Maple Leafs’ Bobby McMann considered day-to-day, expected to miss a few games

McMann left Wednesday’s game against the Florida Panthers during the second period and did not return. He blocked a shot from Panthers defenceman Aaron Ekblad, lost a skate blade during the first period and was hit by a shot from teammate Chris Tanev during the contest but it’s unclear what caused the injury. McMann played 10:21 in Wednesday’s game before exiting the contest.

Although the root cause of the ailment remains a mystery, it is part of a mounting pile of injuries to key forwards on the team in recent weeks. Beyond McMann, Auston Matthews (who confirmed his return to the lineup for Saturday against the Tampa Bay Lightning), Matthew Knies, Max Pacioretty, David Kampf, Max Domi, and Calle Jarnkrok have all missed time in recent weeks. Ryan Reaves has also been unavailable due to serving a five-game suspension which will be completed next week.

The growing list of injuries up front has certainly been frustrating for the Leafs but the team is trying their best to push forward with what they have.

“It is frustrating, but hopefully, we get some guys coming back next game,” Berube said after Wednesday’s game. “For the game tonight, we have to be sharper. We don’t need to take some of the penalties. In the third period, we are trying to come back, and we take six minutes of penalties. That makes it difficult.”

At the time of filing, the exact number of games that McMann will be missing is unclear. But given how loaded the schedule is next week the Leafs will likely give him the week off before reassessing after getting through a busy cluster of their schedule with four games in six days.

Before his injury, McMann had recorded seven points (six goals and one assist) in 21 games played. He is on the first year of a two-year extension he inked back in March that carries an AAV of $1.35 million.