San Jose Sharks @ Toronto Maple Leafs
07:00 PM at Scotiabank Arena
Watch on: TSN4, NBCSCA

The Leafs last game was at home on December 8 against the Tampa Bay Lightning, which Toronto won by a score of 2-0 in regulation. The Leafs have a record of 14-11-4 for a 0.552 Points %.

The San Jose Sharks last played away on December 9 against the Philadelphia Flyers. The Sharks lost by a score of 4-1 in regulation, and their current league record is 14-14-3 for a 0.500 Points %.

Them

Let's get this out of the way first: Macklin Celebrini is fabulous and likely should be on Team Canada ahead of someone over a decade older. Will Smith plays well with him. And that's it for the Sharks. They have an island of misfit toys vibe, but that only gets you so far.

They are the worst team in the NHL at five-on-five by Corsi and Expected Goals. Last year they finished the season with 44% and 43% respectively. This year they are at 43% in both. So they have not improved.

Their Expected Goals pace is worse than last year and the only team below them is the Kraken. Their Expected against is 25th in the NHL and is not all that far off mediocre.

Their power play is very bad and they score under expected there. Their PK is not as bad as the Leafs, but almost no one's is. Theirs is still bad, though. However, they've got good goaltending there.

Their team Save % is .895, and league average as of today is .898. This is their best attribute, and they're average at it.

By Goals Saved Above Expected (Moneypuck), Yaroslav Askarov is above average, and Alex Nedeljkovic is right on 41 Expected, 40 allowed. The goalie situation is in flux, since Askarov has been ill and did not dress for the last game. He skated this morning, so appears to be feeling better, but is unconfirmed as the starter this morning.

As more cross-conference games get played, the standings are going to start to reflect reality a little more. There are a lot of very bad teams in the west, and a few outstanding performers. How the eastern muddle will sort itself out is going to be decided by what happens when east meets west.

Lines

Last Game (2025-12-09) via Daily Faceoff

Collin Graf - Macklin Celebrini - Will Smith
William Eklund - Alexander Wennberg - Tyler Toffoli
Adam Gaudette - Ty Dellandrea - Philipp Kurashev
Ryan Reaves - Zack Ostapchuk - Barclay Goodrow

Dmitry Orlov - Timothy Liljegren
Mario Ferraro - John Klingberg
Sam Dickinson - Nick Leddy

Alex Nedeljkovic
Yaroslav Askarov

Us

Henry Thrun is likely in to play against his old team, and Morgan Rielly was at the optional skate today, so he is good to go.

The lines were adjusted yesterday to reflect the injury to Dakota Mermis, the suspension of Bobby McMann and Craig Berube's message to William Nylander to play his way out of his slump.

Joe Woll was at skate today, but has not actually practiced yet. So although he is eligible to come off IR for the next game, that's still an open question if he will be ready.

Lines

Mark Masters via Daily Faceoff from yesterday's practice.

Matthew Knies - Auston Matthews - Max Domi
Easton Cowan - John Tavares - Nicholas Robertson
Dakota Joshua - Nicolas Roy - William Nylander
Steven Lorentz - Scott Laughton - Calle Jarnkrok

Morgan Rielly - Oliver Ekman-Larsson
Jake McCabe - Troy Stecher
Simon Benoit - Henry Thrun

Dennis Hildeby - starter
Artur Akhtyamov

The Game

The worst team in the NHL – which the Sharks aren't quite – is still a team that wins a lot of games, and can't be taken lightly. (The worst team is one of the Canucks, the Predators or the Blues, but they haven't really decided amongst themselves yet.)

Game Coverage