It’s a beautiful warm summer weekend, the perfect time to stay indoors to read about and watch hockey! Alternatively, if your name is Rasmus Sandin, you could sign a contract and give us some hard news to talk about.

First for your reading, catch up on the discussion on our Maple Leafs Top 25 Under 25 coverage here:

2022 Top 25 Under 25: Dennis Hildeby is #24
2022 Top 25 Under 25: Brandon Lisowsky is #25
2022 T25U25: The Honourable Mentions

We will continue with #23 on Monday.

For your watching, the World Junior Championships continue in Edmonton and on Saturday you can see Matthew Knies and Team USA play against Austria at 2:00 p.m. ET. Later in the day, Canada will play the Czech Republic and then Germany plays Switzerland, but there’s no Leafs prospects in either of those games, so who cares, right? This game against Austria should be a rout for the USA, so perhaps Knies will take the opportunity to get a bit more flashy and creative and we’ll see what he can really do.

UPDATE: The US won 7-0. Knies was relatively quiet in this game, with 1 assist in 16:32 of ice time.

On Sunday you can see Roni Hirvonen and Topi Niemelä play with the Finns against the Slovak Republic at 2:00 p.m..

It looks like someone already decided not to take my advice to stay in this weekend. Mitch Marner was out getting in some batting practice time with the Blue Jays.

Looks like this time he was not wearing jorts, unlike his last trip over there, with the jorts even having those pre-distressed holes in them.

Our little Mitchy is growing up. Soon he’ll be wearing cargo shorts and have the pockets full of snacks and distractions for his kids like Seldo does. But please, people, don’t wear cargo shorts.

Other News

Women’s hockey star Kendall Coyne Schofield is training for next season and doing what I definitely can not do.

The Anaheim Ducks’ mascot breaks his silence on his biggest regret.

TLN Prospect #6: Alex Steeves' next step is a spot in the Maple Leafs lineup
Alex Steeves only wanted to do one thing when he entered the Maple Leafs organization last year, and that was dominate. [SPECIES: TLN is doing their version of the Top 25, but remember they only include bona fide prospects, not simply everyone under 25 years-old, so there’s no players who’ve already made the NHL in their list. Either way, Alex Steeves is an interesting one. He is clearly well-regarded in the organisation, so they will give him any chance available to move up, but it’s pretty crowded on the Leafs right now so those chances could be few and far between.]

Nazem Kadri Still Talking To Teams - The Hockey News
Nazem Kadri remains the biggest name available among this summer's unrestricted free agents. Rumors continue to link him to the New York Islanders, but the center's representatives are reportedly still talking with other clubs.

Restrictions may be gone, but 2022 world juniors feels like 'bubble' tournament - Sportsnet
For Canada games, lower bowl seats at the ends cost $134.50, and it’s almost $180 a ticket to sit closer to centre ice — for group stage games. Canada’s games have, so far, faced off at 4 p.m. local time on weekdays, a decision that’s been talked about in the media gallery as a head-scratcher.

Thomasina Miers’ recipe for broad bean puttanesca - The Guardian
[SPECIES: I love puttanesca. The number of variations are seemingly never ending, but I had never heard of one with beans before. I gave it a try and it was great. Note this is from a UK media outlet and what they call “broad beans” are generally called fava beans in Canada. You can use canned instead of fresh or frozen, as they are hard to find fresh here, and only some grocery stores have frozen. You probably can use lima beans as a substitute too.

From The Branches