Jake Muzzin is out indefinitely with a cervical spine injury. It will be reassessed at the end of February. It is unclear if the veteran defenseman will be able to return to the Leafs lineup.
“It’s not something you really want to mess with,” general manager Kyle Dubas said. “If he’s not 100 percent sure that this recovery time will allow it to settle down and not be a problem, we have to do what’s right for his long-term health. He’s a father of two young children and a husband. We have to make sure we do right with him. As important as he is to us as a player, his health is paramount.”
“I heard it a lot earlier than you guys, obviously,” said winger Mitch Marner, who counts Muzzin among his closest friends on the team. “When you get news like that it’s quite emotional. It was just me and him in the room when he told me and it’s sad.”
Muzzin, who will turn 34 in February, has been sidelined since colliding with Arizona Coyotes forward Clayton Keller in Toronto’s fourth game of the season on Oct. 17.
Dubas pointed out that this is not the first injury like this for Muzzin, who left the ice after an awkward collision near the end of Game 2 of the 2020 bubble best-of-five playoff series against the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Muzzin will continue to be around the team. He works out in the gym and provides advice and encouragement to his teammates.
“We believe that because of his experience not only as a member of our team here, but also his experience that he has previously earned in Los Angeles, he can still bring a lot to our team,” Dubas said. “We’re lucky to have him and to have him around.”
“He’s still awesome around the rink,” Marner said. “He still brings that positivity, no matter what news he gets.”
Muzzin will return to Los Angeles to meet with a specialist in February. Only then will the Leafs know for sure if Muzzin is able to return.
“If we had any experience with this thing, I would stand up and give a clear answer,” Dubas said. “Because of the nature of the injury and because we really don’t have a lot of experience with this type of injury — we rely more on other sports that don’t exactly replicate hockey — it’s hard to predict.”
Meanwhile, Dubas is looking to see if young defensemen Rasmus Sandin, 22, and Timothy Liljegren, 23, can handle more.
“The second step is going to be determining — even if they do go up — whether it’s going to be enough to help us actually achieve what we want to achieve, and then we’ll evaluate the commercial market and go from there,” Dubas continued. “We’re not really in a rush. We want to see what these guys bring.”
Dubas points out that Mark Giordano will help fill the leadership void. Head coach Sheldon Keefe recently revealed that the team is urging the 39-year-old, who was acquired at the trade deadline last year, to talk more.
“Now we have Gio, who adds that kind of veteran stability,” Dubas said.
The trade deadline is March 3.
“As we go through the year, we’ll evaluate very carefully how it goes,” Dubas promised.
ContentId(1.1877933): Leafs D Muzzin out at least until February. Brodie also on IR
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TJ Brodie will be out at least two weeks with an oblique injury. Where will the Leafs miss the defenseman the most?
“It’s the stability that he brings to not only how he plays, but how he makes others better around him,” said Keefe, who called the 32-year-old ‘Mr. Consistent’ last year. “That’s definitely the biggest part.”
Brody leads the Leafs in even-strength minutes (18:11 per game) and is tied with Justin Hall for the fewest minutes (3:07 per game).
“You can always count on him defensively,” Marner noted. “He’s always in the right spot. He’s always making the right plays. He’s definitely a big piece.”
On Saturday, Brody missed his first game since signing with the Leafs.
“I was really happy with how we did last night,” Keefe said. “Jordie Benn came in and played his first game for us, we were back to back and had to kill a few penalties late in the game with the game on the line. It was really encouraging to see how the kids. Obviously we’re going to need more of this.”
Benn moved up to play with Morgan Rielly while Giordano ended up with Holl, who was playing with Brodie. Sandin and Liljegren connected on the third pairing.
ContentId(1.1878108): Leafs’ Brodie expected to miss a few weeks with oblique injury
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Ben actually scored the game-winning goal against the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday.
“It was awesome,” Auston Matthews said with a big smile. “I didn’t expect a d-man to be in the paint there.”
“The elf just started going up the wall,” Ben explained. “I saw Mo start to slide so I wanted to go in and that’s just how it happened, I ended up in front of the net and burst in.”
It was Ben’s first goal since January 24 and led to a wild celebration.
“It doesn’t happen very often, so I didn’t really know what to do,” admitted the former Canuck. “But thank God Matty came and I was like, okay, here’s a hug.”
BBB-BENNNNNNNNY!!! pic.twitter.com/cnAbCYtt3c
— Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) November 13, 2022
It was a sweet moment for the 35-year-old from Victoria.
“I was a Canucks fan, so it’s definitely nice to stick it to them a little bit,” he said with a smile.
Benn was watching Rielly early in the preseason when he suffered a groin injury.
“It’s disappointing, but it’s not happening,” he said succinctly.
Now, Ben seems eager to make up for lost time. He landed four shots and made a key block on the penalty kill while logging more than 17 minutes against the Canucks.
“He was very good,” Keefe said. “He was really competitive. Everything we know about him: a competitive, smart defenseman. He made some plays with the puck and he did really well. He got us a huge goal. Especially when you get a presence like Brody, it’s good to have somebody come such in our team”.
Jordie Benn in this warm-up moment with his family:
“It means everything. It’s hard to talk about them just because they’re the rock of the household. Mama Bear and my kids are everything.”
— Mark Masters (@markhmasters) November 13, 2022
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Matt Murray looks set to return from an adductor injury and is scheduled to start Tuesday at Pittsburgh. It will be his first time playing at PPG Paints Arena since being traded from the Penguins to the Ottawa Senators in October 2020.
“I always enjoy coming back to Pittsburgh and seeing people I haven’t seen in a while, so I’m going to look forward to that,” Murray said. “Even some of the security guys in the building and people like that. You know, guys that took care of me when I was there. Really nice to see people like that.”
Murray, who led the Penguins to two Stanley Cups, received a video tribute when the Senators played in Pittsburgh in January, but the goaltender was sidelined that time. The 28-year-old played with the Penguins in February, stopping 42 of 43 shots in a loss to the Senators.
“They’re just a dangerous team, so being on the other side of it for the first time was definitely strange,” he recalled.
Murray tore his groin during a morning skate on Oct. 15 before he was set to make his second start with the Leafs.
The Thunder Bay, Ont., native has gone through three full practices since the injury.
“Having him back healthy and giving him a chance to get back in net and rolling is important to us,” Keefe said. “It’s great to see that he’s back on schedule. It was kind of a four-to-six-week deal. He’s been working really hard. The medical team has taken care of him and pushed him hard. He looks very ready. We’ve given him a few extra days here and there. adding this practice to add to his workload to get him even more ready. We make sure he’s 100 per When I say 100 percent, there’s the physical part with the injury, and then it’s getting in the net, stopping the bolts , get into your routine and feel confident that you can go and perform at your best.”
Murray allowed four goals on 23 shots in a season-opening loss at Montreal.
ContentId(1.1878109): Murray set to play in Pittsburgh for first time since trade
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Ilya Samsonov took part in his first training session after injuring his knee on November 5th.
“I haven’t updated since we left practice, but the amount of work he did today tells me he feels really good,” Keefe said. “I know they would start the day feeling it out and making sure they don’t go too fast, but we expected him to take a step up today from what he did on the ice. It looked like he did that It’s very encouraging and great to see both guys [Murray and Samsonov] out on the ice working together.”
Erik Kallgren and Keith Petruzzelli, who was signed to a base contract after Samsonov’s injury, also participated in practice.
“The depth of the goaltending and the depth of the defense have been tested here,” Dubas acknowledged. “The keeper hard with Matt, Ilia and Joseph Wool out.”
Wool has been sidelined since undergoing offseason shoulder surgery.
“He had a little setback with the shoulder,” Dubas revealed. “In his recovery, he kind of suffered an ankle injury. He’s scheduled to be in full practice tomorrow with the Marlies. To me, that’s a positive sign. With what he’s coming back from, we just have to continue to hopefully in the next two or …
