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James van Riemsdyk was not on the ice for practice at the MasterCard Centre, putting his playing status in question for the Maple Leafs next game against the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday.
The winger was checked along the boards by Trevor Lewis midway through the third period of Toronto’s 3-2 victory over the Los Angeles Kings on Monday and struggled to get back to the bench.
Van Riemsdyk briefly went down the tunnel leading to the locker room, but came out for his next shift and finished the game.
After a day off on Tuesday, the Leafs second leading scorer was absent, with Mitch Marner taking his place on the line with Tyler Bozak and Connor Brown.
JVR injury pic.twitter.com/qmKvdQYFTl
— steph (@myregularface) October 24, 2017
“We expect (van Riemsdyk) to play (Thursday), (we) won’t know 100% until tomorrow, but we expect him to play.… Mike Babcock said after practice.
Josh Leivo (who has not played since the final game of the exhibition schedule against Detroit on September 30) filled Marner’s spot on the fourth line with Matt Martin and Dominic Moore and took van Riemsdyk’s spot on the second power play with Auston Matthews, Patrick Marleau and William Nylander.
Leivo making his season debut will depend on whether van Riemsdyk can go on Thursday. The young winger played just 13 games with Toronto last season and continues to work and wait for his chance to get in to the lineup on a regular basis.
“(Leivo) has been great with (avoiding frustration). We’ve had players here in the past that were disgruntled and then they went somewhere else, they found out they weren’t NHL players.… Babcock said. “(He needs to) just keep getting better every day. You’re getting paid to get better, to train, to be ready and when he gets a chance, you make sure no one can take you out.…
Eric Fehr was the extra forward at practice on Wednesday and after clearing waivers earlier this week, the Maple Leafs can send the veteran forward to the American Hockey League without having to clear waivers in the next 30 days.
It is possible that Toronto was putting out feelers to other NHL clubs to see if there was any interest in the 31-year-old Stanley Cup winner. Teams interested may be willing to make a deal, but will likely expect Toronto to take back a contract to lessen the cap implications of Fehr’s $2 Million salary.
If Toronto sends Fehr to the minors, they will still have $975,000 of his contract on their cap. *******If you are interested in sponsorship or advertising your business in the Greater Toronto / Southern Ontario area on this column, please send a message for more information by clicking on the “Contact… button at the top of the page.*******