Puzzling report on Jake Muzzin emerges

The Leafs have largely played very well despite having lost a legitimate top-4 defenseman in Muzzin, one of their primary locker room leaders, but there's no question that the Buds are better with Muzz in the lineup than without. He's one of those impact players whose contributions are noticed each and every game. Whether it be a big hit, a timely goal or an solid defensive play, Muzzin has been able to do it all for the Buds in a variety of situations.

Back in November, the Leafs had shut Muzzin down and revealed that he would not be re-evaluated for his cervical spine injury until late February. However, a recent injury report from PuckPedia has left some fans scratching their heads. PuckPedia currently has Muzzin's return date scheduled for February 26th.

Now, naturally, it's probably just a re-evaluation date. That makes the most sense and falls right in line with his original timeline for re-evaluation. There's also the fact that he hasn't skated with the team, which is a pretty good indicator that he's not close to returning. In addition, the Leafs have just over $1.1M remaining in LTIR salary relief, so they'd need to clear more than $4.5M in cap space to be able to activate Muzzin this season. When you add these things up, it certainly doesn't feel as though a return is near for Muzz.

I'm sure that many of us are pondering the possibility that the Leafs' intention was to keep Muzzin out of the lineup throughout the remainder of the regular season and to have him come back for the playoffs, much like what we saw with Nikita Kucherov a couple of years back in Tampa. That, however, might be wishful thinking.

The obvious assumption here is that come February 26th, the Leafs will shut Muzzin down for the year. But the big question will be, is Muzzin going to be healthy enough to play out the final year of his current deal with the Leafs? Or will Kyle Dubas need to seek a replacement for the veteran defenseman this summer?