Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman Jake Muzzin suffered a neck injury the other night against Arizona, and has unfortunately been placed on injured reserve.
The Toronto Maple Leafs called up Filip Kral to replace him.
For those of you unfamiliar with Filip Kral, the 22-year-old was fomerly drafted by the Leafs in the fifth round of the 2018 NHL Entry Draft. He played a full season with the Toronto Marlies last year and is an interesting prospect for the club.
The reason I say he’s interesting is because he has a lot of offensive potential. He scored double-digit goals in junior, but has yet to show that at a professional level.
His offensive game is probably his best attribute at the time, so he’ll be a different type of defenseman than Muzzin, who’s primarily a defensive-defenseman. Kral will need to get better in the defensive-zone until he’s considered an everyday NHL player, so this will be a big test for him, if he plays.
The Leafs current defensive-group looks like this:
- Morgan Rielly, TJ Brodie, Justin Holl, Rasmus Sandin, Mark Giordano, Victor Mete
Not only are they missing Muzzin, but they’re currently without Timothy Liljegren and Jordie Benn. Matt Murray is also out, so the team’s defense collectively is in a tough spot.
Kral Called Up to the Toronto Maple Leafs
Since Muzzin was placed on injured reserve, and not long-term injured reserved, Toronto can bring him back to the line-up after seven calendar days. They’ll reevaluate the situation after that but from the look of the injury, I’m worried he’ll be out longer than we think.
The team is calling it a neck injury right now, which is scary. Also, this isn’t the first time Muzzin has been injury over his time in Toronto, so the team should want to take as much time as possible with him and not rush him back.
"“Obviously for him it’s just making sure that, if he does come back and play this year, or whatever happens, just make sure that he’s going to be able to do whatever he wants to do the rest of his life and enjoy the time with his family, his kids,” said Mitch Marner (Via: Jonas Siegel, The Athletic)"
It’s unsure whether or not Kral will play a game with the Leafs, but he’s essentially on-call, in case someone else gets injured. It’s assumed that Victor Mete will play as the team’s sixth defenseman, but at the same time, maybe head coach Sheldon Keefe wants Kral’s potential offensive output in the game.
Muzzin’s contract and injuries have continued to burden this team, so hopefully they’re able to move on from him or put him on LTIR to clear cap-space.
It’s an unfortunate circumstance for a player who can be very effective, but his injuries are a huge concern and are really hurting the Toronto Maple Leafs.