Welcome to the latest edition of NHL Rumours! It is the week of American Thanksgiving and there is plenty to be thankful for. Although, some teams may not be as thankful as others and that can lead to bad news or changes to come. Today’s rumours focus on the Toronto Maple Leafs and Columbus Blue Jackets.
NHL Rumours
Toronto Maple Leafs
Rumour: Elliote Friedman on 32 Thoughts Podcast talks about the future of John Klingberg
Everyone is beginning to wonder what the future of William Nylander is with the Toronto Maple Leafs. It is a worthy question, as Nylander is off to a scorching start. He rocked the two games in Sweden extending his streak and has points in 17 consecutive games putting him up to 27 points on the campaign. That topic is fun to ponder on but the future on another Maple Leafs player is in question.
The signing of John Klingberg has not gone as planned for the Maple Leafs. He was brought in for his offensive presence and being able to run the power play. In 14 games played this season, Klingberg has zero goals and five assists. He is also a -7 on the year, with a DPS still stuck at 0.0, and has not been good in his own end of the ice.
The Klingberg experiment has not gone well and it puts the team in a tough position. He has an injury that is unknown and left practice on Saturday only ten minutes into the session. Sheldon Keefe has the latest update on his player saying, “It’s certainly getting to that place,” Keefe admitted. “With the time off they tried to use it with a little more aggressive treatment for him going forward. They still think some of that treatment will help him and pay off for him. It’s just taking longer for him to bounce back from it and just hasn’t been comfortable”. It has gotten to the point where his future with the club is in jeopardy. He may be the latest candidate to end up on the long term injured reserve list. With other members of the blue line banged up, looking to supplement the pool may occur.
Columbus Blue Jackets
Rumour: Elliote Friedman discusses the potential changes to the Columbus Blue Jackets
The next set of NHL Rumours surrounds the Blue Jackets. Things have not gone well in the State of Ohio. Star wingers Johnny Gaudreau and Patrik Laine have both been benched. Also, Laine was scratched last game against the Philadelphia Flyers and the team is buried in the basement of the division. Columbus is winless is their last nine games (0-8-1) and they’ve gone 1-10-3 in their last 14 games. This was supposed to be the year they took the leap now that everyone was healthy but that is not the case.
It has been disastrous from the start. Columbus has the most goals against at 5v5, and second most in all situations. In addition, they have the third most expected goals against and are not suppressing the opposition. The goaltending is better than last season but the bar was low. However, goal scoring has been an issue and it’s the defencemen leading the way with point totals. It’s concerning that Gaudreau has one goal and seven points this season.
Changes are coming. It is a matter of time but continuing this trend is not ideal. Columbus has a good prospect pool but can’t seem to get over the hump. It may not be an in season move or a big splash trade but changes are coming. Do you find another coach? Change roles in the front office? It’ll be interesting to see what happens but having 12 points to start the year is not what the club had in mind.
Main Photo: Dan Hamilton-USA TODAY Sports
