Leafs hope to get by without injured Hyman
The Maple Leafs dodged a blistering snapshot from the point on Monday.
Zach Hyman — driver, hard worker, engine, Mr. Versatile, all terms apply — will miss a minimum of two weeks with a sprained right medial collateral ligament, an injury suffered when he absorbed a knee-on-knee hit by Vancouver Canucks defenceman Alexander Edler on Sunday.
The punishment for Edler was a two-game suspension levied by the National Hockey League’s Department of Player Safety, which means Edler will miss the game between the clubs on Tuesday night in Vancouver.
Anything less than Hyman missing the rest of the season should be considered good news. It’s not ideal, of course, with the Leafs trying to climb out of their first four-game losing streak under coach Sheldon Keefe and get back on solid footing in their final 11 games, but it beats the alternative.
“It creates opportunities for others,” Keefe said. “We’ve played without important people throughout the season and have played some of our best hockey when we’ve missed guys.
“We have to give Hymes time to get time healthy and know that he’ll come back strong, but our team shouldn’t miss a beat. Other people will step up and that in itself will make us a stronger group.”
If you’re Nick Robertson, this is the kind of opportunity you’ve been waiting for.
It’s the same knee Hyman had surgery on in April 2019, when he had a torn anterior cruciate ligament repaired.
After Tuesday night’s road game against the Vancouver Canucks — results of which were unavailable at deadline, the Leafs play five more games in the next two weeks. If Hyman can get back for the final five, that would be around the time Keefe should be starting to cement his set roster to begin the playoffs.
“If he can get himself back in two weeks, that would be great news for us,” Keefe said. “These types of hits can have some pretty bad results. We’ll take it.”
It could be just one game that the Leafs have to get by without a player of Hyman’s ilk.
Nick Foligno, acquired on April 11 from the Columbus Blue Jackets, is heading into last days of quarantine at his off-season home in Sudbury and will join the Leafs on Wednesday in Winnipeg, with an eye to playing against the Jets on Thursday.
“He plays hard-style hockey,” Leafs forward Jason Spezza said. “He has really underrated puck skills. That will lend well to fitting in with our group, and likewise to Hymes, he plays with a lot of emotion, goes to the hard areas, does a lot of things that are important at this time of year. I think he’s going to fit in seamlessly.”
The Hyman injury was among the lineup balls Keefe was juggling at practice.
Most notable was the status of William Nylander, who practised in a grey sweater, usually the colour reserved for scratches.
“He was late for a meeting (Monday) morning and his status was that he wasn’t going to play (Tuesday),” Keefe said. “We had him on the outside for practice and we’re going to discuss it and re-assess it for the game.”
It’s a little unbelievable that on a team chock full of leaders, as the Leafs are, that this is something Keefe would have to contemplate with one of his players, especially at this time of the season. It’s not a good look for Nylander.
Ilya Mikheyev didn’t practise and is questionable. Keefe didn’t say why the forward was absent.
At the least, Pierre Engvall was expected to draw back in for Tuesday’s game in Vancouver. And Rasmus Sandin was also a possibility for the third defence pair with Zach Bogosian.
Frederik Andersen was on the ice for practice but is not close to returning.