Saturday FTB: Everybody chill

It's only October. The Leafs had the most roster turnover of any team in the league last year, including their whole coaching staff and front office. Gavin McKenna is only 18-years-old and is only a handful of game into his pro hockey career. He has loads of promise, but he's also still raw. Jim Hiller or someone else lost him in the shuffle as the other 17 skaters also failed to push back against a pressing Sabres team.

My perspective on the second half of Thursday's game is there's a messy middle where many things didn't sync up for this team full of new faces all in different places. At the end of the day, it's on the team (players, coaches, everyone) as a group of professionals to not make glaring mistakes. Maybe it's the teacher in me, but October is a great time to learn those hard lessons. A lot of the response from the team was that they want to use this experience, this scrutiny, to be better. It's the right thing to be saying, Leafs teams of the past have not been so honest with themselves. We didn't make a mistake, how dare you ask.

I have a few links for you today, but I don't blame you if you've checked out of the Sabres game topic.

I didn't end up reading this, but I heard good things about it from folks. It's a more general evaluation of his play as of right now so within a single-game situation where he's at right now needs to be considered. Especially in a close game following a losing skid where the team fell frustratingly short a few too many times.

A detailed look at Gavin McKenna's game before he was benched

So Gavin McKenna was benched on Thursday and played less than seven minutes against the Sabres. Justin Bourne takes a detailed look at what the 18-year-old did with his ice time to try and make sense of the benching.

Sportsnet.caJustin Bourne

Another thing I haven't gotten around to watching myself, but again recommended as a very thoughtful and non-click-bait-y perspective on Thursday's game.

On the injury front, we have no update on John Tavares or Chris Tanev (`who I've heard is out week-to-week`).

Dakota Joshua is on his way back to the lineup, starting with a conditioning stint with the Marlies. Joshua's been injured since training camp with a core injury.

Miles Wood was acquired with Kirill Marchenko and was called up when Tavares went on mat leave, and has stayed with the team. He's also injured now and on IR. There's no reason for him to be on IR other than he's injured. I think the tweet is potentially egging on the idea that there's more there. It's very possible to get injured while training on or off the ice, and sometimes more likely when a player is trying extra hard to win a job. There were some theories he's not actually injured and this is a cap thing, except it's not. The Leafs would have more cap space if they sent him down.

The Toronto Marlies play today and tomorrow (a home-and-home against Belleville). Ben Danford missed the Marlies previous game due to a "day-to-day" injury. I'm very curious to see if he plays this weekend because I suspect the Leafs will want to give him a taste of the NHL. They could use someone with his skillsets right now and I don't think they have much to lose.

The Leafs also need forward help, so I'm also curious to see how quickly Joshua gets through his conditioning stint and joins the Leafs. He's a reliable forward and one more guy that can keep Duhaime firmly on the fourth line.

Regarding prospects, Brody Pepoy scored a hat trick!

https://chl.ca/ohl-spirit/article/pepoys-hat-trick-four-points-from-wassilyn-lead-spirit-past-sting-9-2-in-sarnia/

I hope the Brewers win, but I am drawing the line at spelling their city's name correctly. I feel very strongly that the u needs to come before the a.