Good morning Toronto Maple Leafs fans!
It's Easter Monday and that means half of you have the day off and half don't. As an awful, terrible, under-worked, and overpaid (so I'm told) government employee I'm at home the day this is posted, still pleasantly asleep because I don't have an alarm set.
Or I'm grumpily awake because my dog doesn't understand holidays.
Nonetheless, we are all gathered here to celebrate the rising of a new Maple Leaf, a player without NHL sins to lead us to the playoff promised land.
Maybe that would have worked better in yesterday's FTB. I don't know how Easter works.
Matthew Knies is officially a Maple Leaf is what I'm getting at.
Cathy Squires
He's here thanks to some eye crossingly complicated salary cap shenanigans, and will join the team in time for their final three game road trip of the season.
They will play the Florida Panthers tonight at 7PM. Then the Tampa Bay Lightning tomorrow at 7PM, and end it in New York against the Rangers on Thursday night, again at 7PM.
Three games, and after the season long hype he better get a hat trick in every game or he's officially a bust.
Thankfully Knies knows what's expected and isn't coming into the team as a soft, egg safe player.
Joshua Kloke
It's paywalled but here's a snippet:
Lets go boys.
That is a link to the Hockey News that won't make a card, but as you can see it's also about Matthew Knies.
Elsewhere in the hockey world, some outlets are catching up to the news that the QMJHL is cracking down on fighting, part of their deal for COVID relief money from the provincial government.
Shockingly, the people who want to keep fighting around forever are the guys who could only crack the NHL because of it.
Follow Sarah on Twitter
There is still no official word on what exactly the new rules will be. A game misconduct with a one game suspension? Increasing suspensions per fight? The only real threat that would stop fighting entirely is banishment from the league for doing so, but I don't think they'd go that far.
It's rare for a fight in junior anyway, very few players go out for more than two a season, and these new rules most likely won't change the status quo.
A podcast I forgot to include last week, but Allan Bester appeared on the OHL Podcast to talk about his long career.
Everyone enjoy your day, off or on, and Go Leafs Go!
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