Leafs Announce Lineup Change With Simon Benoit Drawing Back In Against Vegas

A healthy scratch the past two games, Simon Benoit will get back into the lineup for the Leafs Wednesday against the Vegas Golden Knights.

Fans and some media believed Benoit needed a reset following what many considered to be rough start for the 26-year-old. Benoit's return has led to Jani Hakanpaa being a healthy scratch.

Following the morning skate, Craig Berube noted that the switch was to get Benoit back into the lineup and nothing to do with Hakanpaa's performance in his first two games since returning from a lengthy recovery from knee surgery.

The Leafs have had a bit of an odd schedule in the second half of November, which explains Berube's decision. Having just 3 games from last Thursday to this Sunday means that players that were scratches have been on the sidelines for more than a week already and having them sit until Sunday would have made it even more difficult for them to keep up when they drew back in.

Benoit will be slotting in on the third pairing with Conor Timmins, who has played in almost as many games to begin the season (17) as he did all of last season (25).

In 17 games for the Leafs this season, Benoit has 2 assists and 12 penalty minutes while averaging slightly less than 16 minutes of ice-time per game.