Mike Babcock was sure of one thing as Monday’s NHL trade deadline loomed for his team. “There’s not one guy in that room who doesn’t want to be a Leaf,” the coach said prior to the 3 p.m. EST cut-off and the evening game against the Buffalo Sabres. Otherwise, the roster still has Igor Ozhiganov and Justin Holl as spare defencemen and third-line centre Nazem Kadri still recovering from a concussion a week ago. The Leafs meet the Sabres at Scotiabank Arena twice this week, sandwiching back-to-back games at home against Edmonton and on Long Island. “The last two games we played, we had urgency,” said Buffalo coach Phil Housley of his playoff-challenged team.

Source: National Post February 25, 2019 18:01 UTC