Toronto Maple Leafs Make a Plethora of Roster Moves Ahead of the Trade Deadline
Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Brad Treliving is a busy man right now, especially with the trade deadline coming up on Friday, March 7th.
The playoffs are approaching quickly and the Leafs are being tasked with fielding the best lineup possible as they look to break a 60-year curse.
While Brad Treliving is looking for some deals to make to improve the team, there are some other moves he must make that are a lot less sexy in terms of their scope.
Marshall Rifai and Alex Steeves sent down
For instance, the team has had a few injuries which has led to guys like Marshall Rifai and Alex Steeves getting called up.
Although with Connor Dewar back in the Maple Leafs lineup and Calle Jarnkrok looking to return as well, Rifai and Steeves have been sent back down to the Toronto Marlies of the AHL.
This is all in preparation of bringing back Jarnkrok, whose activation from LTIR will wipe out $2.1 million in free cap space. Of course, this might make things tougher for Treliving to manage at the deadline.
Furthermore, it was revealed his morning by Maple Leafs public relations that the team would be swapping out Rifai for Dakota Mermis.
This is to provide insurance on the back end with Chris Tanev still on injured reserve following an injury against the Boston Bruins last Tuesday.
Tonight, the Maple Leafs are looking to extend their winning streak to six games as they take on the San Jose Sharks in the second half of a back-to-back.
Even though the Sharks are not a very good team, this is still going to be a very difficult game for Toronto given they just had a tough win against the Pittsburgh Penguins yesterday.
Things are going to get very interesting, and we cannot wait to watch how the team is able to come out and respond.
