Simmonds, Campbell to return for the Leafs on Friday; Galchenyuk to make his Leafs debut

The Toronto Maple Leafs are poised to welcome two familiar faces back into the lineup along with a brand new one on Friday evening against the Calgary Flames, as Wayne Simmonds and Jack Campbell are each set to return from injury, while Alex Galchenyuk will make his Leafs debut on a line with captain John Tavares and the red hot William Nylander.

Simmonds will return to the lineup after missing 18 games due to a broken wrist, suffered on February 6th against the Vancouver Canucks.

The Scarborough, Ontario native had been an integral part of the Leafs' success prior to his injury, not only for his offensive production, potting 5 goals in 12 games, but also for his energy-boosting physical play and his presence in front of the net on the Leafs' top power play unit.

Meanwhile, in the crease, Jack Campbell is back to back up Frederik Andersen on Friday, with the possibility of making his 4th start of the season in the second half of the back-to-back with the Flames on Saturday.

Campbell re-aggrivated an injury that he suffered earlier in the season on February 27th in a gutsy 30-save 4-0 shutout win over the Oilers to kick off the eventual 3-game sweep in Edmonton. In the 8 games since re-aggrivating his injury, the Leafs are 3-5 without Campbell in the lineup.

Possibly the most intriguing of the 3 announcements is the Leafs debut of winger Alex Galchenyuk, who has been quite productive in limited action over his 9-year NHL career, posting 321 points through 557 games.

Galchenyuk, a former 3rd overall draft pick by the Montreal Canadiens (2012) scored 30 goals in 2015-16 as a member of the Habs, flirting with the 20-goal mark in the three subsequent seasons before falling off a bit of a cliff and being moved around 5 times in just a couple of short seasons, which likely played a role in his sharp decrease in production.

Galchenyuk was brought in from the Carolina Hurricanes as a bit of a reclamation project by Leafs GM Kyle Dubas in exchange for Leafs prospect Yegor Korshkov, who is currently playing in the KHL and is in the midst of a breakout season there.

With Galchenyuk possessing a lot of the pure skill it would take to succeed in the top six, alongside Tavares and Nylander, the level of success that he experiences is really up to him and his willingness to play a strong two-way game.

Galchenyuk is coming off of a 6-game stint with the Toronto Marlies in the AHL, where he absolutely tore it up, amassing 2 goals and 6 assists for a total of 8 points, earning himself a call up and a shot with the big club due to the untimely departure of former Leaf Jimmy Vesey, who was claimed by the Vancouver Canucks off of waivers earlier this week.

"There's more to this player here in terms of what he has to offer, but also more to what he needed and that's why we took a patient approach with him...to help him really find his game," Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe said of Galchenyuk.

The Leafs have lost some ground in the North Divison, now sitting in a tie with Edmonton at 40 points, albeit with 3 games-in-hand, but with Winnipeg also nipping at their heels with 38 points. Hopefully they can pick up the pieces and put it all back together after losing 5 of their last 6 games.

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