Projected Lineups for the Maple Leafs vs Sabres – 12/20/24

The Toronto Maple Leafs take on the Buffalo Sabres at KeyBank Center tonight. Here are the projected/expected lineups sourced from NHL.com staff writers, independent correspondents, and others.


MAPLE LEAFS (20-10-2) at SABRES (11-17-4)

7 p.m. ET; HULU, ESPN+, SNO

Maple Leafs projected lineup

William Nylander — Auston Matthews — Mitch Marner
Matthew Knies — John Tavares — Max Pacioretty
Bobby McMann — Max Domi — Nicholas Robertson
Pontus Holmberg — David Kampf — Steven Lorentz

Morgan Rielly — Conor Timmins
Oliver Ekman-Larsson — Chris Tanev
Simon Benoit — Jake McCabe

Matt Murray
Joseph Woll

Scratched: Ryan Reaves, Connor Dewar, Philippe Myers

Injured: Jani Hakanpaa (lower body), Calle Jarnkrok (lower body), Anthony Stolarz (knee)

Status report

Matthews and Woll did not participate in the morning skate but will be in the lineup. … Murray was recalled from Toronto of the American Hockey League and will play his first NHL game since April 2, 2023.

More from THW:

Sabres projected lineup

Jason Zucker — Tage Thompson — Alex Tuch
JJ Peterka — Dylan Cozens — Jack Quinn
Ryan McLeod — Jiri Kulich — Zach Benson
Beck Malenstyn — Peyton Krebs — Sam Lafferty

Rasmus Dahlin — Bowen Byram
Mattias Samuelsson — Owen Power
Jacob Bryson — Connor Clifton

Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen
James Reimer

Scratched: Nicolas Aube-Kubel, Henri Jokiharju, Dennis Gilbert

Injured: Jordan Greenway (middle body)

Status report

Dahlin will return after missing seven games because of back spasms. … Lafferty is expected to play after missing nine games because of a lower-body injury. … McLeod will be a game-time decision. He participated in an optional morning skate after missing practice Thursday for a maintenance day. If he cannot play, Aube-Kubel, a forward, would be in. … Greenway will have surgery for his injury and the forward is expected to be out long-term.

More from THW:

Substack Subscribe to the THW Daily and never miss the best of The Hockey Writers Banner