If you’ve been watching this team for any length of time, you know the Toronto Maple Leafs go through stretches where it feels like the entire roster is held together with tape, hope, and borrowed players from the third row of the press box. Tuesday night versus the St. Louis Blues was one of those evenings. Seven regulars were missing, the bench looked like a skeleton crew, and yet somehow—somewhere the Maple Leafs found a way to drag themselves through a game they probably had no business winning.
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What struck me wasn’t just who was out, but how normal the team looked. They didn’t seem to panic. No slump-shouldered body language. Just a patched-together lineup that understood the assignment: don’t sink.
And by the end of the game, with William Nylander’s overtime winner hanging in the air like a sigh of relief, you realized the story of the night wasn’t the injuries themselves. It was the way the team kept pushing anyway.
Still, the team is missing key players. Who’s gone, and what is the prognosis for their returns?
Player One: Matthew Knies — Lower Body (Day-to-Day)
Matthew Knies was scratched just before puck drop with some lower-body tweak, the sort of thing the team shrugged off as “nothing long-term,” but serious enough that he wasn’t an option. He’s day-to-day, which in Leafs-speak usually means, “We’ll try again tomorrow and see if he can push off without wincing.”
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His absence also meant the dominoes started falling again. Suddenly, Sammy Blais, who probably spent the afternoon thinking he was having a quiet night, was tossed into the lineup. That’s the rhythm of these weeks for the Maple Leafs: one guy goes down, another steps in, and everybody hopes the whole thing doesn’t turn into musical chairs with ice packs. For Knies, the team isn’t worried, but you never want to lose that mix of size and straight-line energy he brings. When he’s out of the lineup, you feel it.
Player Two: Sammy Blais — Undisclosed (Left Game Early)
Blais had one of those nights you wouldn’t wish on anybody. He took a hard knock, went to the bench, and suddenly he’s spitting blood and heading down the tunnel. At that point, you’re thinking, “Well, that’s it, he’s out for a while.” As noted, he was only in the lineup because Knies couldn’t go. That’s the kind of luck the Maple Leafs have been living with lately—one guy goes down, the next steps in, and half an hour later he’s gone too.
But credit to Blais: The guy bounced back quicker than anyone expected. On Wednesday, he was on the ice, telling reporters the scans were clean and he was good to go. It looked a lot scarier than it turned out to be. He even broke a little dry spell with an assist against his old team (the Blues). Once the lineup starts getting healthy again, he’ll probably slide back into the extra-forward mix. For now, he’s rolling in that third-line role with Jacob Quillan, doing the job and giving the team one less thing to worry about in a week full of them.
Player Three: Auston Matthews — Lower Body (Doubtful for Thursday)
General manager (GM) Brad Treliving didn’t bother with any sugar to help the medicine go down. Auston Matthews likely won’t be on the ice Thursday. The good news? Both the GM and the medical staff are optimistic he’s close. If all goes well, Saturday in Montreal seems like a realistic target.
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It’s been a long week to wait for a player who can tilt a game without even breaking a sweat. His nine goals, five assists, and on-ice presence pull defenders toward him; his kind of gravity makes the rest of the lineup feel safer. The moment he’s cleared, the Maple Leafs don’t just get a scorer back; they get a lodestar for everything around him. Until then, it’s like the Maple Leafs are sailing with a missing rudder, hoping the rest of the crew can keep the ship upright.
Player Four: Nicolas Roy — Upper Body (Out for a Few Games)
Head coach Craig Berube doesn’t expect Nicolas Roy back for either game this week. “A couple of games” was the phrase, which probably stretches his return toward Nov. 26. Tough timing, because Roy was starting to find his rhythm, carving out a little corner of the lineup where he could make plays and feel confident.
You could see Roy finally getting comfortable with his reads, timing, and puck movement. It was the kind of groove every player hopes to hit with a new team. Now, he’ll have to pause that momentum and pick it up again when he returns. It must be frustrating for him, and for the Maple Leafs. The team was starting to see glimpses of what he could add.
Player Five: Chris Tanev — Upper Body (At Least One More Week)
Missing Chris Tanev is like missing the guy who quietly keeps the whole blue line from wobbling. He’s back on light work, but he’s still a ways off from full action. Treliving said they’ll “know more in a week,” which puts any return at the earliest early next week.
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With Brandon Carlo already out, that steadying influence Tanev could bring if he were playing — positioning, calm under pressure, the kind of presence that lets the other defenders play with confidence — is really missed. The Maple Leafs are feeling his absence every time the puck comes toward their goalie.
Player Six: Anthony Stolarz — Lower Body (Still Unavailable)
Stolarz is still sidelined, and there is still no clear timetable. The goalie hasn’t been up to his usual standard this season; last season, he ranked among the top in save percentage in the NHL and was a real stabilizing force. Part of that was due to the tandem he formed with Joseph Woll. The pair was a comforting blanket as the team’s last line of defense, the kind of combo that lets a team skate through the season with confidence.
If they don’t get back together and find that rhythm again, the Maple Leafs are in for a rougher ride. Pushing toward the playoffs without a duo like that is almost impossible. The good news? Woll’s playing lights-out in his first two games back, and that takes an enormous weight off everyone’s shoulders. Still, the team can only hope that Stolarz and Woll pick up where they left off, because together they’re the kind of netminding duo that can carry a season.
Player Seven: Brandon Carlo — Undisclosed (Out)
Carlo is the kind of defenseman who quietly makes life easier for everyone else on the ice. Last season, he had a great tandem with Morgan Rielly, and together they shut down some of the league’s nastiest forwards. He’s neither flashy nor scores highlight-reel goals, but he’s the kind of dependable, stay-at-home defense that keeps a team in games.
That kind of steady play will be needed if the Maple Leafs want to go far during the regular season. Right now, with Carlo unavailable and joining Tanev on the shelf, the right side of the blue line is stretched thinner than a rental stick at shinny. The team will have to lean on others to pick up that slack until he’s back, and it won’t be easy.
Can the Maple Leafs Keep Surviving This?
The honest answer is that the team can survive these injuries for a while, but they need to keep getting the kind of team effort they showed on Tuesday night. You can’t lose your number-one centre, two top-four defencemen, a key depth forward, your 1A goalie, and a couple of bottom-six regulars without feeling it. Most teams would crumble under that kind of weight.
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But the Maple Leafs didn’t look like a team buckling against the Blues. They looked like a group that understood their flaws, their situation, and the urgency of the moment. Woll was steady, the depth players chipped in, John Tavares battled like a man with something to prove, and Nylander stole the headline with one brilliant touch.
If they can hold on until Matthews and Knies return, and if Tanev isn’t too far behind, they might ride this tough stretch without letting the season slip sideways. For now, at least, they proved they’re capable of weathering the storm.
