Leafs’ Zaitsev placed on IR, Marincin recalled from AHL
TORONTO— To a Maple Leaf team labouring with three straight losses, the absence of its leading scorer, a dry spell on offence from veterans and two of its young stars in a funk, you can now add an injury to a workhorse defenceman.
Nikita Zaitsev, who leads Toronto with 22:51 minutes of ice per game and splits the majority of blueline penalty killing time with Ron Hainsey, will be out for at least two weeks with a lower body injury, possibly from a shot block Friday night in Detroit.
Connor Carrick will replace Zaitsev 5-on-5 with Jake Gardiner, but the Leafs called up Martin Marincin from the AHL Marlies to ensure they have a reserve when three games in four days begins Tuesday at home against the Carolina Hurricanes.
“Zaitsev is out, you can ask me how he’s doing in two weeks and we’ll go from there,” head coach Mike Babcock said at Sunday’s practice after a team day off. “The way I look at it, it creates an opportunity for Carrick who has been waiting all year (last playing Nov. 24). The ball’s in his court and we get to watch him.”
The encouraging news with Auston Matthews was him showing up for a 20-minute solo skate at the MasterCard Centre before main practice. That’s the first onice sighting since he and teammate Morgan Rielly collided in Pittsburgh eight days ago. Everything from concussion to back injury to a grip problem has been speculated on. There was a growing belief the Leafs would keep Matthews away from full contact until after Christmas, giving him three extra days and close to three weeks to recover from whatever ails him.
“I’ve been on the inside, so I know what’s bothering him,” Babcock said. “He feels better. When he plays, I don’t know 100 per cent yet. I thought he should be at practice today, but that’s why they don’t let me make any (medical) decisions.”
As for being so cautious to rule him out until the Dec. 28th game at Arizona, Babcock said “we’re not going about it that way. We’re going about it that when he’s ready, he’s going to play.”
Thus Monday’s practice will be an interesting one, not only for Matthews, but to see if Babcock sticks to Sunday’s forward lines. William Nylander was back at centre between Zach Hyman and Connor Brown, who were doing the spade work for Matthews most recently. Nylander and fellow sophomore Mitch Marner are part of a group with Nazem Kadri and Patrick Marleau who’ve combined for one goal the past seven games, though Marner had a three-assist game in that span.
“Some of our young players are going to be high end players and they’re in the process of working that out,” Babcock said. “But the interesting thing to me is are we 5-3 without Auston? So what’s our record? (20-13-1). Did we play (just) five games in seven nights?”
Babcock said he’s leaving the decision on who takes some of the PK ice time with Zaitsev out to assistant coach D.J. Smith come Tuesday’s game, while conceding it’s going to mean a busier time for the stay-at-home Roman Polak.
Carrick, meanwhile, is ready to roll.
“Zee is a big part of this club, it’s my job to step in,” Carrick said. “We’re playing a tough Carolina tea, After a couple of practices at home, we should be gunned up and energetic.
“I watched as much as I could to try and pick things up and understand areas of the ice that might have been more open than I realized. That’s the way the league is, the rich can get richer and the poor can get poorer. Mentally, you have to stay out of your (own) way, so physically the tools can remain at a level above where you’re at in the stands. At the same time, there’s no substitute for doing it, going out and playing the game.”