Happy Halloween to those who celebrate! The Toronto Maple Leafs take on the Seattle Kraken at Scotiabank Arena, with both teams sporting identical 5-4-1 records.
Toronto held an optional morning skate, where Joseph Woll left the ice quickly and Craig Berube confirmed he&#8217;ll start tonight. Anthony Stolarz received shots throughout the morning skate, and will be the backup. It was an optional skate, where many roster regulars took the option, and the team quickly brought into routine shooting drills, separating the forwards and defencemen. Max Domi, Steven Lorentz, Bobby McMann, Nick Robertson, Ryan Reaves, Pontus Holmberg, Connor Dewar, Jani Hakanpaa, Chris Tanev, Philippe Myers and Anthony Stolarz were present at the optional.
Timothy Liljegren was traded Wednesday night to the San Jose Sharks, in exchange for Matt Benning and two draft picks. William Nylander and Morgan Rielly reflected upon Liljegren&#8217;s tenure with the Maple Leafs prior to the skate. Berube confirmed Benning will arrive Thursday.
&#8220;I think looking back at training camp, I think guys just outplayed him a little bit,&#8221; <a href="https://x.com/Arunthings/status/1852006243176419485">Berube said of Liljegren</a>. &#8220;He&#8217;s got ability, he can skate, move the puck, I wish him all the best. It just didn&#8217;t work out here.&#8221;
Here&#8217;s what you need to know:
<h3>Woll is projected starter vs. Kraken</h3>
Joseph Woll will start Thursday&#8217;s game against the Seattle Kraken. It&#8217;s been exactly a week since Woll made his season debut in a 5-1 loss against the St. Louis Blues. Woll and Stolarz were expected to start the year in a true tandem, but Stolarz has pulled away in a No. 1 role with an excellent start to October.
It&#8217;ll be compelling to see how Woll performs in his second start of the year. He wasn&#8217;t necessarily at fault for the loss to the Blues, but it was a shaky season debut, and he&#8217;ll be looking to return to top form as the Leafs close out the month.
<h3>Hakanpaa inching closer to return, Timmins holds the No. 6 spot for the time being</h3>
The Liljegren-Benning trade invites a discussion about Toronto&#8217;s No. 6 defence spot, and Berube confirmed that Jani Hakanpaa is close to returning. Benning is also another option, but for the time being, Conor Timmins is holding down the No. 6 spot, paired alongside Simon Benoit.
Berube is comfortable with the risks Timmins takes offensively, and he&#8217;s secured his spot in the lineup. Timmins outplayed his competition during training camp and has been rewarded with eight appearances through Toronto&#8217;s first 10 games. His next challenge is to prove that he&#8217;s ready for a full-time role in the lineup, while Hakanpaa inches closer to making his season debut.
<h3>Nylander discusses pathway to greater ice time</h3>
William Nylander told reporters he spoke with Berube about receiving more ice time, and it&#8217;s certainly a fair point, considering he leads the team with six goals. The Athletic&#8217;s Scott Wheeler noted that Nylander is playing nearly two minutes fewer than he did under Sheldon Keefe during the 2023-24 season, and could vouch for greater playing time on the penalty kill.
&#8220;I think it helps my game a lot to do what I want to be able to do out there so, yeah, hopefully that’s something we can figure out,&#8221; Nylander said Thursday morning.
&nbsp;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
Nylander’s TOI: 2023-24: 19:55 2024-25: 18:01 <a href="https://t.co/8fVQIk3dYO">https://t.co/8fVQIk3dYO</a>
&mdash; Scott Wheeler (@scottcwheeler) <a href="https://twitter.com/scottcwheeler/status/1851994762095505614?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 31, 2024</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The easy option would be to place Nylander at centre again, but considering how well he performed alongside Max Pacioretty and John Tavares during Monday&#8217;s victory over the Winnipeg Jets, Berube may be reticent to go back to this option until needed.
<h3>Maple Leafs&#8217; projected lines:</h3>
Nick Robertson is projected to return to the lineup, but will be confirmed during warm-up
Matthew Knies-Auston Matthews-Mitch Marner
Max Pacioretty-John Tavares-William Nylander
Bobby McMann-Max Domi-Nick Robertson
Steven Lorentz-David Kampf-Ryan Reaves OR Pontus Holmberg
&nbsp;
Morgan Rielly-Oliver Ekman-Larsson
Jake McCabe-Chris Tanev
Simon Benoit-Conor Timmins 
&nbsp;
Joseph Woll (confirmed starter)
Anthony Stolarz 
<h3>Kraken&#8217;s projected lines: </h3>
Jared McCann-Matty Beniers-Jordan Eberle
Eeli Tolvanen-Chandler Stephenson-Andre Burakovsky
Jaden Schwartz-Shane Wright-Oliver Bjorkstrand
Tye Kartye-Yanni Gourde-Brandon Tanev
&nbsp;
Ryker Evans-Adam Larsson
Jamie Oleksiak-Will Borgen
Josh Mahura-Cale Fleury
&nbsp;
Joey Daccord (projected starter)
Philipp Grubauer
<h2>PRESENTED BY PRIME VIDEO</h2>
<a href="https://primevideo-row.pxf.io/c/5560083/2159842/20020"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-111196" src="https://i0.wp.com/publish.theleafsnation.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2099/08/PRIMN_24_HED_727x404_POST_Final_en-CA_GSS00011213.jpg?resize=795%2C404&#038;ssl=1" alt="" width="795" height="404" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/publish.theleafsnation.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2099/08/PRIMN_24_HED_727x404_POST_Final_en-CA_GSS00011213.jpg?w=795&amp;ssl=1 795w, https://i0.wp.com/publish.theleafsnation.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2099/08/PRIMN_24_HED_727x404_POST_Final_en-CA_GSS00011213.jpg?resize=300%2C152&amp;ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/publish.theleafsnation.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2099/08/PRIMN_24_HED_727x404_POST_Final_en-CA_GSS00011213.jpg?resize=768%2C390&amp;ssl=1 768w" sizes="(max-width: 795px) 100vw, 795px" /></a>
This Article is a Presentation of Prime Video. Catch Prime Monday Night Hockey, all season long. <a href="https://primevideo-row.pxf.io/c/5560083/2159842/20020">Claim your free trial today</a>.

Happy Halloween to those who celebrate! The Toronto Maple Leafs take on the Seattle Kraken at Scotiabank Arena, with both teams sporting identical 5-4-1 records.

Toronto held an optional morning skate, where Joseph Woll left the ice quickly and Craig Berube confirmed he'll start tonight. Anthony Stolarz received shots throughout the morning skate, and will be the backup. It was an optional skate, where many roster regulars took the option, and the team quickly brought into routine shooting drills, separating the forwards and defencemen. Max Domi, Steven Lorentz, Bobby McMann, Nick Robertson, Ryan Reaves, Pontus Holmberg, Connor Dewar, Jani Hakanpaa, Chris Tanev, Philippe Myers and Anthony Stolarz were present at the optional.

Timothy Liljegren was traded Wednesday night to the San Jose Sharks, in exchange for Matt Benning and two draft picks. William Nylander and Morgan Rielly reflected upon Liljegren's tenure with the Maple Leafs prior to the skate. Berube confirmed Benning will arrive Thursday.

"I think looking back at training camp, I think guys just outplayed him a little bit," <a href="https://x.com/Arunthings/status/1852006243176419485">Berube said of Liljegren</a>. "He's got ability, he can skate, move the puck, I wish him all the best. It just didn't work out here."

Here's what you need to know:
<h3>Woll is projected starter vs. Kraken</h3>
Joseph Woll will start Thursday's game against the Seattle Kraken. It's been exactly a week since Woll made his season debut in a 5-1 loss against the St. Louis Blues. Woll and Stolarz were expected to start the year in a true tandem, but Stolarz has pulled away in a No. 1 role with an excellent start to October.

It'll be compelling to see how Woll performs in his second start of the year. He wasn't necessarily at fault for the loss to the Blues, but it was a shaky season debut, and he'll be looking to return to top form as the Leafs close out the month.
<h3>Hakanpaa inching closer to return, Timmins holds the No. 6 spot for the time being</h3>
The Liljegren-Benning trade invites a discussion about Toronto's No. 6 defence spot, and Berube confirmed that Jani Hakanpaa is close to returning. Benning is also another option, but for the time being, Conor Timmins is holding down the No. 6 spot, paired alongside Simon Benoit.

Berube is comfortable with the risks Timmins takes offensively, and he's secured his spot in the lineup. Timmins outplayed his competition during training camp and has been rewarded with eight appearances through Toronto's first 10 games. His next challenge is to prove that he's ready for a full-time role in the lineup, while Hakanpaa inches closer to making his season debut.
<h3>Nylander discusses pathway to greater ice time</h3>
William Nylander told reporters he spoke with Berube about receiving more ice time, and it's certainly a fair point, considering he leads the team with six goals. The Athletic's Scott Wheeler noted that Nylander is playing nearly two minutes fewer than he did under Sheldon Keefe during the 2023-24 season, and could vouch for greater playing time on the penalty kill.

"I think it helps my game a lot to do what I want to be able to do out there so, yeah, hopefully that’s something we can figure out," Nylander said Thursday morning.

&nbsp;

https://twitter.com/scottcwheeler/status/1851994762095505614

The easy option would be to place Nylander at centre again, but considering how well he performed alongside Max Pacioretty and John Tavares during Monday's victory over the Winnipeg Jets, Berube may be reticent to go back to this option until needed.
<h3>Maple Leafs' projected lines:</h3>
Nick Robertson is projected to return to the lineup, but will be confirmed during warm-up

Matthew Knies-Auston Matthews-Mitch Marner

Max Pacioretty-John Tavares-William Nylander

Bobby McMann-Max Domi-Nick Robertson

Steven Lorentz-David Kampf-Ryan Reaves OR Pontus Holmberg

&nbsp;

Morgan Rielly-Oliver Ekman-Larsson

Jake McCabe-Chris Tanev

Simon Benoit-Conor Timmins 

&nbsp;

Joseph Woll (confirmed starter)

Anthony Stolarz 
<h3>Kraken's projected lines: </h3>
Jared McCann-Matty Beniers-Jordan Eberle

Eeli Tolvanen-Chandler Stephenson-Andre Burakovsky

Jaden Schwartz-Shane Wright-Oliver Bjorkstrand

Tye Kartye-Yanni Gourde-Brandon Tanev

&nbsp;

Ryker Evans-Adam Larsson

Jamie Oleksiak-Will Borgen

Josh Mahura-Cale Fleury

&nbsp;

Joey Daccord (projected starter)

Philipp Grubauer
<h2>PRESENTED BY PRIME VIDEO</h2>
<a href="https://primevideo-row.pxf.io/c/5560083/2159842/20020"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-111196" src="https://publish.theleafsnation.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2099/08/PRIMN_24_HED_727x404_POST_Final_en-CA_GSS00011213.jpg" alt="" width="795" height="404" /></a>

This Article is a Presentation of Prime Video. Catch Prime Monday Night Hockey, all season long. <a href="https://primevideo-row.pxf.io/c/5560083/2159842/20020">Claim your free trial today</a>.

Scenes from Leafs’ morning skate: Woll to start vs. Kraken, Berube expands on Liljegren

Recent articles from Arun Srinivasan

Breaking News