Chris Pronger & Troy Stecher stop by ahead of crucial meeting with Florida: Leafs Morning Take
After their OT loss on Long Island Saturday night, the Leafs are back home and set to host the rival Florida Panthers at Scotiabank Arena for the first time since Game 7 last spring.
41 down, 41 left to go. Both teams are at the midway point of their respective regular season slates. Florida’s two points up on Toronto. Suffice it is to say, there was a ton to talk about on the Tuesday edition of Leafs Morning Take. To kick things off, we talked some World Juniors. For the third year in a row, Canada was ousted by Czechia. At least they came home with Bronze, though. That said, understandably, the debate has sparked up in this country once again about where Canada’s World Junior program is at. The last few years have not been great. Furthermore, we also spent a few minutes in the opening block talking about Bob Pulford and David Branch, who both passed away on Monday. Our condolences.
After that, we jumped into a full game preview. Back on December 2nd in Sunrise, the Leafs took advantage of a very banged up Cats squad grabbing a decisive 4-1 result. Florida’s getting healthier, but they’re not out of the woods just yet. In fact, Seth Jones won’t play in this one after getting banged up in last Friday’s Winter Classic in Miami. In the absence of Jake McCabe, as a collective, the Leafs d-core will need to step up. That’s a massive loss. McCabe’s been a monster this season. Prior to puck drop, the Leafs will honour Auston Matthews for passing Mats Sundin over the weekend as the franchise’s all-time leader in goals.
Following that discussion, Hockey Hall of Famer Chris Pronger stopped by for a chat. Firstly, we hit on Canada’s continued struggles on the World Juniors. Prongs and Rosey had a nice little debate about entitlement and what kind of roster Canada should look to build moving forward. Additionally, Prongs hit on the Leafs at the midway point of the season, Matthews’ hot play, and where Morgan Rielly’s game’s at right now. For the record, Prongs still thinks the Leafs have a chance to make the playoffs despite their first half turbulence.
Meantime, I had a chance to go 1-on-1 with Troy Stecher at practice on Monday. First and foremost, the 31-year-old dished on life as a Maple Leaf through 22 games. He brings so much passion, pride, and enthusiasm. Then, Stecher went in depth on the whole process behind the scenes from November when Toronto claimed him off waivers from Edmonton. To wrap, he dished on some of hobbies —fashion, golf, and LEGO.
The Fourth Period’s David Pagnotta will in for Jay Rosehill as co-host on the Wednesday edition. Join us at 11 AM ET for a full recap of Leafs/Panthers. Also, we’ll start looking ahead to Scott Laughton’s return to Philadelphia on Thursday night.