After missing the last 12 games due to a broken finger, which he sustained against the Florida Panthers on November 28th, veteran Mark Giordano is set to return to the Toronto Maple Leafs’ lineup tonight as they begin the first half of a back-to-back against the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Tonight’s tilt against the Blue Jackets will be the third meeting between the two clubs since December 14th and the second time Toronto will visit Nationwide Arena in less than a week.
After defeating the Blue Jackets 4-1 in Columbus right before the Christmas break, the Maple Leafs returned to action Wednesday night at home against the Ottawa Senators and dropped that game after going up 2-0 early. Tonight, Toronto will look to bounce back against the team they’ve seen a lot of recently, and with the return of Giordano on the backend, hopefully, they pick up some wins to end 2023.
Before Giordano went down with his injury, the 40-year-old skated in just 20 games, scoring one goal and adding four assists for five points while averaging 17:52 of ice time a night, which is the lowest he’s averaged in a season since the 2008-09 season with the Calgary Flames when he averaged just over 16 minutes a night (16:13).
Despite his age and the workload he has received with the Maple Leafs, given injuries on the backend over the past two seasons, the Toronto native has brought a steady presence on the blue line, and for what his current cap hit is, you cannot ask for much
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