the second best team in their city, but they are still good enough to beat the Leafs. The Rangers have had a good scoring by committee approach going so far this year, and thanks to absolutely insane goaltending from Lunqvist and Raanta, they’ve successfully overcome the adversity of having Dan Girardi play defense for them. Look for former Leaf Dominic Moore to haunt our dreams tonight. Unfortunately Viktor Stalberg is hurt, so he can’t partake.

Since it’s the most handsome goaltending matchup imaginable, the league has decided they’ll play without masks tonight.