The Toronto Maple Leafs will be without Auston Matthews as they begin a three-game series against the Edmonton Oilers.
Matthews was injured as he fell awkwardly into the boards in the Leafs game against Calgary the other night. You could see Matthews getting his wrist taped on the bench during the game, and then he stopped taking faceoffs.
Since he didn’t practice yesterday, missing today’s game was expected, but it still sucks. Matthews is scoring at an insane rate this year, scoring 18 goals in 20 games and leading the NHL’s MVP race.
Hopefully this isn’t a long-term thing, and that the Leafs are just being cautious. I don’t have to tell you how important Matthews is to the Leafs chances of winning the Stanley Cup. The Leafs entire injury situation is getting a bit ridiculous. Andersen, Simmonds, Thornton, Muzzin, Matthews, Campbell, Hyman and more have all been injured recently.
For the most part, the Leafs haven’t had to deal with any injuries to their core players, so in that sense they’ve been lucky. Of course the second I pointed that out Andersen and Matthews both went down, so maybe I’ll just shut-up from now on!
Toronto Maple Leafs vs Edmonton Oilers
The Toronto Maple Leafs currently have a four point lead on the Oilers, with a game in hand. Should the Leafs sweep this three-game series, they’ll all but lock up first place by putting a ten point cushion (and game in hand) between them and the Oilers.
Without Matthews – at least for tonight – it’s going to be tough, but the Leafs will just have use John Tavares more. Nice option, that.
The Leafs will also be getting Jack Campbell back tonight, and he’ll start. Jack Muzzin and Joe Thornton will both also be back.
In addition to the return from injuries and the Matthews injury, the Leafs also made some roster moves today.
Forward Kenny Agostino and defenceman Timothy Liljegren have been reassigned to the @MapleLeafs taxi squad.
— Leafs PR (@LeafsPR) February 27, 2021
Forward Alex Galchenyuk and defenceman Martin Marincin have been loaned to the @TorontoMarlies.
Kenny Agostino, who really does deserve a shot at the NHL, and Timothy Liljegren have been added to the Taxi Squad and hopefully will get into a game sooner than later. Marincin and Galchenyuk have been sent to the AHL.
This is probably to make sure that no one gets stale sitting out a lot of games, but I truly hope we get to see Liljegren in the NHL soon. He’s a great player and is going to be a really useful pro. He probably won’t be a star (but it’s not impossible) but he should be a decent top four guy. I think people are down on him due to unrealistic expectations about how hockey players develop, but he remains a good prospect.