McElhinney injury opens door for Pickard
Marlies player will suit up for Leafs on Friday
• The Toronto Maple Leafs went from having no one injured to being down two men between their back- to- back games in Arizona and Colorado.
According to coach Mike Babcock, goalie Curtis McElhinney — who was scheduled to start against the Avalanche on Friday — suffered a lower body injury during Thursday’s morning’s skate in Glendale. He was ready to play had Frederik Andersen been forced from that night’s game against the Coyotes, but the team put in a call to the AHL Marlies anyway and got Calvin Pickard on a flight to Denver on Thursday to meet them Friday morning.
Garret Sparks had played a little more and had better AHL numbers than Pickard ( a .936 save percentage to .919, with two shutouts), but ex- Avalanche Pickard was summoned instead. Toronto traded with the Vegas Golden Knights to get Pickard after he was taken in the expansion draft, but left unprotected when Vegas opted for Malcolm Subban.
“( Pickard) has played in the NHL before,” Babcock said of choosing the Moncton, N.B., native ahead of Sparks. “He had a tough start when he first got to the Marlies, but played very well. Here’s an opportunity (against his old team) I’d think he’d embrace, being drafted here.
“(Sparks) has been injured and sick, it’s just the way it goes. When we called ( defenceman) Martin Marincin, it could have been ( Travis) Dermott, but nothing we can do, we just called the guys who are ready.”
Nazem Kadri’s injury was a little easier to spot, an elbow in the face in the first period in Glendale that caused him to miss his first game since 201516.
Babcock categorized it as an upper body issue and the dreaded “day-to-day” diagnosis that often means a week to 10 days, though the coach was hopeful of a fast recovery at the time of the mishap. The Leafs have one more game on this trip, Sunday in Las Vegas.
Left winger Patrick Marleau will switch to the middle until further notice, having taken Kadri’s place, and Josh Leivo came in to play on the fourth line.
“We’ve talked about it a bunch, we don’t like to play him there and I don’t think he wants to play there all the time, but when we need him, he’s good.”
Prior to Pickard’s trade to the Leafs, he’d cleared waivers while a member of the Knights. Thus, his exemption still holds, giving Toronto a 10-game, 30-day window before he would require waivers again. He wore No. 30 and was the 95th goalie and 968th player to suit up for the Leafs/ St. Patricks/Arenas ... Andersen’s win on Thursday made him just the third Leaf since the 2004-05 lockout to record back-to-back 20-win seasons, following Vesa Toskala and Friday’s Colorado back- up, Jonathan Bernier