Leafs forward absent from practice after taking knee-on-knee hit and elbow to the head
When the Maple Leafs took to the ice for practice today after an extremely satisfying 7-3 drubbing of the WInnipag Jets, Alex Kerfoot was not among them. Kerfoot may have been injured in last night's game as the Jets were up to their old tricks, doing their best to injure players who are better at hockey than they are. He took a particularly nasty shot from Jets forward and noted fake tough guy Pierre-Luc Dubois. Dubois managed both an elbow to the head and a knee on knee hit in one fell swoop, impressive work for the 2016 third overall pick.
Its likely Kerfoot is experiencing some discomfort today after that. The hope is that it's just discomfort and that we won't see Kerfoot headed to the IR because of that garbage. Of course, Dubois was not penalized in game and the Department of Player Safety was silent on the matter. I wish I could say it was a surprise.
With Kerfoot not available for practice, Jason Spezza was moved to John Tavares' wing alongside Ilya Mikheyev. Spezza was replaced on the second powerplay unit by rookie Nick Abruzzese and, by the looks of it, if Kerfoot is good to go for Saturday's game, Spezza may come out of the lineup and we will see the Harvard alum get his first look in a Leafs uniform.
As of this writing we have not had an update on Kerfoot, but once Sheldon Keefe makes one available we'll be sure to have it for you here.
| POLL | ||
AVRIL 1 | 289 ANSWERS Leafs forward absent from practice after taking knee-on-knee hit and elbow to the head Does Dubois deserve a suspension for his dirty play on Kerfoot? | ||
| Yes | 183 | 63.3 % |
| Yes | 38 | 13.1 % |
| Yes | 45 | 15.6 % |
| Sorry, I wasn't paying attention | 23 | 8 % |
| List of polls | ||
