This Leafs season so far has been all about defense – or the lack thereof. Klingberg was the dark omen that crashed and burned, and it's been a plethora of injuries since then.

Last night, with Liljegren out with an injury, the Leafs played six left defenders for the second night in a row. Pretty early in the Leafs win over Arizona*, Mark Giordano fell head-first into the end boards at a lot of speed. His reaction was very worrying and he didn't return to the game. Keefe didn't have an update after the game. But, an hour later Treliving made the trade to acquire Ilya Lyubushkin.

Oh, and Mitch Marner played some RD with the remaining five lefties.

Recap: Mitch Marner is a defenceman
Mitch Marner did it all: RW, RD, and I think he did my dishes in the intermission, too.
PPP LeafsCathy Squires
Maple Leafs acquire Ilya Lyubushkin from Anaheim
The Toronto Maple Leafs have swung a trade with Anaheim, with Carolina filling the third party role for double retention. They bring back Ilya Lybushkin as a right shot defenseman.
PPP LeafsBrian S

The deal breaks down as the Leafs getting Boosh at 75% off, meaning his $2.75 million cap hit has turned into $687,500; less than league minimum. That was the bulk of the cost to Anaheim and Carolina for the second retention for the complimentary defender who's biggest trait is he holds his stick to the right side.

The Leafs also got the rights to some prospect in Russia from Carolina. Kirill Slepets is a ZLW who I'm not even sure is very zippy. He's eighth on his KHL team in scoring with half as many points as Yegor Korshkov.

That is... certainly a collection of events. I guess there's only 365 (ok, 366) days in the year, only so many things can happen on the same day. Also, that home regulation win thing is done now. The Leafs streak without getting shutout, meanwhile, is alive and well.

Lightning-fast goal of the year out of the KHL? I will say I still like Quinton Byfield's goal from last week.

The Canucks and Elias Pettersson are dragging themselves towards a contract extension despite every attempt not to.

Canucks, Pettersson resume negotiations after trade talks with Hurricanes
According to multiple sources, the Vancouver Canucks and Carolina Hurricanes had discussions about Elias Pettersson that advanced to a stage where both the Canucks and the player needed to make serious decisions about where their relationship was headed.
Sportsnet| February 29, 2024, 5:50 PM

The NHLPA's director is being asked back to Washington. Marty Walsh used to be Secretary of Labor, Boston's Mayor, and is now being tapped to head the USPS (cheers for Seldo). It doesn't appear Walsh will need to leave his current job with the NHLPA to make both work.

Former Boston Mayor Marty Walsh tapped to return to Biden administration
Former Boston Mayor Marty Walsh appears poised to return to the Biden administration, after securing a presidential nomination to serve as a governor of the U.S. Postal Service.
Boston HeraldGayla Cawley

Listen, it's not popular but I really wouldn't mind Holl and Kerfoot back! They are average players, we could use that!

Are we the baddies? Yes, we technically are the Empire.

Malinoski with a secondary assist on the power play... woo!

From The Branches