The Toronto Maple Leafs have placed veteran defenseman Mark Giordano on the injured reserve. He sustained an injury during last night’s game between the Maple Leafs and Arizona Coyotes. During the first period of that game, he fell awkwardly into the boards and left the game with 9:12 remaining in the period.
This injury occurred on the same day that the Maple Leafs began gearing up for the playoffs by acquiring defenseman Ilya Lyubushkin from the Anaheim Ducks in exchange for a third-round pick. The Leafs would have quite a logjam on the back-end if it weren’t for all these injuries. At the beginning of the season, it was announced that Jake Muzzin was not cleared to play this year. And just 14 games into the season, John Klingberg was ruled out for the year.
In addition to that, Conor Timmins and now Mark Giordano are out for the time being with injuries. As of now, the Leafs have seven defensemen on the roster to work with. They include Morgan Rielly, Jake McCabe, T.J. Brodie, Ilya Lyubushkin, Timothy Liljegren, Simon Benoit, and William Lagesson. Now that the Leafs have Lyubushkin in the fold once again, they should be able to have three balanced defense pairings once Timmins comes back.
This season, Giordano has played 38 games for the Maple Leafs, putting up one goal and seven points in that span. He also has 33 penalty minutes and a +6 rating. The 40-year-old defenseman has settled into a bottom-pairing role for the Leafs but could see his role threatened when he comes back from this injury. When everyone is healthy, the Leafs will have nine defensemen to choose from, which leaves two or three of them off the roster. And that doesn’t take into account the very real possibility of the team making more moves and acquiring another defenseman as we get closer to the trade deadline.
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