Kase injured on Saturday; The Leafs may need a forward at the deadline

On Saturday night, during the early stages of the second period, Leafs winger Ondrej Kase was clipped in the head by an elbow from Matt Duchene that absolutely rung his bell.

Kase did everything in his power to make his way off the ice, but was severely impaired by the shot he took to the head and needed to be helped off the ice and down the tunnel to be attended to by the team's medical staff.

A short time later, it was announced that the Leafs were pulling Kase from the contest for precautionary reasons, which is certainly the right move, considering how out of it Kase was after taking the shot to the head.

While this hit was almost certainly an accident by Duchene, he also threw an intentional shot to the head on Mitch Marner during the first period, so you do sort of wonder if there was some intent there. There was no penalty issued on the play, so the officials were probably giving Duchene the benefit of the doubt.

Obviously, the Leafs are hoping that Kase is okay, but if it does look like he'll miss significant time, GM Kyle Dubas will have to see what his options are on the trade market ahead of the trade deadline on Monday.