The Toronto Maple Leafs may be getting a preview of what life will be like without Dion Phaneuf, as the Toronto Star’s Dave Feschuk reports that the Leafs team captain sustained a hand injury in their loss to Ottawa on January 21 and will be "week-to-week" with an upper body injury.
The 29-year-old defenseman has two goals and 20 assists in 48 games for Toronto and leads the club in ice time with over 23 minutes per game.
Phaneuf reportedly injured his hand in a fight with Carolina's Eric Staal on January 19th and aggravated the injury in a fight with Ottawa’s Milan Michalek late in the first period in a 4-3 loss to the Ottawa Senators at Canadian Tire Center last Wednesday.
TSN's Darren Dreger reports there is no structural damage to Phaneuf's hand, but the week-to-week designation is similar to that of Peter Holland, who has been out of the lineup with an upper body injury for nearly a month. Teammate Joffrey Lupul suffered a broken bone in his hand in late October and it took the veteran winger four weeks to get back into the lineup.
The Leafs recalled defenseman Petter Granberg and forward Josh Leivo from the Toronto Marlies of the AHL on Monday.
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The Los Angeles Kings jump-started the hockey Twittersphere after a weekend of All-Star catatonia as the Stanley Cup Champs placed center Mike Richards on waivers.
The 29-year-old Richards’ offensive numbers have steadily declined since Los Angeles acquired him from Philadelphia in 2011, with a career-low 11 goals in 2013-14 and five goals and 10 assists in 47 games this season.
Kings GM Dean Lombardi has reported been trying to find a way of jettisoning Richards contract since the Christmas break, but could not find a taker for the center with five years and $26.75 Million remaining on his 12-year deal.
The Maple Leafs were one of the teams that expressed interest in the 2010 Olympic gold medalist, but TSN’s Bob McKenzie indicates that the Leafs trying to move one of their bad contracts to Los Angeles may have been the reason that the two sides were unable to come to an agreement.
Although Richards has a lot of notable items on his hockey resume, including three appearances in the Stanley Cup Final in the last five seasons and Stanley Cup victories in 2012 and 2014, it is likely that no NHL team will claim the veteran center off of waivers and take on the full amount of the remaining five years of his contract.
The Kings are looking after failing to use the compliance buyout on Richards last summer to clear cap space to possibly acquire a defenseman to replace the suspended Slava Voynov prior to the trade deadline, but also to clear room to re-sign restricted free agents Tyler Toffoli and Tanner Pearson, as well as making room for an extension for center Anzi Kopitar, who will be an unrestricted free agent after the 2015-16 season.
Those factors likely would have prevented Lombardi from taking back players with term remaining from the Leafs, such as Joffrey Lupul, David Clarkson or Dion Phaneuf. Once Richards clears waivers on Tuesday, he could be demoted to Manchester of the AHL to open up $925,000 of cap space in the short term, but the Kings may find interested parties if they retain a portion of Richards salary.
If Lombardi is willing to retain a significant amount, the Leafs interest could revive, as it is expected that they will be moving a number of players out prior to the deadline and over the summer.
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