Who’s excited for a weekday matinee game at Scotiabank Arena?

James van Riemsdyk and the Philadelphia Flyers will take to the ice against the Toronto Maple Leafs at 2:00 p.m. ET on Thursday. Toronto currently ranks second in the Atlantic Division with a 20–7–6 record; Philadelphia’s 11–15–7 start has them seventh in the Metropolitan Division.
The two teams previously faced off in Toronto on November 2, with Maple Leafs captain John Tavares netting a hat trick to help his team capture a 5–2 victory. Ilya Samsonov made 23 saves for the Maple Leafs in that game and is expected to start again on Thursday.
JVR has been one of the Flyers’ hottest players of late, leading the team with seven points in his last five games (including a four-point outing against the Arizona Coyotes on December 11). The 33-year-old forward has five goals and 12 points in 13 games with the Flyers this season and, as a pending UFA, is currently one of the team’s top trade chips.
Of course, van Riemsdyk previously rode shotgun with the likes of Phil Kessel and Auston Matthews with the Maple Leafs from 2012–13 to 2018–19. The big winger is in the final season of the five-year UFA deal with an average annual value of $7 million that he signed with the Flyers back in 2019.
Throughout his time in Toronto (and both his tenures in Philadelphia), van Riemsdyk mad …

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Author: Mike Gould / The Leafs Nation