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The Toronto Maple Leafs are hoping to avoid tying their longest losing skid of the season, as they take on the Minnesota Wild at Scotiabank Arena on Thursday. The Leafs rallied to earn a point in a 4-3 overtime loss to Columbus but lost their third game in a row after regulation losses to St. Louis and Montreal.
The club faces an uncertain future on the blueline based on the injury to defenseman Jake Muzzin. The 33-year-old veteran was placed in concussion protocol on Tuesday after colliding with Chris Wideman in the second period of the 5-2 loss to the Habs on Monday.
The suspected concussion would be the second for Muzzin in the last five weeks. After missing nearly a month with the first one, it is possible that the Leafs could be without the veteran blueliner for the balance of the regular season. If that is the case, head coach Sheldon Keefe is likely to lean more on youngster Rasmus Sandin. The 21-year-old has played only 80 NHL games spread over three seasons, but Keefe has not been spoon-feeding Sandin or fellow Swede Timothy Liljegren this season, averaging nearly 17 minutes per game.
"It provides a ton of opportunity for others. It's a ton of responsibility for others as well, and there will end up being a lot of focus on defense. Anytime you lose a key member of your team, the whole team needs to step up.… Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe said after the morning skate. "We'll see, (Rasmus has) done a good job at different times. I think (replacing Muzzin is) gonna be by community though. You're still going to need contributions from (Travis) Dermott and (Timothy) Liljegren. Justin Holl is not going to play tonight, but he's an important guy for us as well."
At the morning skate, the team prepares a video message for Rodion Amirov pic.twitter.com/RIcqHucUZq
— Rob Del Mundo (@Rob_DelMundo) February 24, 2022
The moves made by the Leafs on Wednesday appear to be conducive with setting themselves up for the trade deadline by manipulating long-term injured reserve. The club called up defenseman Brennan Menell and Kristians Rubins and demoted Sandin on paper, bringing the club to within a few dollars of the $81.5 million salary cap before placing Muzzin on LTIR. That maneuver allows GM Kyle Dubas to use nearly all of his $5.625 million cap space to acquire players before March 21 if Muzzin remains out for the final 32 regular-season games.
This opens up options for Dubas to add more help to bolster the blueline and possibly another forward, but with the news regarding prospect Rodion Amirov on Wednesday, it is likely that the Leafs will shy away from moving players like Matthew Knies, Nick Robertson, and Nick Abruzzese already in the pipeline and be looking for players with term if they opt to trade a future first-round pick.
After Jack Campbell struggled in allowing four goals on 30 shots in the loss to the Blue Jackets, Keefe will go with Petr Mrazek in goal against Minnesota.
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Lot’s of â¤ï¸ for the 💙ðŸ¤
— Norman James (@IamNormanJames) April 26, 2021
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