Kris Versteeg, seen here during a game against the Rangers on Oct. 21, missed last Thursday’s game at Boston because of a back problem.
DAVID COOPER/TORONTO STAR
Paul Hunter
Sports Reporter
Kris Versteeg will return to the Maple Leafs’ lineup tonight after missing a game with a sore back. And he’s brought a surprise guest with him.
The Leafs have called up centre Christian Hanson from the Marlies and he will be in the lineup against the visiting New York Rangers.
With Versteeg and Hanson in, that means the Leafs, who have lost four of their last five games, will drop two players. Coach Ron Wilson wouldn’t say who will be watching but it’s expected that Mike Zigomanis and John Mitchell be in street clothes.
Hanson got word he was joining the Leafs after scoring the lone goal for the Marlies in a 2-1 loss at Hamilton on Friday. Wilson said it was with his game strategy in mind that the team opted for the 6-foot-4, 225-pound Hanson to face a Rangers team that lost 4-3 to Carolina at home on Friday.
Hanson will likely be in a fourth-line role and killing penalties.
“We just want to get bigger tonight and Christian’s the biggest player we have down there (on the farm). He’s a decent skater and that’s what’s we’re looking for,” said Wilson.
“He brings speed and we think we can wear the Rangers down, this will be their third game in four nights and back-to-back.”
Hanson — like Luca Caputi who was called up for Thursday 2-0 loss at Boston — had a strong training camp but the Leafs kept Tim Brent and Zigomanis as their third and fourth centres. They sent Hanson down, encouraging him to work on his face off play and using his big frame to be more of a presence around the opponent’s net.
Hanson has a goal and three assists in seven games with the Marlies and he said that honing his physical approach has been a big part of what he called “a work in progress.”
“I’m really trying to make an effort to do it,” said the 24-year-old. “When I come back to the bench I review it my shifts in my head to see if there was an opportunity (to be physical) and if I did it. Then I think about the next shift and how I can do it even more.”
Versteeg missed Thursday’s game at Boston because of a back issue and received an MRI when he returned to Toronto to, Wilson said, “put his mind at ease that it wasn’t something structural.”
The winger, who will be back on a line with Mikhail Grabovski and Clarke MacArthur, said he felt “much better” heading in to Saturday night’s game against the Rangers than he did in his last game.
“The few days off make you feel quite a bit better and a little more recovered,” he said. “Those days definitely helped. Hopefully I have a little more jump tonight.”
Versteeg will be called on to help jumpstart a stagnant Toronto offence that has just seven goals in their last five games.
“We were getting goals in the first three or four games and then we don’t get goals for three or four games and fire bells go off. We’re not worried about it,” said Versteeg.
“We know we have the offensive guys to do it. We know we have the guys on the back end to put the puck in our hands to be able to do it, so this is now something tonight where we can’t just talk about. We’re going to have to step up and do it.”
