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In the immortal words of Michael Corleone, just when they thought they were out, COVID has pulled the Toronto Maple Leafs back in. Prior to heading out on West for four road games against Colorado, Vegas, Arizona, and St. Louis, forwards Mitch Marner and Pierre Engvall were placed in the NHL’s COVID protocol.
Marner had been scoreless in two games since returning from a shoulder injury in early December, while Engvall has played all 32 games for the Leafs this season. Both were among the small group of players who did not contract the Omicron variant in December.
"Mitch was positive yesterday. We're not sure whether Pierre was yesterday or today. Both have minor symptoms from what I've been told." Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe said after practice on Friday.
Based on the NHL’s new guidelines that mimic the CDC’s recommendations, Marner and Engvall would be unavailable for games against the Avalanche on Saturday, Golden Knights on Tuesday, and Coyotes on Wednesday. Forward Ondrej Kase will join the club on the road after missing the 4-2 win over Edmonton on Wednesday, but is not expected to play on Saturday.
The Leafs placed forward Nick Ritchie on waivers and the big winger cleared on Friday. With the club short-handed, Ritchie is not being demoted to the American Hockey League to clear a good chunk of his $2.5 million salary, but that could be an option down the line.
"(Being on waivers is) not just a reflection on Nick, it's a lot to do with the situation with our team, the salary cap and all those kind of things," Keefe said. "(We want Nick to find) greater consistency and find ways to impact the game, whether that's scoring, whether that's using this physicality, and disrupting the game that way. That's really what you're looking for."
The club recalled forwards Joey Anderson and Brett Seney from the AHL Marlies. At practice, Alex Kerfoot shifted to the right side to take Marner’s place with Michael Bunting and Auston Matthews, Ilya Mikheyev moved up to the second line with John Tavares and William Nylander, Ritchie lined up with David Kampf and Jason Spezza and Seney centered the fourth line with Kyle Clifford and Wayne Simmonds.
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Lot’s of â¤ï¸ for the 💙ðŸ¤
— Norman James (@IamNormanJames) April 26, 2021
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