The Toronto Maple Leafs are carrying a full 23-man roster but they will soon need to make decisions as they make room for two players returning from conditioning stints in the minors.
Both defenseman Jani Hakanpaa and forward Connor Dewar are working their way back from injury, but Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube has urged patience with them as they near their return to the NHL.
Berube spoke to reporters on Thursday and suggested both players might remain with the Leafs’ AHL affiliate, the Toronto Marlies, for a few additional conditioning games before rejoining the major squad.
“Hopefully, (they’ll) get a couple more games down there,” Berube said, per The Hockey News’ David Alter. “I think it’s important for both of them since they’ve been out a long time.
So I think they need more games down there to get up to speed.” Hakanpaa and Dewar are expected to bolster Toronto’s defense and bottom-six forward depth, respectively, when they are finally available.
Dewar, returning from off-season shoulder surgery, scored a goal in his lone game played with the Marlies in a 4-2 loss to the Cleveland Monsters on Saturday.
Meanwhile, Hakanpaa’s presence would add physicality to Toronto’s defense following his addition via free agency last September.
For any of those two players to return to Toronto and join the Leafs roster, however, the franchise will need to either trade players or waive them to open one or two roster spots in their 23-man squad.
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