John Chayka makes a roster move, and reinforcements arrive in Toronto

The Toronto Maple Leafs recalled Miles Wood from the Toronto Marlies on Friday, less than a day after a shootout loss in Vegas.

The timing isn't subtle. Toronto opens a road swing Saturday night in Denver, and the forward group heading there has a glaring hole underneath its stars.

Five games in, the Leafs have scored 14 and allowed 15. This team is living on coin flips, and nobody in that locker room should be comfortable with it.

The top of the lineup is pulling its weight. Auston Matthews and William Nylander each have six points through five games.

Easton Cowan found the net again Thursday, his second goal of the season. The 21-year-old has been one of the few bright spots outside the top line.

Below that? Silence.

Teddy Blueger and Brandon Duhaime have yet to register a point through five games apiece. Benoit-Olivier Groulx is still searching for his first in four appearances.

Avalanche firepower puts Jim Hiller's lineup on the clock

Groulx logged 6:09 against Vegas. That's a forward being treated like a fire extinguisher behind glass, there for emergencies and otherwise left alone.

Thursday exposed something bigger too. Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 40 shots in Nevada, and Toronto still walked out with a single point.

A team giving up that much volume needs bodies willing to win pucks below the dots and get them out. Right now the bottom six is spending far too long in its own end.

Where Jim Hiller slots Wood is the next question. The obvious opening sits on the third and fourth lines, where the offensive output has been nonexistent.

Colorado is no gentle landing spot. The Avalanche carry a +12 goal differential and put seven past Calgary last night.

Toronto's only road result so far is that 0-0-1 in Vegas. Every win this season has come at home, where the Leafs sit 2-2-0.

After Denver, it's Utah on Tuesday before the Leafs head back to face Buffalo next Thursday. Points on this trip matter more than they look in October.

Here's the blunt part. If Hiller dresses Groulx ahead of Wood on Saturday, he's choosing comfort over urgency, and a team with five points through five games can't afford that.

And if the recall does draw in, somebody loses a sweater. Blueger, Duhaime and Groulx all know the math, and the lineup card in Denver will show who blinked first.

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