Toronto Maple Leafs Announce The Absence Of Two Key Players From Practice
The Toronto Maple Leafs were without two very important pieces at practice on Monday as they were looking to have a break after a grueling season thus far.
With Toronto finally snapping their three-game losing skid and seeing the much anticipated return of John Tavares and Matthew Knies, everything should be bright and cheery for Toronto, but it so happens they suffered yet another injury on Saturday.
Defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson left the game and did not return, later being out day-to-day (never a good sign) and also lost Nick Robertson to a blocked shot though he seems alright.
His absence at practice isn't as surprising though as the other name missing: Mitch Marner.
Mitch Marner, Oliver Ekman-Larsson Miss Practice Raising Concerns
When Craig Berube gives players a maintenance day, it can go either one of two ways. Either a) the player genuinely needs a break and could use a day off or b) they're injured and Berube is playing coy.
We've seen this earlier in the year when Max Domi underwent a maintenance day that turned into a multiple week absence. While there's nothing to say that Marner has any injuries and he is one of the only players who have appeared in every game this season, it's more than likely option A.
But it's still concerning if Marner were to miss any time as the Maple Leafs lineup looks a bit rough without him.
A positive is that Max Domi slides up to the top and he's had some chemistry with Matthews before and could be a preview to what is to come regarding a potential lineup change thanks to a trade.
This season, Marner has been out of this world with 16 goals and 54 assists; recently he also became the fastest Maple Leaf to reach 70 points since team legends Doug Gilmour and Dave Andreychuk over 30 years ago.
Ekman-Larsson's absence is understandable given he didn't return against Edmonton, and while it's unknown the extent of the injury it's not going to be good if he misses time.
While Toronto is solid enough defensively with Jake McCabe and Chris Tanev, the other names past them have struggled.
Morgan Rielly has been just okay, Simon Benoit is hit or miss, Conor Timmins has been awful at both ends of the ice, and Philippe Myers hasn't been given enough reps and forget Jani Hakanpaa for the season as well.
The loss of Ekman-Larsson hurts the team as he's been solid offensively and brought a veteran voice and edge to a new-look Leafs team. This season he has three goals and 18 assists in 51 games.
He signed a four-year, $14M deal this offseason coming off a Stanley Cup with the Florida Panthers.
| POLL | ||
2 HOURS AGO | 85 ANSWERS Toronto Maple Leafs Announce The Absence Of Two Key Players From Practice Do you think Mitch Marner is injured or just needs a day off? | ||
