Leafs Practice Notes: Minten returns to the ice, Woll gets reps, Berube explains why he called timeout

Minten has not played since suffering a high-ankle sprain during the 2024 Prospect Showdown in September and general manager Brad Treliving noted at the start of camp that the timeline for the prospect’s recovery was likely going to take weeks. He was placed on injured reserve at the beginning of the regular season and is expected to be sent down to the AHL’s Toronto Marlies once he is cleared to play. This on-ice rep doesn’t signal his return is imminent but progress has certainly been made in his recovery.

“He’s getting a lot better,” head coach Craig Berube said to reporters about Minten. “He’s close, he’s pretty close. That’s as good as I can give you.”

Our second-ranked prospect impressed in last year’s training camp to secure a spot on the team for four games before being sent back to the WHL. Now that Minten is eligible to play in the AHL, the Leafs will take advantage of him being close by so they can monitor his development and allow him the reps against pro players before potentially calling him up for a longer look later this season.

Joseph Woll was among the most notable players participating in the optional practice on Thursday. He was seen taking more shots and continuing to test out his positioning and body movement. It is another step in his recovery from lower-body tightness that has kept him out of the lineup since the beginning of the regular season.

“Very good. He’s doing well, keep him going here. We’ll see where he’s at tomorrow,” Berube told reporters when asked about a status update on Woll. “We’ll see how today goes and then we’ll make a decision on it. We’re not going to rush him.”

Woll’s status has become a contentious topic in the city given the high upside mixed with the fact that he’s been unable to avoid the injury bug. The Leafs remain committed to Woll by signing him to a three-year extension this past offseason, but Treliving also made a point to mention that they want to alter Woll’s training regimen to ensure he can stay durable. Taking their time with getting him back into the lineup is one way of doing so, especially with how well Anthony Stolarz has been doing to begin the campaign.

Shortly after Los Angeles Kings forward Kevin Fiala scored to make it a 5-2 game Wednesday, Berube opted to call a timeout to get his team to regain focus and establish some control before the game slipped away. At that time, the Kings were running up the shot clock and hemming the Leafs in their own zone for the better part of two periods.

When asked after the practice on Thursday why he called the timeout then, Berube explained that he could sense the competition level was not where it needed to be.

“It was a feel thing for me last night, I didn’t like what we were doing,” he said. “I just wanted to get a break there and bring everybody in and talk a little bit about getting the intensity level up more than anything. They were pushing hard, I thought they pushed hard in the second period too. Our intensity wasn’t good enough.”

Berube liked how his players responded after the timeout as they were able to start generating chances at the other end and it also led to a power play goal from John Tavares. It further establishes that the players are buying into his message of how he expects them to play and what kind of competitive level he wants them to be at.

The bench boss knows there is still a lot of work to be done to prove to the fans that this new system is here to stay and will be fully established in due time.

“You’re up like that, it’s natural to drop off the intensity level,” Berube said. “We were soft a little bit on pucks and things like that, and they were taking advantage of it. So I wanted to call a time out and, you know, kind of get everybody dialled in again.”

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