It's a gameday again already, and the question today is should the Leafs play Joe Woll in three straight games following on from his game-and-a-half in the AHL or do they need to start alternating in Dennis Hildeby for something other than emergencies.

Saturday is a short road trip to Montréal, so Hildeby could start there instead. But then the next game is the return engagement with today's opponents, the Columbus Blue Jackets, and that would also be a great game for a Hildeby start. Some format has to be worked out while Anthony Stolarz is still out.

No clear timelines were given for any of the many injured players yesterday, except Scott Laughton has had one full practice and is a maybe to play tonight. This is the list:

Marshall Rifai was injured in training camp and had wrist surgery. He was put on LTIR backdated to the start of the season and can now return at any time he is healthy. He is missing out on the big opportunity at defence this fall.

Chris Tanev was injured on November 1 and is on LTIR now. He has been skating and was in the pressbox on Tuesday night. The earliest he can return is November 25, and Brad Treliving said on Tuesday he would be evaluated again next week.

Brandon Carlo was put on IR on November 17, so the earliest he can return is next Monday (or so depending on if this was backdated). There is no specific injury noted here, beyond lower body, but whatever is wrong is not attached to an obvious incident.

The Leafs have seven healthy defenders, and as of right now, Dakota Mermis is still waiver exempt from the start of the season when he was sent to the Marlies. He has played five games, will likely play game six tonight, and has been with the Leafs since October 23. He was sent down for a day and then recalled when Tanev was injured. His waiver exemption is due to run out very soon. Nine games or 29 days is all a player is allowed in the NHL if they are on regular recall.

Anthony Stolarz was put on IR with an undisclosed upper body injury on Novermber 15. The earliest he can return is listed on Puckpedia as November 20, so that assignment to IR was likely backdated a days.

Auston Matthews is on IR, and is reported to be out for another week, in all probability. The earliest he is likely to play in next Wednesday's Columbus game. This lower body injury is not serious and is unrelated to his injury last season. He has been skating.

Nic Roy is not on IR or LTIR and will not play today, but may return as early as the weekend.

Matt Knies is not on IR or LTIR and is listed as day-to-day. He has been playing through some undisclosed lower body injury, and was a midday scratch on Tuesday. He is not expected to play tonight, as per Berube yesterday.

If any of this changes by gametime the preview of GDT will clue you in.

This Olympic conversation should dominate the next month as teams have a December 31 deadline to submit rosters. The least dramatic thing is what will happen, though, because both Team Canada and Team USA will fill up their depth with PKers and defensive specialists and these great young players will stay home.

Matt Knies would likely need to be fully healthy and impressive very fast to make the final cut on Team USA.

Okay, things aren't great in Leafs land and every good content creator knows that's when you look back with rose tinted specs:

I have a hard time with this on. I feel like I should say the Big M., but that was before my time, and I now fully understand and appreciate Börje Salming for being a great player and what he did for the game, but I hated the Leafs as a kid.

My favourite person is Ron Hainsey, no contest, but I don't think even he thinks he was ever really great.

My favourite prospect in the last decade was Carl Grundström, right up until Fraser Minten came along.

I think I'm going to go with John Tavares, with William Nylander leaning on the wall behind him nodding like he thinks so too. Yes this is coloured by the goal the other night, but also, JT is the person we all wish we could be 9-5 and Willy is the person we wish we could be 5-whenever the night ends. So you need both for balance.

From The Branches