After it was announced that not only Pierre Engvall, Timothy Liljegren, and Jake Muzzin (at the time) were set to miss time, it was then informed that John Tavares would also miss a minimum of three weeks due to an oblique strain he suffered in training camp. Now, on top of all that, there are more injury notes to report on some Leafs after two defensemen went down with an injury and did not return to the game against the Montreal Canadiens on Wednesday night.
Defensemen, Jordie Benn and Carl Dahlstrom both went down with an injury in Wednesday night’s game and did not return for “precautionary reasons” as per the Leafs PR. The following day Sheldon Keefe stated to the media that they wouldn’t be getting an update on either defenseman until tomorrow, which is now today, as they were waiting on MRI results.
Keefe just spoke to the media today and has announced that both defensemen are going to miss time with Carl Dahlstrom missing significant time due to a shoulder injury that he sustained in the game and it will require surgery. Just like Tavares, Benn will be out a minimum of three weeks while Dahlstrom will be out a minimum of six months.
After the news that RFA defenseman, Rasmus Sandin ended the contract holdout and signed a two-year, $2.8M extension ($1.4M AAV) with the Toronto Maple Leafs yesterday morning, I guess it’s even more important now that they came to an agreement and ended the dispute given not only Timothy Liljegren is set to miss another month and a bit at the minimum, but now two depth defensemen are going to miss time too.
Yes, Jake Muzzin did return to Maple Leafs practice and was a full participant, but we all know his injury history and the fact that he already missed some time to open up camp with some back discomfort is not a good sign, but nonetheless, it’s good that he’s back at practice at least.
Without Liljegren and now Benn and Dahlstrom, the Maple Leafs blueline currently looks as followed:
- Morgan Rielly
- TJ Brodie
- Mark Giordano
- Jake Muzzin
- Justin Holl
- Rasmus Sandin
- Victor Mete
The Maple Leafs are playing the Ottawa Senators tonight with a blue line that consists of mostly Toronto Marlies, so I guess if there’s a time to showcase what you got – given two depth guys just went down – it’s now. Puck drop is at 7:00 pm ET on Sportsnet One.
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