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The Toronto Maple Leafs and the 31 other clubs will enter the holiday break a little early with the number of positive cases growing exponentially throughout the league. The NHL and the Players Association agreed to postpone games on December 23 and begin the break on December 22nd.
Clubs can report to team facilities and/or travel to destinations for upcoming games on Boxing Day, with the league set to resume their schedule on Monday, Dec. 27, but it may be possible with the fluidity of the situation that further games could be postponed based on how teams are situated coming out of the break.
After being fairly untouched by COVID all season, the Leafs organization has been hit hard by the Omicron variant, with the AHL Toronto Marlies shut down last weekend and nine players/coaches (John Tavares, Alex Kerfoot, Jason Spezza, Wayne Simmonds, TJ Brodie, Travis Dermott, Jack Campbell, head coach Sheldon Keefe and assistant coach Spencer Carbery) entering NHL’s COVID-19 protocol.
On Tuesday, the club reported that a member of their medical staff and five more players/coaches (David Kà¤mpf, Ilya Mikheyev, Petr Mrà¡zek, Rasmus Sandin, and goaltending coach Steve Briere) have been placed on the list.
With more than half of their roster in protocol, it is possible that the game in Columbus next Monday will be in jeopardy. If the Leafs play, it might be dependent on the first group of positive cases testing negative and being available to play. If not, Toronto could be without both goalies and will have to play either Michael Hutchinson or Joseph Woll against the Blue Jackets.
One player that could surprisingly be available is Mitch Marner, who was placed on LTIR in early December after suffering a shoulder injury in a collision with Jake Muzzin at practice.
A player who goes on LTIR has to remain on for 10 games or 24 days, but according to Kevin McGran of the Toronto Star , Marner can return on Monday in spite of missing only six games because four others were postponed due to COVID.
It is unknown at this point whether Marner is fully recovered and that will only be known on Sunday after the holiday break.
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