Toronto Maple Leafs: Rasmus Sandin Out 4-6 Weeks

The Toronto Maple Leafs are not having the best luck lately when it comes to injuries.

It’s not entirely clear what the hockey gods seem to have against teenaged defencemen of Swedish heritage on the Toronto Marlies, but those who fit the bill might want to coat themselves in bubble wrap for the time being.

After a fourth place showing at the World Junior Championship earlier this month, Rasmus Sandin returned to the Marlies this morning bringing with him the news of a sprained elbow that is now expected to sideline him for the next 4-6 weeks.

Marlies head coach, Sheldon Keefe, referred to the injury as a “significant blow”.

Quite frankly, Keefe is right.

Sandin’s most recent diagnosis joins an increasingly long list of ailments that have befallen the Marlies all season long, with particular havoc having been wreaked on the team’s backend.

For starters, Andreas Borgman has been out of the lineup with a concussion since December 19th and only just began participating in full practices again late last week. A timetable for his return is yet to be determined.

Then there’s Timothy Liljegren, the Marlies’ other teenaged wunderkind whose own injury – a high ankle sprain suffered in early-December – withheld him from representing Sweden at the World Juniors along with Sandin. Like Borgman, Liljegren’s return timeline remains unclear, with no updates being specified beyond “week-to-week”.

And those are only the more serious cases.

Of the seven defencemen who can be considered regulars in the Marlies’ lineup, four have missed a minimum of two games to injury at various points in the year while three happen to find themselves on the shelf at this very moment.

36 games in, the Marlies have lost a whopping 40 man-games combined from their blueline to the injury bug and that number will only continue to grow now that Sandin and Steve Oleksy appear to be facing long-term recoveries of their own.

These are not easy circumstances for any team, let alone one trying to claw its way back into the North Division playoff picture.

But the loss of Sandin cuts deep in particular, and it’s important to identify how his optimistically month-long rehabilitation process will impact both the prospect and the team.

Impact on Sandin

Today’s news actually marks Sandin’s second extended health-related absence of the season.

If you recall, a thumb injury suffered during AHL preseason play back in October kept the 18-year-old from the first 9 games of his hotly-anticipated rookie campaign and proceeded to afford him a less-than-ideal introduction to the professional ranks.

Of course, Sandin ultimately hit the ground running upon return and, in fact, seemed to take all but one period for his game to adjust to the AHL level.

The early returns on Sandin were nothing short of glowing. And as his breakneck rise quickly became noted by all who managed to catch a glimpse, many went so far as to nudge Sandin above Liljegren’s name for the top spot on a collection of Leafs prospect ranking boards.

Alas, it’s precisely Sandin’s success that makes this newest setback so devastating.

Given the upward trajectory he was seemingly riding on, yet another lengthy layoff is firmly against what the doctor ordered for the former first-round pick.

Truly, the timing truly could not have been worse.

And when taking into account the gradual uptick in responsibility that was being afforded to Sandin prior to his departure for the WJC, – including a role quarterbacking the top unit of the Marlies’ power-play –  Keefe’s “devastating blow” descriptor sums this situation up perfectly.

Now, the hardest part begins.

Rather than logging high-quality minutes in actual game action for the Marlies as they embark upon a late-season playoff push, Sandin will now turn his focus solely onto recovery for, give or take, the next month.

Keep in mind, spraining one’s elbow is not only a decidedly nagging injury, it will also keep Sandin from likely putting any meaningful work into the various on-ice skills that incorporate the upper-body; like puck-handling or shooting.

For a prospect more gifted in the realm of hockey sense than raw skill, abstaining from that type of skills work is certainly not recommended and puts Sandin at a distinct disadvantage even when he ultimately returns.

Impact on the Marlies

In spite of his age, Sandin was a key piece on the Marlies nonetheless.

Couple with his aforementioned role on PP unit 1, Sandin’s presence on the third pair unlocked the potential of the Marlies’ D corps; handing Keefe a full three pairings which housed at least one adept puck mover who could weaponize the team’s lethal forward might. That presence has been sorely missed in the little over a month Sandin has been gone.

“The guys who’ve come in, they’ve done well for us. We’ve played good hockey. We’ve beaten good teams,” Keefe told reporters at Tuesday’s practice.

“Both Liljegren and Sandin brought a lot offensively and I think we’ve taken a step back offensively without their ability to create.”

And step back they have.

Reinforcements in Stefan LeBlanc and Sam Jardine have entered the lineup in lieu of both Liljegren and Sandin’s absences, and while the former duo has tried valiantly to bridge that gap, they are a clear step down from the latter in terms of quality.

In Sandin, the Marlies have a versatile rearguard at their disposal; one who generates point shots on the man advantage at a noticeably high clip while also triggering defensive zone exits like few of his teammates are capable of.

Neither LeBlanc nor Jardine can do that and through no fault of their own.

They simply are what they are. And what they are, isn’t Rasmus Sandin.

It now looks as if the Marlies’ postseason push just got a heck of a lot more daunting.

Thanks for reading!