Ondrej Kase goes on LTIR, the Leafs make three emergency recalls

Ondrej Kase’s latest injury was suspected to keep him out of the lineup for a while and it has now been confirmed that he will be missing some time.

#Leafs have placed Ondrej Kase on LTIR. This raised their LTI Salary pool to $7,769,167.
The team also recalled Mac Hollowell, Filip Král and Michael Hutchinson under emergency conditions.
This now leaves them with $125,234 in usable LTI Salary space.https://t.co/BPt2vFET34 pic.twitter.com/s58wYaRfk1
— CapFriendly (@CapFriendly) March 31, 2022

Kase exited the Leafs’ game against the Predators a few weeks ago as he took an elbow to the face from Matt Duchene. While Kase was eager to return to that game, he was held out for precautionary reasons and has not yet practiced since due to the team being careful on account of his injury history.
Placing him on LTIR will allow him enough time to fully recover from whatever is ailing him and won’t be back until towards the end of the regular season at minimum.
He wasn’t the only Leaf to go down with an injury as Petr Mrazek took an early exit because of a groin injury, the same ailment that has been bothering him all season long. Additionally, both Justin Holl and Ilya Lyubishkin both got injured in the second period for varying reasons and it is unclear how long they will be out.
As a result of the four players being on the shelf (along with Jack Campbell not quite ready to return to the lineup), the Leafs brought up three players on an emergency basis. Michael Hutchinson will likely slot in as the backup while the Leafs hand the keys to Erik Kallgren for the time being, while Mac Hollowell and Filip Kral will join Carl Dahlstrom on stand-by in case Holl and Lyubushkin will not be available for the time being.

Updated with the latest roster moves from @CapFriendly. I assume the defence recalls are more precautionary, I can’t see them running a pair of Kral and Hollowell but we’ll see.
(Kept the pastel colours but note I did update the colours on the legend) pic.twitter.com/YqIhDDROrF
— Kyle Cushman (@Kyle_Cush) March 31, 2022

The Leafs next game is on Thursday night where they are set to host the Jets. …

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Author: Michael Mazzei / The Leafs Nation

Should the Raptors consider making a change to the starting lineup?

Should the Raptors consider making a change to the starting lineup?

Due to some poor injury luck, the Toronto Raptors have rarely had all five of their best players healthy this season. raptors fans have to be frustrated that they haven’t seen a starting lineup featuring Pascal Siakam, Scottie Barnes, and OG Anunoby alongside Fred VanVleet and Gary Trent Jr. more often. The Raptors are 13-3 […]
Should the Raptors consider making a change to the starting lineup? – Raptors Rapture – Raptors Rapture – A Toronto Raptors Fan Site – News, Blogs, Opinion and More

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Author: Mike Luciano / Raptors HQ

Fred VanVleet’s shot selection an issue in Raptors’ OT loss to Nets

Fred VanVleet’s shot selection an issue in Raptors’ OT loss to Nets

The Toronto Raptors may have been shorthanded due to injury against Kevin Durant and the Brooklyn Nets, but their division rival was down to eight players for this contest. With names like James Harden out, the stage was set for Fred VanVleet to take over. This game could not have started worse for the Raptors, […]
Fred VanVleet’s shot selection an issue in Raptors’ OT loss to Nets – Raptors Rapture – Raptors Rapture – A Toronto Raptors Fan Site – News, Blogs, Opinion and More

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Author: Mike Luciano / Raptors HQ

Could Khem Birch possibly stick in the Raptors starting lineup?

Could Khem Birch possibly stick in the Raptors starting lineup?

The injury bug has bitten the Toronto Raptors. Following the loss of OG Anunoby, coach Nick Nurse made the call to insert Khem Birch into the starting lineup, pushing Pascal Siakam to the power forward stop in a move that shifted the Raptors into a more traditional lineup. After a dominant win against the Sacramento […]
Could Khem Birch possibly stick in the Raptors starting lineup? – Raptors Rapture – Raptors Rapture – A Toronto Raptors Fan Site – News, Blogs, Opinion and More

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Author: Tyler Hedmann / Raptors HQ

As expected, the Leafs bring up Michael Hutchinson

After Petr Mrazek was ruled out due to a groin injury, it was only a matter of time before Michael Hutchinson was brought up to fill the void. It took him a bit longer to arrive but the move is now official.

Goaltender Michael Hutchinson has been recalled from the Toronto Marlies on an emergency basis.
— Leafs PR (@LeafsPR) October 17, 2021

The reason it took until today for the Leafs to recall Hutchinson was that the team was right up to the salary cap and needed to play one game short a man in order to invoke the emergency basis clause. It explains why the Leafs were forced to sign Alex Bishop as their EBUG for last night’s game against the Senators.
We also have an idea of how long Hutchinson will be up with the main club. Sheldon Keefe told the media last night that Mrazek is expected to miss two weeks while recovering from the aforementioned groin injury. What that means is Jack Campbell will be given the vast majority of the starts and Hutchinson gets no more than two games in the next two weeks.
Hutchinson is coming off a strong 2021 campaign where he finished with a 4 …

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Author: Michael Mazzei / The Leafs Nation

Why the Wayne Simmonds signing makes sense

After Wayne Simmonds’ wrist injury, he wasn’t the same. We all know it. This time around, he’ll be healthy and at a cheaper price tag — for two years.
There’s a lot of reasons to like this deal, and there are some question marks in terms of where he’ll play in the lineup.
Everything and anything you need to know is in the video below. I hope you enjoy!

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Author: Nick Barden / The Leafs Nation

Leafs look to maintain momentum in Montreal

Following a terrifying injury to captain John Tavares, which left the team understandably shaken and led to a 2-1 Montreal win to start the series, the Leafs bounced back in a big way Saturday night, with Jack Campbell backstopping the team to a 5-1 dominant win. The series now tied at 1-1, the Buds head to Montreal tonight for the first game in a back-to-back, hoping to keep that momentum going to take a series lead.
While Carey Price was definitely the reason the Habs won game 1, he was also arguably at least part of the reason they lost game 2. Of course, the Leafs were buzzing, with lines clicking, passes connecting, and the defense keeping the Habs to only 23 SOG for the entire game. It was a dominant showing for the Leafs, and they’ll definitely be looking to replicate it tonight.
Meanwhile, it seems the Habs are looking to make some changes to help them recover from the 5-1 loss:

Cole Caufield replaces an injured Eric Staal in the #habs lineup for Game 3.
— Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) May 24, 2021

Cole Caufield confirms he will play Game 3 for MON. Based on skate lines, Tomas Tatar is out.
— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) May 24, 2021

Tomas …

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Author: Mer / The Leafs Nation

Frederik Andersen makes 12 saves on 14 shots in Marlies debut

Frederik Andersen makes 12 saves on 14 shots in Marlies debut

After being out since March 19th due to an injury, Frederik Andersen makes his return to the ice in a Toronto Marlies jersey. It was his first AHL game since January 12, 2014 with the Norfolk Admirals, which was the Anaheim Ducks AHL team at the time.
The start for Andersen was a little tough. Toronto gave away the puck, which lead to a breakaway goal from Jeff Malott.

Jeff Malott beats Frederik Andersen.#Marlies down 1-0. pic.twitter.com/gaS2ewsvGN
— Nick Barden (@nickbarden) May 6, 2021

Then, 1:42 later, Ty Pelton-Byce makes a nice move to get around Filip Král and scores.

Ty Pelton-Byce scores the second goal for Manitoba.#Marlies down 2-0 with five shots against. pic.twitter.com/8BTMDrWUNX
— Nick Barden (@nickbarden) May 6, 2021

Andersen allowed two goals on five shots in the first half of the period. He would then make three more saves to finish off the first.
He would then face a few more shots through the first half of the second period, making every save.

Better sequence for Andersen here as he makes a couple of decent stops: pic.twitter.com/JGh9Z1CQLP
— Nick Richard (@_NickRichard) May 6, 2021

Andersen finished off the afternoon with 12 saves on 14 shots.
What’ …

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Author: Nick Barden / The Leafs Nation

Another pitcher bites the dust

We’ve got yet another injury to the Blue Jays pitching staff. This time, it’s T.J. Zeuch.

Zeuch has been placed on the 10-day Injured List with right shoulder tendinitis and Santiago Espinal has been called up from the Alternate Training Site in a subsequent move.
That means that the Blue Jays currently have Kirby Yates, Patrick Murphy, Ross Stripling, Jordan Romano, Tyler Chatwood, Julian Merryweather, Nate Pearson, and Tom Hatch on the Injured List among pitchers on the 40-man roster. Only Elvis Luciano, Ty Tice, and Travis Bergen remain as pitchers on the 40-man who aren’t currently either injured or on the active roster.
Zeuch hasn’t exactly been all that good this year, as he’s allowed nine earned runs over 12 innings of work and he’s walked more guys than he’s struck out, but the fact pitchers are dropping like flies is obviously worrying. Of course, this isn’t just a Blue Jays thing so save your ‘hurrr durrrr more like the low-performance department!!!’ jokes. This is a thing all around baseball and it likely has to do with last season being significantly shorter than normal seasons.
Anyway, that’s eight pitchers on …

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Author: Cam Lewis / Blue Jays Nation

Teoscar Hernandez has tested positive for COVID-19, George Springer won’t join Blue Jays on upcoming road trip

There was some good Blue Jays-related injury news earlier today in regards to Nate Pearson, but Charlie Montoyo provided us with some more not-so-good news later on.

First up, Teoscar Hernandez has tested positive for COVID-19. He had been quarantining after coming into contact with somebody who had a positive test last week. Montoyo said that Hernandez started feeling symptoms on Monday but is feeling better today. He’ll be out for at least 10 days, per MLB’s COVID protocol.
The hope, Montoyo says, is that since Hernandez has been isolated from the team since Friday, this situation is limited to just him and that it hasn’t spread to anybody else on the team. We don’t know yet if that’s the case, though.
Next up, George Springer took batting practice on Monday but won’t join the team on their upcoming road trip. After the New York series ends tomorrow, the Blue Jays hit the road to Kansas City, Boston, and Tampa Bay, and don’t play at home again until they face the Nationals on April 27. This would indicate that Springer won’t join the team until then, at the earliest.
Finally, in more positive news, …

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Author: Cam Lewis / Blue Jays Nation