Update from Tuesday’s practice:

Sheldon Keefe was also present.

Update from Monday’s second practice back after the break:

Leafs got permission from the NHL to put Matt Hellickson (AHL contract) on the ice so they’d have 6 defenders.

In what reads like a practice for a preseason game, the Maple Leafs drew heavily on the Marlies for (not) enough players to put together some lines.

The good news is that John Tavares is back from Covid protocol. No one else has returned yet from this list:

Dean Chynoweth and Manny Malhotra ran the practice.

With no one officially recalled from the Marlies, the assumption is that the Leafs are using the new Taxi Squad rules already. This has yet to be formally announced, but Elliott Friedman had the news earlier today:

TAXI SQUADS: These are in-place until the All-Star Break, for now. Teams don’t have to use them; maximum of six players; no one can be on it more than 20 days. There are some eligibility requirements. You can’t be on it if you’re on an NHL roster as of Dec. 22 (with the exception of emergency recall); are waiver-exempt; were on the NHL roster for at least 75 per cent of the regular-season days or played in 16 of a team’s last 20 games through Dec. 22 (goalies who dressed but did not play is counted as having “played”).

Taxi squad players can practice and travel with the NHL team. Compensation is AHL-level pay with a stipend of $500 (US) each day they are on it.

The more important rule for the potentially soon to be cap-strapped Leafs (Mitch Marner was at practice) is the emergency recall rule changes:

Kyle Dubas is set to update the media later this afternoon, so we’ll update this post with the highlights.

Toronto Marlies