A lower body injury that made Matt Hunwick unavailable the last three games has enabled the Toronto Maple Leafs to place the defenseman on injured reserve.
The 31-year-old blueliner has one assist in six games, but Hunwick’s limitations were exposed in recent games when head coach Mike Babcock was forced to give the veteran more ice time.
The Michigan native played 22:16 in a 5-4 shootout loss to Chicago on October 22 and was on the ice for Richard Panik’s game tying goal in the final minutes of regulation. He then went -3 in just under 20 minutes of ice time in a 7-3 loss to Tampa Bay on October 25.
An overhead shot of last night's tying goal- it wasn't Andersen's fault! #Leafs pic.twitter.com/iR9Xnp6Y4v
— Robb Ellis (@Robb_Ellis) October 23, 2016
Toronto has carried eight defensemen on the 23-man roster since the start of the season, with Frank Corrado not cracking the lineup once in the first nine games. Hunwick’s injury could make room for the Leafs to activate Josh Leivo from the non-roster injury list.
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The Leafs 5-1 loss in Brooklyn on Sunday was the club’s and rookie Mitch Marner’s ninth game of the season. It was thought that the nine-game mark would be decision time for Babcock and GM Lou Lamoriello on whether the 19-year-old forward would stay in the NHL or be sent back to the OHL’s London Knights, but the Thornhill, ON native has been up to the challenge, with six points(1 goal, 5 assists) and good effort at both ends of the ice.
If the speedy forward keeps this level of performance up, there will be little chance of his being sent back to the OHL, but if he takes a step back or if the Leafs struggle as the season progresses, it might have an effect on where the Toronto hierarchy thinks the best place for Marner is.
Toronto will have played 35 games by the end of December, Marner is eligible to play for Canada at the 2017 IIHF World Junior. The Leafs could loan the 19-year-old to play in the tournament, as they did with William Nylander and Kasperi Kapanen last December.
After the tournament, Toronto could then decide to keep Marner with the Leafs for the rest of the season or send him back to the Knights prior to playing his 40th game, when the seven-year clock towards unrestricted free agency begins.
The Leafs will have to decide what is more beneficial to Marner’s future; being a central figure in the Knights pursuing a second-straight Memorial Cup or gaining experience in the NHL for a club that could lose more than they win this season.
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The Toronto Marlies finished October with a league-best 13 points (6-1-0-1 record) and the American Hockey League announced Monday that winger Brendan Leipsic and goaltender Antoine Bibeau have been selected as player and goaltender of the month.
The 22-year-old Manitoba native was acquired from Nashville as part of the Cody Franson deal in February 2015 and got his first taste of the NHL with the Maple Leafs after the trade deadline last season. Leipsic leads the AHL with 13 points (three goals and 10 assists) in eight games.
Bibeau, 22, has a 5-0-1 record with a 1.64 GAA, .944 save percentage and two shutouts and handled the bulk of the Marlies goaltending duties after an injury to Garret Sparks.
The Victoriaville, PQ native was the go-to guy for the Marlies during their run to the Calder Cup Eastern Conference Final last season and has a record of 48-19-7 with a 2.58 GAA, a .914 save percentage and nine shutouts in 78 career AHL games with Toronto.
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Listen to the Blue N’ White Tonight Podcast with special guest John Derringer of Q107:
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