Toronto Maple Leafs: Ilya Mikheyev Out 3 Months With Wrist Injury

A popular Toronto Maple Leafs player with the fans and the team is going to miss significant time after suffering an unfortunate injury on Friday.

On Friday night, Toronto Maple Leafs watched in horror as Ilya Mikheyev sustained a freak injury with Jesper Bratt’s skate catching his wrist. He was taken to a local hospital and the severity of his injury was revealed a day later.

The Leafs announced on Saturday that Mikheyev will be out a minimum of three months after an artery and tendon in his wrist were severed. He is expected to make a full recovery but will remain in New Jersey while he goes through surgery.

Huge loss for Leafs forward unit

In the wake of the news, Mikheyev’s absence leaves a big hole on the Leafs roster in terms of his role. He was being utilized on the penalty kill and played a pivotal role in the unit’s resurgence in the early days of the Sheldon Keefe-era.

Prior to his injury, Mikheyev appeared in 39 games and recorded 8 goals, 15 assists, and 23 points, good enough for eighth on the team in scoring. His underlying numbers were also impressive and has playing himself into the Calder Trophy race despite being 25-years-old.

Most importantly, Mikheyev has become a lockerroom favourite and is settling in nicely in spite of his limited English. Based on some of the post-game comments after the game vs. the Devils, it’s safe to assume the Leafs were deeply impacted by his injury and his prolonged absence.

With the likes of Andreas Johnsson and Trevor Moore already out, the Toronto Maple Leafs forward depth will once again be tested and players from the Marlies will likely get extended looks while Mikheyev recovers.

Meaning that guys such as Pierre Engvall and Dmytro Timashov could get playing time on the top-9 unit, with the former getting more responsibility on the penalty kill.

This could also mean players on the Marlies may spend time with the big club at some point, including Adam Brooks and Jeremy Bracco.

Based on the timetable that the Toronto Maple Leafs provided, we won’t see Mikheyev donning the Blue and White again until towards the end of the regular season at the earliest.

He may also be out until the playoffs begin should the Leafs make it there. In short, this will be a critical trial for Toronto’s forward unit once again missing the services of an important player.

We can only hope that Mikheyev is able to make his return to the lineup as soon as possible and can make a speedy recovery. Get well soon Souperman!

Toronto Maple Leafs host the Rangers

In the meantime, the Leafs will continue on as they return to action tonight in a Saturday night showdown against the New York Rangers. In their previous matchup, both teams traded blows before Toronto ultimately pulled ahead to the tune of a 6-3 win.

After Michael Hutchinson did his part on Friday, the Leafs will go back to Frederik Andersen in the second half of a back-to-back.

He is coming off a Monday night matinee to forget as he allowed 6 goals on 40 shots but was able to get the win nonetheless. He has had a few days rest and should be better prepared for his 31st start of the season.

The Rangers will likely counter with Alexander Georgiev, who last played against the very same Leafs over a week ago and allowed 6 goals on 40 shots against.

With such a large gap between his last start and this one, Toronto will be in for a tough matchup against a goalie who has had their number a bunch of times.

With Mikheyev out of the lineup for the foreseeable future, there won’t be many drastic changes to the roster tonight apart from Timashov going in and Brooks potentially playing in his first career game.

All stats unless otherwise noted are from Hockey-Reference.com and Natural Stat Trick.

Here’s my guess as to what the forward lines may look like tonight:

Hyman-Matthews-Marner

Engvall-Tavares-Nylander

Kerfoot-Spezza-Kapanen

Brooks-Gauthier-Timashov

It should be an exciting matchup, as the Rangers are fun to watch and the Leafs will be looking to win their seventh game in a row.