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,” Berube said of Liljegren. “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:

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.

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.

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.

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.

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