BREAKING: Leafs place Rielly on LTIR
It's not the news we all had been hoping for, following a play in which Morgan Rielly collided with Kyle Palmieri of the New York Islanders, but Rielly is expected to miss considerable time after leaving Tuesday's game and not returning. The Leafs are already without Jake Muzzin until at least March and T.J. Brodie has not been progressing from his oblique strain as well as the team at hoped and now the Leafs will be without Rielly as well. This is an unmitigated disaster.
The Leafs announced that Rielly has been placed on LTIR and will be out for a minimum of 10 games and 24 days. Darren Dreger reported that the injury is a grade 1 or 2 MCL injury which would equate to a 4-6 week recovery period, meaning that Rielly could be out until January at the earliest. With Rielly on LTIR, the Leafs will now have almost $8M in cap space to shore up the blueline and forward group if they choose to, but they will likely depend on bigger minutes from Rasmus Sandin and Mark Giordano.
The Leafs are now without three of their top-4 defensemen and while losing Rielly will hurt in some capacity, the defense has shown they are capable of stepping up as the team is ranked 5th defensively at 5on5 this season. Max Hollowell and Victor Mete have been recalled from the Marlies to fill the bottom pairing, but Mete has played top-4 minutes previously for the Habs.
| POLL | ||
NOVEMBRE 22 | 240 ANSWERS BREAKING: Leafs place Rielly on LTIR Can the Leafs post a winning record without Morgan Rielly in the lineup for at least the next 4-6 weeks? | ||
| Yes, they'll find a way | 165 | 68.8 % |
| No, we're screwed | 75 | 31.3 % |
| List of polls | ||
