Report: Leafs make changes on the blue line & in goal ahead of tonight's game/

Leafs make some swaps on Sunday.

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HockeyFeed
Published 5 years ago
Report: Leafs make changes on the blue line & in goal ahead of tonight's game/
Kostas Lymperopoulos/CSM/Zuma

The Toronto Maple Leafs are set to face off against the Detroit Red Wings on Sunday night and both teams will be entering this match up at less than full strength.

On Saturday the Maple Leafs lost the services of veteran forward Tyler Ennis after he suffered a broken ankle during the Leafs 5 - 3 victory over the New York Rangers. The Leafs have not officially confirmed how Ennis was injured but he did take a hard point shot from teammate Morgan Rielly to the skate during the game, and appeared to be limping in pain after the fact. It's only speculation but that is where I believe the injury occurred. 

As a result of the injury the Toronto Maple Leafs have called up rookie Trevor Moore who will be making his National Hockey League debut this evening against the Wings. Moore is not the only change to the line up this evening however, the Leafs have made 2 additional moves in preparation for their last game before the holiday break.

According to a report from Terry Koshan of the Toronto Sun the Leafs will be injecting defenseman Justin Holl into the line up for only the second time this season. Holl had a great run with the Leafs at the end of the 2017 - 2018 NHL regular season but has seen relatively little use since then. That being said though he is replacing defenseman Matt Marincin who has also been used sparingly and there's an argument to be made that Holl has a higher upside than Marincin in the long term.

The Leafs will also be making a swap in goal which does not come as much of a surprise given the fact that they played the Rangers just the night before. Backup goaltender Garret Sparks will be stepping in to take the place of Maple Leafs starter Frederik Andersen who will get a nice extended break over the holidays as a result.

The Red Wings appear to be keeping the same line up they had on Saturday against the Florida Panthers however they will also be missing a key player in their line up. Forward Andreas Athanasiou will be sidelined for the second straight game as the result of an upper body injury.

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