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The Toronto Maple Leafs have placed defenseman Nikita Zaitsev on injured reserve and have recalled Martin Marincin from the Toronto Marlies of the American Hockey League.
The 26-year-old Russian has four goals and six assists in 34 games, leads the Maple Leafs in average time-on-ice (22:50) per game and logs major minutes on the club's top penalty killing defensive pairing with Ron Hainsey.
Zaitsev suffered an unspecified lower body injury in a 3-1 loss to Detroit, but did not miss any significant stretch during the game and played over 20 minutes on Friday.
.@Sportchek Player Alert: @MapleLeafs recall Martin Marincin from the @TorontoMarlies; place @Zaitsev22 on injured reserve.
— Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) December 17, 2017
📰 : https://t.co/WogJJmzBY0#TMLtalk pic.twitter.com/Qpkbr6MNzX
The Leafs have recalled defenseman Martin Marincin from the Toronto Marlies of the American Hockey League. The 25-year-old Slovakian was waived and sent to the minors after a subpar training camp and has seven points (2 goals, 5 assists) in 18 games for the Marlies.
While it is possible that the Leafs would have opted to recall Marincin based on his NHL experience, Toronto did not have many options after Travis Dermott was injured in Rochester on Friday and having loaned 2017 first round pick Timothy Liljegren to Sweden for the upcoming World Juniors in Buffalo.
With Zaitsev injured, it will likely result in the return of Connor Carrick to the Leafs lineup and more responsibilities for veteran Roman Polak.
Carrick has not played since a 5-4 win in Carolina on November 24 and skated alongside former defense partner Jake Gardiner at the MasterCard Centre in Etobicoke on Sunday.
Polak played on the top penalty killing pairing with Matt Hunwick in the second half of last season and will probably take over Zaitsev's responsibilities alongside Hainsey.
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Auston Matthews took to the ice at the Leafs practice facility on Sunday, skating by himself but not participating in drills with his teammates.
Matthews doing some skating and stickhandling on his own with the #Leafs trainer pic.twitter.com/V3KBZ20cY0
— Kristen Shilton (@kristen_shilton) December 17, 2017
The Leafs take on Carolina in a rare weekday afternoon game on Tuesday (which is their last home game in December), before road games in Columbus on Wednesday and New York on Saturday prior to the Christmas break. According to the Toronto Sun's Lance Hornby, if Matthews does not practice on Monday, it probably rules out his return for the 100th anniversary game against the Hurricanes and may put in question his availability until after the holiday break.
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