#3. Defensive Injuries
The Toronto Maple Leafs had 11 defenseman play during the 70-game season last year, with only two players playing over 60 games.
If you look at the games played by each defenseman last year, the team’s top two defensemen missed a combined 40 games, many of them simultainiously. (via: hockeydb.com).
- Kevin Gravel – 3 games played
- Timothy Liljegren – 11 games played
- Calle Rosen – 4 games played
- Martin Marincin – 26 games played
- Cody Ceci – 56 games played
- Rasmus Sandin – 28 games played
- Travis Dermott – 56 games played
- Justin Holl – 68 games played
- Jake Muzzin – 53 games played
- Morgan Rielly – 47 games played
- Tyson Barrie – 70 games played
This is a combined moment, but the Muzzin and Rielly injuries were killer for the Leafs. Muzzin missed the entire month of January, end of February and all of March with two separate injuries. Similarly, Rielly missed most of January and February, only to return for the team’s last regular season game on March 10.
From January-to-March, the Leafs were for the most part without their top-two defenseman. The fact that the team was able to still make a push for the playoffs while Marincin, Sandin, Ceci, Barrie, Dermott and Holl were their top-six defenseman most nights was impressive.
Not only were the regular season injuries a terrible moment for the team, but Muzzin’s freak injury from Game 2 of the Qualifying Series was also awful. That exact moment at the end of the game during a meaningless play may have swung the series and hopefully Muzzin is now fully recovered for the 2021 season.