Add injury misfortune to the list of woes facing the Toronto Maple Leafs. On Thursday, veteran defenseman Chris Tanev was placed on IR after suffering an upper-body injury during the Leafs' most recent game against the New Jersey Devils.
Just a few hours later, came news that defenseman Morgan Rielly may not be able to suit up for the Leafs' next game against the Buffalo Sabres. Leafs' coach Craig Berube stated that Rielly was "dealing with something" and he didn't know if the longest-serving Leaf would be available for Friday's game in Buffalo, per Terry Koshan of Postmedia.
Berube on Rielly's absence: "He’s dealing with something ... I don't know yet for tomorrow (whether Rielly plays)." Berube said the injury occurred during the loss to New Jersey on Tuesday. #Leafs
— Terry Koshan 🇺🇦 (@koshtorontosun) October 23, 2025
In response to the suddenly depleted blue line, the Maple Leafs recalled defenseman Dakota Mermis from their AHL affiliate, the Toronto Marlies.
The unexpected blow of Rielly's potential absence adds another layer of adversity for the Maple Leafs to overcome as they seek to resolve their early-season woes.
Depleted Defense the Latest Concern for Struggling Leafs
Until the recent Tanev and Rielly injury news, the Leafs' defense was the one area of the team that could be counted on for stability. The Maple Leafs' defense returned the same pairings that resulted in the eighth-best goals-against per game in 2024-25 (tied with the Washington Capitals).
Now, the Leafs' inability to find cohesion among their forward lines isn't their only concern. The team's struggles to find chemistry on their top line prompted Berube to try new combinations during the Leafs' recent practice.
The moves by the Maple Leafs' coach are the latest attempt to spark the team's offense, especially captain Auston Matthews. The new top line sees Matthews flanked by Bobby McMann and William Nylander, putting the Leafs' top two stars together.
Matthew Knies has been temporarily bumped to the second line with John Tavares and Matias Maccelli. Nicolas Roy now centers the third line between Dakota Joshua and rookie Easton Cowan, with Max Domi bumped to fourth-line center between Steven Lorentz and Calle Jarnkrok.
Berube must hope the new lines bring life to the offense. Down potentially two blueliners for Friday against the Sabres, with Mermis and Phillipe Myers likely making their season debuts, more goals may be required.
The traditional stats look fine for most of the Leafs' top players. Nylander, Tavares, and Knies are all averaging over a point-per-game. Matthews, however, only has six points in seven games.
Dominant moments have been lacking for the Leafs' best players. No forward units have stood out or proven to be consistently reliable at even-strength. The power play has also struggled.
With a pair of back-to-backs over the next week, the Maple Leafs' goaltending will be under the spotlight as well. Waiver-claim Cayden Primeau is likely to see action in two of the next four games. He won his only start with the Leafs, but the absence of Joseph Woll will be tested.
After failing to take advantage of a beneficial, home-heavy schedule, the Maple Leafs are now missing their best defensive defenseman, and potentially their top offensive blueliner, as they face the more confident Sabres, winners of three of their last four. Their only loss during that time was to the red-hot Montreal Canadiens.
With a favorable stretch of games coming to an end by mid-November, the Maple Leafs are running out of time to iron out their multitude of early-season issues. The schedule only gets tougher, with more road trips and tougher opponents looming. For a team battling inconsistency and now new injuries, the time to get things sorted out starts now.