The Toronto Maple Leafs appear to be welcoming back their leading scorer on Saturday against the Vancouver Canucks, but it might be too late to salvage anything.
#Leafs lines at practice in Vancouver. Jan. 30/26
McMann-Matthews-Domi
Maccelli-Tavares-Nylander
Knies-Roy-Robertson
Lorentz-Laughton-Jarnkrok
Extra: Cowan, QuillanRielly-Carlo
McCabe-OEL
Rifai-Stecher
Extra: Benoit-MyersWoll
Stolarz@BodogCA pic.twitter.com/4T78fIs0Ow— David Alter (@davidalter) January 30, 2026
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William Nylander skated with the main group on Thursday morning ahead of Toronto’s game in Seattle, but remained an extra forward as he worked his way back from a lower-body injury suffered on January 15 against the Vegas Golden Knights. At Friday’s practice, he was back on the second line alongside John Tavares and Matias Maccelli. Nylander has missed more games in 2025-26 than any other year of his career outside of 2018-19, when he held out until December 1 due to a contract dispute. The Leafs suffered greatly in his absence, going 1-5-1 in seven games without him and putting a massive dent into their playoff hopes.
Marshall Rifai, who was recently activated from the injured reserve, appears to be in line to make his season debut. The 27-year-old defenceman has mostly been a mainstay with the Toronto Marlies, but has looked like he belongs in the limited NHL action he’s seen over the past two-and-a-half seasons. He brings some bite to his game and will be a fresh face in a lineup that hasn’t been able to put together any success over the past week-and-a-half.
In the wake of Nylander and Rifai’s returns to the lineup, Easton Cowan appears to be in line to sit for Saturday’s game against the Canucks up front, while Simon Benoit will take a seat on the back end. Cowan has struggled of late, with only one assist and a minus-4 rating in the past five games. In fairness to him, the entire team has struggled, but typically in these situations the tie goes to the veteran under a head coach like Craig Berube, so it’s not a surprise that he was the one to take a seat.
The Maple Leafs have three games remaining before the Olympic break, with a road trip through Western Canada to close out pre-Olympic activities.
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