“I don’t have any real sense of what our lineup will look like tomorrow”: Banged Up Maple Leafs Could Have John Tavares Back Against Blues, But the Rest Is a Mystery
On Sunday, the Toronto Maple Leafs held one final practice before their four-game road trip, but only five defenseman were on the ice.
One of them was Morgan Rielly, who had recently completed the third game of a five-game suspension. Another was Marshal Rifai, whom the Leafs had just brought up as an emergency after William Lagesson suffered an upper-body injury in Saturday’s 9-2 win over the Anaheim Ducks.
Timothy Liljegren and Jake McCabe both missed practice due to scheduled maintenance days. The same applies to forward Max Domi. Mark Giordano remains away from the team to mourn the death of his father, Paul. That has forced Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe to rush for a game plan against the St. Louis Blues on Monday’s Presidents’ Day matinee.
“At this point, quite honestly, I don’t have any real sense of what our lineup is going to look like tomorrow,” Keefe said in an interview.
“The good news for the Leafs is that Lagesson’s status was improved on Sunday.” After initially implying that the defenseman will miss some time, Keefe stated that Lagesson is day-to-day and “not ruled out for tomorrow”. However, everyone else is a game-time decision.
The Leafs are also without defenseman Conor Timmins, who was diagnosed with mononucleosis earlier this week and is sidelined indefinitely. Timmins was at the practice facility working out and appears to be improving, according to Keefe.
“The nature of it with mono and everything it’s more than just how you feel,” he said. “He’s got to go through a few medical appearances before progressing to getting on the ice and such and he’s not there yet.”
Although it is exceedingly doubtful, the Leafs could hope that NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman’s decision on Morgan Rielly’s appeal will be announced on Monday morning. If his ban is reduced from five to three games, Rielly will be eligible to play against the Blues on Monday afternoon. This could be wishful thinking. However, it would be a pleasant lift for a position that has recently suffered from terrible luck.
To their credit, the Maple Leafs have gone 3-0-0 since Rielly was punished for a cross-check to Ottawa Senators forward Ridly Greig. Now they’ll get some more support from Tavares, who is expected to return to the lineup after participating fully in practice on Sunday.
“I’m really happy with things,” Tavares said of the undisclosed injury sustained in Toronto’s 4-3 overtime victory over the Philadelphia Flyers. “I woke up on Saturday feeling fantastic and eager to give it a go. The medical personnel wanted to make sure we were on top of things and give it some more time.”
Martin Jones, the goaltender, also skipped practice due to a scheduled day off. He returned to the lineup on Saturday, making 19 saves after missing the majority of the week with an unexplained ailment.
