The injury bug strikes again, and this comes while the Toronto Maple Leafs await the final verdict in the Morgan Rielly in-person hearing for his cross-check to the head of Ottawa Senators forward Ridly Greig on Saturday.
Joshua Kloke of The Athletic reported that goaltender Martin Jones is sidelined day-to-day and has been ruled out for the game against the St. Louis Blues tonight (Feb. 13). He will be replaced by Dennis Hildeby, who has been called up from their American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate, the Toronto Marlies. Hildeby will serve as the team’s backup to Ilya Samsonov and could see a start this week.
However, David Kämpf and Mark Giordano are set to return to the lineup tonight. With Giordano’s return and Rielly facing a suspension, the defensive lineup against the Blues will take some time to figure out. According to Mark Masters of TSN’s tweet after the team’s practice, head coach Sheldon Keefe said there would be a game-time decision.
As for Kämpf, he will fall back into his role as the last-line center, while Bobby McMann is expected to be the extra forward. This means Ryan Reaves has left an impression on his coach and will be playing in consecutive games, even with an extra forward on the roster. There is always the chance that Reaves is suiting up for tonight’s game because it’s against the team that drafted him.
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Lastly, Conor Timmins, who could have been in the lineup while Rielly served his suspension, has been ruled out with mono. He is out indefinitely until he makes a full recovery.
The Maple Leafs will need to weather this adversity if they want to stay in the playoff race. Rielly could be out for two weeks, which will mean a lot of line juggling. Along with the team’s injuries, this next stretch will be very stressful and tough on the players. Leafs Nation is praying that they can get through this as best as they can.
