It was a worrisome absence at practice on Tuesday as Mitch Marner missed his second straight for the Maple Leafs. Initially given a maintenance day, it seemed that things were a bit worse than it seems.
So it looks like Marner is going to potentially miss more than just Tuesday's game, as the Maple Leafs announced the superstar winger was dealing with an injury and is listed as day-to-day.
For starters, it means Toronto is in tough against the Calgary Flames and are going to need every player to contribute tonight, no excuses. Max Domi is going to be relied on a lot for the playmaking on the first line, and if he can't get it together it's going to be a long night.
But it derails the career year Marner was having, and with no idea the extent of the injury, who knows what this is going to do to the remainder of his season.
This season, Marner has 16 goals and 54 assists in 52 games and is going to miss the first game of the season leaving Toronto with only three players who have yet to miss: William Nylander, Morgan Rielly, and Steven Lorentz which goes to show you just how injured the team has been this season.
The Maple Leafs do have one silver lining in all of this darkness, as at least they had a positive record last season with Marner out of the lineup so hopefully it translates to this year.
One big factor too that is concerning is his status for the 4 Nations Face-Off as he is expected to be a big part of Team Canada, however according to Chris Johnston, it's a non-issue (fingers crossed).
Whatever the injury, it's another blemish on a season that's been marked with injury after injury. Just when it looked like they were getting healthy, it's another setback.
We'll have to see if Toronto can weather the storm this time, or risk being washed away in the Atlantic.
More details to come.