The Toronto Maple Leafs defeated the Boston Bruins on Tuesday night, but the victory had a high cost.
Not only did Toronto Maple Leafs goalie Petr Mrazek injure his groin, yet again, but Ilya Lyubushkin was possibly concussed on an apparently unsuspendable hit in the head from behind, while an uncalled trip led to a puck hitting Justin Holl in the head.
One game, three injuries. Not the best way to prepare for the playoffs.
The Leafs have actually been one of the NHL’s healthiest teams this season, ranking 26th overall in total games lost. Though the Leafs have been fairly healthy all year, their injuries have worked out so that they’ve rarely, if ever, been able to dress an entirely healthy lineup at any point.
The Montreal Canadiens lead the league with the most injuries.
One way tell if you should spend any time listening to someone is if they say “injuries are not an excuse” because that is literally the most incorrect thing anyone says regarding sports, at any time.
In fact, the most likely to win any pro league’s championship is whichever team among the reasonable championship contenders is the healthiest. Injuries, it turns out, actually are a legitimate excuse, because they are more often then not, what separates two teams with equally strong rosters. (injury numbers from injuryviz.blogspot.com
Five of the NHL’s ten worst teams are in the top ten for most games lost due to injury.
Six of the NHL’s ten best teams are in the top ten for least games lost due to injury.
Toronto Maple Leafs Injury Report
According to Jonas Siegal Petr Mrazek is done for the regular season, while he also says that
Illya Lyubushkin appears to have a concussion (which likely means there is no timetable for his return), Jack Campbell is medically cleared to play, and Jake Muzzin is day-to-day.
This is a lot of good news for the Leafs. Mrazek has been bad so his injury is neutral, while Lyubushkin doesn’t seem overly serious, and Muzzin should be back any time.
Justin Holl on the ice. Jake Muzzin too. Not wearing red.
— luke fox (@lukefoxjukebox) March 31, 2022
Justin Holl is apparently uninjured, and Muzzin is no longer avoiding contact. That means that instead of half of the Leafs blue line injured, only Sandin seems to be out long-term.
That’s about as good as the news could possible be, and with Campbell coming back things are even better. Certainly there is no guarantee that Campbell regains his elite form of 2021, but I definitely believe that he has what it takes to do so.