It’s been well over a month since William Lagesson last got into the lineup but he is set to return to game action tonight when the Toronto Maple Leafs visit Ottawa to take on the Senators in their season series finale.
Yesterday late afternoon, the Toronto Maple Leafs PR account on X posted that the club had recalled defenseman Max Lajoie from the Toronto Marlies, immediately putting fans into speculation mode, myself included.
Toronto didn’t have enough cap space to make this move possible, but after some time, it was revealed that the Maple Leafs put goalie Joseph Woll on LTIR, retroactive to December 8th, allowing Lajoie to be called up to the NHL.
But still. Why would they call up another defenceman if they already had eight on the active roster? Jake McCabe was banged up in the game against Dallas, but Sheldon Keefe said he would be fine. Mark Giordano missed the outdoor practice, so there was a possibility he was banged up also.
Earlier today, Keefe spoke to the media after the morning skate and revealed that Giordano and Timmins, who both were not present on the ice today, are out. Giordano is listed as day-to-day with a lower-body injury, and Timmins missed the skate due to illness, which means William Lagesson is the next man up and will play tonight’s game.
The 27-year-old defenceman has not been an everyday player for Toronto this season despite playing a bulk of games in November and December. But he now has an opportunity to show the coaching staff why he deserves to be playing more often.
Giordano, who is the oldest player in the NHL is currently injured, and until Brad Treliving makes a trade for blue-line help, Lagesson and Timmins are the players to be called upon.
Pregame details:
Toronto Maple Leafs’ lineup:
Matthew Knies – Auston Matthews – Mitch Marner
Tyler Bertuzzi – John Tavares – William Nylander
Nick Robertson – Max Domi – Noah Gregor
Bobby McMann – Pontus Holmberg – Ryan Reaves
Morgan Rielly – TJ Brodie
Simon Benoit – Jake McCabe
William Lagesson – Timothy Liljegren
Ottawa Senators’ lineup:
Brady Tkachuk – Josh Norris – Drake Batherson
Mathieu Joseph – Tim Stutzle – Claude Giroux
Ridley Greig – Shane Pinto – Vladimir Tarasenko
Dominik Kubalik – Mark Kastelic – Zack MacEwan
Thomas Chabot – Artem Zub
Jakob Chychrun – Jacob Bernard-Docker
Erik Brannstrom – Travis Hamonic
Projected goalies:
Martin Jones (TOR) vs Joonas Korpisalo (OTT)
Jones is also set to get his first start since January 20th in Vancouver, when he allowed six goals on 21 shots. The veteran netminder stabilized the net for a while when Joseph Woll and Ilya Samsonov were both unavailable but has since run into some poor outings. In 17 games this season, he has a record of 9-6-1, with respectable numbers, 2.65 GAA and .911 SV%.
Broadcast:
Sportsnet, 7:00 pm ET/4:00 pm PTI’m
(Stats from hockey-reference.com)
(Projected lineups from dailyfaceoff.com)
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