Your sports schedule for this Friday is:

Leafs @ Sabres at 7 pm. Some older schedules say 7:30 pm, but the game has been moved. This game is on SN1

Dodgers @ Jays at 8 pm. Trey Yesavage is pitching. This one is on the main SN network.

Both games are streamed on Sportsnet+

And if you've missed it before now, tomorrow's Leafs game is now a 5 pm start.

In other news:

Insider Trading: NBA gambling allegations get NHL’s attention
TSN’s Hockey Insiders discuss the NHL’s reaction to Thursday’s NBA gambling allegations, Brendan Shanahan’s new post, the biggest risers in an NHL front office poll, the Flames’ aim to improve and teams checking in on Yegor Chinakhov.
TSNTSN.ca Staff

Ignore the headline, the NHL really isn't taking any action here and all these charges relate to incidents from some time in the past. The interesting bit is Brendan Shanahan back working for the NHL in Hockey Operations. The underlying story is this is a kind of consulting job, similar to what Ken Holland did before he became the GM of the Kings. The theory put forth by Darren Dreger is that Shanahan would be one of the first people considered for any leadership role that comes up on an NHL team.

I wonder if Pittsburgh wants to hire a GM separate from the President role? That would be delightfully hilarious.

Let's have Matthew Knies watch his old linemate and see if it inspires him.

This conversation trying to make whatever is in the news relevant to the Leafs is actually kinda interesting (sorry you can't embed these videos):

Maple Leafs can take a page from Jays by giving unsung players opportunity
Connected

And I agree with Nick Kypreos, that you can't look at so-called unsung players on the Jays and then claim Nic Roy or Steven Lorentz are going to suddenly rise up and become more than they ever were. Actually Lorentz has, just by being a regular roster player. Bobby McMann is actually better than anyone ever guessed.

Anyhow, the unsung Leafs who may surprise everyone are Cowan and a very few of the guys younger than him who have been drafted recently. But don't ask them to be a Trey Yesavage because that's a million to one chance. I saw someone say that what Yesavage has done in stepping into the majors and pitching serious games (like tonight) on less than 10 games of experience just does not happen. And the name that popped into my head in Ken Dryden. That's the level of amazing Yesavage is hitting. Dryden, if you don't know, won the Stanley Cup and the Conn Smythe the year before he won the Calder.

You can't look at the Leafs and say why isn't Nick Robertson just like Ernie Clement. Because he isn't. And you know the story and all the context and so do I, but the Leafs had two guys who could be unexpectedly what Clement and Lukes are for the Jays: Carter Verhaeghe and Mason Marchment. You don't always guess right with guys like that.

I get that it's a thing now to talk about how the Leafs are boring and you don't even watch, but overcoming times of trouble is part of the game, and how the Leafs figure out what to do when they simply don't have guys good enough for the open jobs is well, to be frank, what a very large number of fans have been asking for for years. Spread out the cap space. Like when the peanut butter jar is almost empty and you don't really have enough for one piece of toast. You eat it anyway.

I remember the last Jays World Series, but not all of you do. They've had their times of trouble that us bandwagon fans never experienced.

Chris Tanev is out for at least a week, the joke lines people write with 10 guys as ??? have come true, and so why not just keep tossing out combinations until some pair of players teams up with a timely zone exit. It could even happen tonight.

Why doesn't Craig Berube just tell them to be better than they are, that's the big question.

Oh, the other Insider Trading thing is the un-newsy bit about the Leafs calling up Columbus regarding Yegor Chinakhov, who is not all that likely to be traded, the Leafs haven't got much to trade, and well, he'd just be another ??? guy, ya know? He's not a hidden gem, he's just a guy who had a hot year in junior in his pre-draft season.

This is a waiting game. The Flames are the first team that looks to be recognizing they don't have it. Some others will follow and by the end of November there will be forwards with more than Chinakhov has to offer. The trouble will be scraping the money together to pay for one of them.

And that's all for now. Someone post the Jays roster when it's announced, please.

From The Branches