Maple Leafs And Kraken Are Banged Up!

Just off the top of my head, I remember Sheldon Keefe, now the bench boss with the New Jersey Devils, being the head coach of the Maple Leafs for a one-sided loss at home against the Kraken.

I recall in the postgame scrum a pal asked him about Seattle swarming his Toronto club and wearing them down. He responded with an injuries excuse and he actually seemed pretty perturbed.

That was a January game almost four years ago, a 5-1 defeat for ‘Leafs Nation’ at Scotiabank Arena.

If current Toronto head coach Jim Hiller were to bust out a similar excuse after a potential loss on Wednesday in Seattle, it would be legit, other than one caveat.

Check out this list.

Toronto:

F – Max Domi – long term

Back-up G – Elvis Merzlikins – long-term

D – Chris Tanev – injured reserve

C – John Tavares – injured reserve

F – Kirill Marchenko – Week to week

3 more bottom-sixers and depth players – all on injured reserve.

The caveat being the Kraken could use the same excuse.

Seattle:

F – Jared McCann – injured reserve

F – Jacob Melanson – injured reserve

D – Ryan Lindgren – Out

OK, so it’s not as bad on the surface for Seattle, but the Kraken simply aren’t as deep. This is a good ole “let’s see how the other guys step up” kind of match-up … and it’s not even November!

It’ll likely come down to goaltending and special teams. Shocker.

Expect to see Philipp Grubauer at one end for the Kraken and Sergei Bobrovsky, a two-time Stanley Cup winner with the Panthers, in the other crease for the Maple Leafs. A Germany vs. Russia match-up.

As for those special teams: Eeek! Toronto has the 5th best power play in the NHL at 28.9%, taking on the 27th best penalty kill, or is it more accurate to say 6th worst for Seattle, at 70.6%.

It gets scarier. The Maple Leafs have the best PK in the league at the moment at 93.6% while the Kraken PP checks in at 11th best, at 23.1%.

Toronto is 4-and-1 all time in Seattle, yet the Kraken swept the two-game season season series in 2025-’26.