{"id":597350,"date":"2026-04-10T06:36:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-10T06:36:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/597350\/"},"modified":"2026-04-10T06:36:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T06:36:09","slug":"maple-leafs-reward-prospects-but-get-rolled-by-deboers-islanders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/597350\/","title":{"rendered":"Maple Leafs reward prospects but get rolled by DeBoer\u2019s Islanders"},"content":{"rendered":"

The New York Islanders and Toronto Maple Leafs<\/a> are both outside the playoff cut line, and they both waited until four games remaining in the regular season to make a significant move.<\/p>\n

The Isles waited until star goalie Ilya Sorokin alone could not buck the defensive metrics that sought to undo him. So, they made an abrupt coaching change, not only to jump the market and salvage this season but set the tone for a brighter-looking future.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been sitting around a year waiting for this,\u201d a giddy Peter DeBoer told reporters inside UBS Arena Thursday morning, ahead of a decisive bench debut on the Island.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cYou definitely have an appreciation for being back in the fight, in the battle with the team, with something on the line playing this late in the year. I mean, that\u2019s the juice that gets us, as coaches, going.\u201d<\/p>\n

The juiced-up Islanders are like the Maple Leafs in that they have no designs on giving up until the math confirms it, and in that they are one of the league\u2019s older teams.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The average age of both rosters was 29.6.<\/p>\n

That is until the Leafs \u2014 finally relenting on anything resembling fight or battle or hockey this week \u2014 recalled four prospects from the AHL Marlies for Game 79.<\/p>\n

The team that used to sell the farm to go deep is now playing the farm to up its lottery odds.<\/p>\n

Forward Luke Haymes, 22, and goaltender Artur Akhtyamov<\/a>, 24, both made their first start Thursday in a 5-3 Islanders score that helps the direction of both organizations and flatters Toronto\u2019s performance.\u00a0<\/p>\n

(Two more reliable 24-year-old Marlies, Ryan Tverberg and William Villeneuve, made the trip but did not suit up.)<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of guys deserve it down there,\u201d said Marlies co-star Bo Groulx, tagging out after his own emergency recall to the show. \u201cIt means a lot to us down there. It shows that if you do the right things, you get a shot in the NHL at some point. So, it\u2019s really rewarding for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI like to see these guys,\u201d Leafs coach Craig Berube added.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Is it rewarding to get run out of the building?\u00a0<\/p>\n

Do you like seeing guys get outshot 24-3 in Period 1 and 44-16 after 60 lopsided minutes?<\/p>\n

With Anthony Stolarz<\/a>\u00a0falling to injury<\/a>\u00a0Wednesday and no cause to push Joseph Woll on a meaningless back-to-back, Akhtyamov got the nod in net. He looked \u201cdialled in,\u201d as Groulx predicted in conversation pre-game.<\/p>\n

Quick and competitive and good on him.<\/p>\n

Too bad the skaters in front of him had no interest in protecting the scrappy Akhtyamov in his first-ever start.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe does the little things off the ice to be ready,\u201d Groulx said. \u201cA mentally strong goalie. Like, if he gets scored on or (gives up) a bad goal, he\u2019s not fazed by it. He actually takes on the challenge to even be better. And that\u2019s his greatest strength.\u201d<\/p>\n

The undrafted Haymes has 17 goals and 32 points in 64 Marlies games this season, his first full one as a pro. The centreman is strong in the dot, and his high hockey IQ has helped him improve as the season has progressed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Haymes did register an assist on Morgan Rielly\u2019s garbage-time goal (off Mathew Barzel\u2019s stick) and got nearly 13 minutes of work in front of his family.<\/p>\n

\u201cReally good player. A lot of speed,\u201d assed Jacob Quillan, another Marlie in the Leafs\u2019 lineup these days. \u201cHe can shoot the puck.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Alas, the Maple Leafs \u2014 who didn\u2019t hit double digits in shots in any period Thursday \u2014 do not.<\/p>\n

Which helps the tank and the Islanders\u2019 desperate bid for a wild card.<\/p>\n

Only three games left. Will more Marlies get a taste?<\/p>\n

\u201cI do believe so,\u201d Berube said. \u201cWe\u2019ll look at getting one or two other guys in there, for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2022 The timing of the Islanders\u2019 coaching change was both surprising and smart.<\/p>\n

Firing Patrick Roy in favour of DeBoer with only four games to go was a stunner, but if the coach you want is available, don\u2019t lollygag.<\/p>\n

It seems no coincidence, though, that DeBoer\u2019s onboarding came at the beginning of a rare four-day break from game action in an otherwise cluttered schedule.<\/p>\n

That gave DeBoer some time to get his bearings and run through practices with his new players.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Groulx maxed out his 2025-26 Maple Leafs stint. One more day with the big club, and he\u2019d require waivers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The upbeat centreman posted three goals, five points and a plus-4 rating during his 13 games with the big club \u2014 all career highs, despite appearing in parts of three seasons with the Ducks \u2014 and was noted as a source of optimism by Berube as the team runs out the string.<\/p>\n

The Marlies\u2019 leading goal man is pumped to be rejoining the farm for the AHL post-season.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s going to be my first time playing playoffs in pro hockey. So, very excited for it,\u201d Groulx said. \u201cI\u2019ve been part of a lot of teams, and the chemistry on this team (is its greatest asset). Everybody genuinely cares for each other. And on the ice, they have each other\u2019s back. We\u2019re really a deep team, offensively and on the back end. So, that\u2019s gonna be a real strength for us out there.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"3232 Thoughts: The Podcast<\/p>\n

Hockey fans already know the name, but this is not the blog. From Sportsnet, 32 Thoughts: The Podcast with NHL Insider Elliotte Friedman and Kyle Bukauskas is a weekly deep dive into the biggest news and interviews from the hockey world.<\/p>\n

Latest episode<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2022 The Islanders entered Thursday\u2019s action with a 19.5 per cent chance of qualifying for the playoffs, according to\u00a0MoneyPuck.com<\/a>. Those odds jumped to 36.5 per cent after thumping Toronto.<\/p>\n

That still leaves the Isles behind Ottawa (92.1 per cent) and Philadelphia (45.7) but bumps them above Columbus (14.4).<\/p>\n

DeBoer must treat these final three matches like three Game 7s.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile we don\u2019t mathematically control our own destiny,\u201d he said, \u201cwe, for the most part, control our own destiny. If we win all our games, we\u2019re in a really good spot.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2022 With 185 blocked shots, Jake McCabe trails only Islander-turned-Canadien Noah Dobson (187) for the NHL lead.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not looking to go block 10 tonight to go get the lead, if that\u2019s what you’re asking,\u201d McCabe deadpanned.<\/p>\n

In typical warrior fashion, McCabe downplays his bruises per 60, but no doubt it\u2019s a mark of pride.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe guys in the locker room appreciate it more than anybody,\u201d Steven Lorentz said. \u201cI\u2019m sure if (Chris Tanev) was here, him and Tanny would be right among the tops of the league.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know if that\u2019s a stat these guys necessarily want, but they\u2019re more than happy to keep lacing the boots up and getting in front of those lanes. So, it\u2019s definitely an honourable job, and we love him for that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2022 The Leafs jet back for a two-game homestand before putting a bow on this thing in Ottawa next week.\u00a0<\/p>\n

We understand outside desire for a tank. But watching most of the Scotiabank Arena audience filter out well before the buzzer during Wednesday\u2019s listless 4-0 shutout by the Capitals was a depressing scene.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe still have to play hard, show up for the fans and everything. We just got to be better for them,\u201d Simon Benoit said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The New York Islanders and Toronto Maple Leafs are both outside the playoff cut line, and they both…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":597351,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[556],"tags":[64,63,575,85],"class_list":["post-597350","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/597350","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=597350"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/597350\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/597351"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=597350"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=597350"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=597350"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}