The All-Star break has officially ended for the Leafs as they hit the ice for practice before returning to action on Monday against the Islanders. It was quite a packed practice in terms of personnel, but one notable name was absent.
Sheldon Keefe told reporters that Kampf was hurt during their last game against the Jets and the recovery has not gone well that results in him needing an MRI, meaning he won’t play tomorrow. This comes off the heels of the Leafs being without Calle Jarnkrok for the next little while, so losing Kampf for an extended period would be a tough loss for the team from a defensive perspective.
While this has been a trying season for the Czech forward who is mere months removed from inking a four-year extension, he remains one of their key bottom-six forwards whom Keefe can trust to close out a game. His absence was felt during their game against the Hurricanes back in late December when he was a healthy scratch, so here’s hoping he will be back soon. It’s safe to say that the bottom-six is going to be put to the test for the next little while from a defensive standpoint.
Speaking of notable absences, Tyler Bertuzzi was seen without his signature long hair but he has a good reason for it.
Bertuzzi donated his hair to a non-profit organization called Wigs for Kids, which focuses their efforts on providing children aged 18 and younger who are experiencing hair loss due to things like chemotherapy, radiation treatments, burns, or other medical issues with a wig. He donated his hair to the cause last year while he was a member of the Red Wings and he decided to get it done during the All-Star break.
While it will take some time to get used to him without his signature flow, it’s nice to know the hair Bertuzzi cut off is going to a good cause.
Joseph Woll was also absent from today’s practice, though it appears that it was because the Leafs opted to give him a bit of a breather as he continues to work his way back into the lineup. While he is not going to play this week, it appears that his recovery has gone well up to this point and it’s now closing in on it being a matter of days before we see him return to the crease.
It would be fair to assume that Woll could see some action at some point during the Leafs’ upcoming homestand, but that likely means it will be until sometime next week at the earliest if he is good to go before their four-game road trip out west. Should that be the case, that should give management enough time to consider which player needs to be sent down because the Leafs will be over the roster size limit once everyone is healthy.
While on the subject of health, it’s good to see Bobby McMann back on the ice as the extended time off appears to have done the trick regarding recovering from a lingering ailment that kept him out of the lineup in their previous game against the Jets. It is unclear if he will play tomorrow night, but it would not be a stretch to say he could get into a game sometime this week.
You can’t put too much stock into the lines shown above since the Leafs’ four All-Star representatives were doing solo work on a separate rink. The lines will likely look closer to what they used in Winnipeg last Saturday with the only notable changes likely coming on the fourth line with Kampf unavailable.
This means Ilya Samsonov is going to get the start against New York, who seems eager to get back into a rhythm as Keefe noted to the media that the goaltender opted to cut short his Cancun vacation so that he could get more on-ice work in. He had three solid starts leading into the All-Star break and has won back the net for the time being with Martin Jones seeing some regression in his previous four starts, including giving up six goals in his last start in Vancouver.
The Leafs kick off the unofficial second half of the season with a tune-up against the Islanders where you catch the action on Sportsnet for a 7 p.m. start.
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