Leafs Practice Report: Kyle Dubas talks, Leafs make recalls, and injury updates following bye week

The Buds are back in operation today

The Toronto Maple Leafs will return from their All-Star and Bye Week break tomorrow when they play a home-in-home back-to-back with the Columbus Blue Jackets. Before the break, they sent Holmberg and Woll to the Marlies so they could play down the road while the rest of the team got a vacation. With the team back in operation today, they recalled the two, along with Alex Steeves for the first time this season.

The Leafs now carry 13 forwards (including Joey Anderson, Wayne Simmonds, and now Steeves), eight defenders (Timmins and Benn the usual extras), and two goalies (Samsonov and Woll). For those wondering, Bobby McMann is back with the Marlies.

Matt Murray and Auston Matthews are on IR, which opened up the roster spots for Steeves and Woll. Murray has an ankle injury but skated today. Matthews will be out for two weeks as of tomorrow, so another week to go before he’s back.

Steeves gained hype last season in December during his three-game stint with the Leafs where he tallied one assist. This season started as a bit of a struggle with the Marlies, but he’s been scoring as of late.

In accordance with the NHL’s rules, the team is allowed to schedule their first practice back from the bye week after 2pm on the fifth day following the ASG. That’s today, in less than an hour. Dubas is planning to speak to the media, for what is likely the last time before the Trade Deadline goes down.

UPDATE:

Murray is going to be out for a couple more weeks. Also at least another week for Matthews.

If you answered “both on their asses,” you won!

The lineup for tomorrow isn’t a surprise, with Steeves going in for Simmonds. Dubas said in his presser that he’s trialing out his depth players (in particular Anderson) to see if they can stick around for the playoffs.