A mixed bag on news this morning in Leaf Land:
TSN 1050’s Jonas Siegel is reporting that goaltender James Reimer practiced for 60 minutes on Monday and did not show any ill effects of the whiplash/concussion symptoms that have plagued him since the October 22nd collision with Montreal’s Brian Gionta.
The Leafs plan is to slowly increasing the length and strenuous nature of his workouts to get him back into game condition.
In comments after practice, the 23 year old goaltender mentioned that the symptoms(which to this day have not been determined to be concussion-related) have subsided and expressed slight frustration at his state of limbo over the last months saying "I felt like I was day-to-day for 30 days."
This news is cause for cautious optimism for the Leafs. If Reimer continues to be symptom free, he could see game action before Christmas, which would mean there would be less urgency to dip into free agency or make a trade for a veteran goalie to bolster their depth between the pipes. Rookie Ben Scrivens has played well, mostly on the road and Jonas Gustavsson is coming off his most consistent performance of the year; a 40 save effort against Washington on Saturday night.
The Leafs will continue to take things slowly, perhaps emulating the approach that Pittsburgh did with Sidney Crosby, in the hopes that the additional time will prevent a reoccurrence.
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On a less than encouraging note, the Globe and Mail’s James Mirtle is reporting that the upper body injury suffered by Matthew Lombardi last Thursday in Nashville is suspected to be a dislocated shoulder and will require surgery to repair.
Lombardi is expected to be out of the lineup for a minimum of three weeks, but that is only if he chooses to play through the injury and hold off on surgical repair until after the end of the season. The risk to this path is that he will be more susceptible to the shoulder becoming dislocated again at some future point and it is unknown how it will affect his ability to play.
If Lombardi and the Leafs opt for surgery, he will likely be out until next season, as it will take several months of recovery and rehabilitation.
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Toronto announced the signing this morning of 2011 first round pick Stuart Percy to a three year, entry level contract this morning. The 18 year old Percy, selected 25th overall at the NHL Draft last June is currently playing well for the Mississauga/St. Michael's Majors of the OHL and is expected to be in the mix for Canada's blueline for the World Junior Championships starting next month.
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The Leafs play their fourth game in six nights tonight as they face the Lightning at the St. Pete Times-Forum.
Jonas Gustavsson will get the start for Toronto and Dwayne Roloson, who has made a career out of stoning the Leafs, will start for Tampa.
Clarke MacArthur, who has missed three games with an undisclosed upper body injury, will be the only member of Toronto's walking wounded to return to the lineup tonight.
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