Toronto Maple Leafs: Kadri, Gardiner, Dermott Injury Updates
The Toronto Maple Leafs, despite a loss in Vancouver on Wednesday, are on a pretty good run of late, despite missing several key players to injuries.
The Toronto Maple Leafs are 5-1-1 in their last six, even though they’ve been missing Nazem Kadri (Concussion), Travis Dermott (Shoulder) and Jake Gardiner (Back) – three of their key players, including two of their top four best defenseman.
As the Leafs showed earlier in the year when they missed Auston Matthews, Freddie Andersen and William Nylander for extended periods, they are a deep team that doesn’t miss a beat due to injuries.
Unfortunately it hasn’t mattered too much because the Bruins and Tampa never lose, but what can you do?
Kadri, Gardiner and Dermott
Nazem Kadri has been out with a concussion since February 19th, and it looks like he’ll be back any game now. He might play in Edmonton on Saturday, as he has been skating all week.
If he doesn’t come back for the next game, we can still expect him back soon. This should allow the Leafs to finally reunite William Nylander (who has been playing great in Kadri’s absense) with Auston Matthews and give the Leafs the two scoring lines we have been envisioning since they signed John Tavares.
Travis Dermott is still about three weeks away, in a best case scenario. The team announced last week that he is likely going to be out for around a month. The good news, however, is that he should be back for the Playoffs.
Jake Gardiner is probably the biggest piece the Toronto Maple Leafs have on the Injured Reserve at the moment. Babcock uses Gardiner the most at even-strength, and the Leafs miss his game while he’s out.
Jake Muzzin is an adequate replacement, but the real strength of the Leafs blue line comes when Babcock can set it up so that one of Muzzin, Rielly and Gardiner is always on the ice 5v5. It’s something very few teams can match.
There is nothing new to report about Gardiner’s injury. Considering it was suggested that he was contemplating surgery, I would venture to guess that in this case, no news is good news.
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If, after a week, Gadiner still hasn’t gone under the knife, then they must hope he can make it back without surgery. Then again, I do not have a medical license, so who knows?
Bottom line: it’s a bad time of year to lose three of your top players, but the Toronto Maple Leafs seem to be getting fairly good news across the board in regards to Gardiner, Dermott and Kadri.