The Toronto Maple Leafs held an optional skate on Wednesday, following an ugly 5-2 loss to the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday night.
While the practice was initially intended to be a full skate, Berube changed it to optional and cited player maintenance for the reasoning.
In explaining why Leafs held only an optional skate, Craig Berube says there’s guys banged up who had to stay off the ice anyway so it wouldn’t have been a full practice
Notes there’s games Friday & Saturday with an early start Saturday
Felt they would get more from a meeting
— Mark Masters (@markhmasters) October 22, 2025
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While there wasn’t much from an on-ice standpoint on Wednesday, Berube did provide injury updates on Scott Laughton and Chris Tanev. On Laughton, who has been out since preseason after blocking a shot, he was optimistic that the forward could be nearing a return to the lineup soon.
Craig Berube says he thinks Scott Laughton will be on the ice tomorrow (individually)
After seeing how he does there. “hopefully he’s back on the ice with us shortly.”@BodogCA
— David Alter (@dalter) October 22, 2025
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On Tanev, who left Tuesday night’s game in the second period after a collision with Devils forward Dawson Mercer, Berube said it was possible he would miss time with an upper-body injury but didn’t elaborate, eventually deeming him as ‘questionable’ according to Alter.
Max Domi, who skated alongside Auston Matthews and Matthew Knies on the top line, spoke about Tanev’s injury and commended his toughness, saying it shocked the team when he stayed down on the ice.
“I’m not going to lie with you, when he stays down it’s definitely scary because I have never played with a guy as tough as Chris Tanev,” Domi said via TSN’s Mark Masters. “So, it’s not a good feeling, as a group, when you see a guy like that go down, but he seems to be doing well & tough as nails.”
Berube was also pressed for an update on Joseph Woll, who remains away from the team due to a personal issue. He remained mum on the issue and wouldn’t elaborate on whether or not he was skating.
The Maple Leafs will be back in action on Friday night when they visit the Buffalo Sabres, before returning home on Saturday to host them in their second home-and-home of the season.
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