Sandin absent from practice; could the Leafs be protecting him for a trade?

While he did score, Rasmus Sandin's debut on the top pair alongside Morgan Rielly did not go well. Say what you will and blame it on what you want, but he and Rielly looked completely out of sync and had a terrible time in their own end as they finished a minus 2 on the night. Plus, minus is a horrible stat itself but the fact they only finished a minus 2 on the night is somewhat surprising, given the defensive zone issues they endured all night.

The outing was so bad that at Friday's practice Rielly was paired up with Liljegren again and Sandin was nowhere to be seen. He was not reported to even be at the Leafs' practice facility, leaving his availability and status in question for Saturday's game. Given that he was not present at the facility at all could mean that he is banged up and nursing some sort of injury, as players that are health scratches often skate as extras during practice.

Whether it was a maintenance day for the young Swede or a message being sent to him by the coaching staff that you have to be ready to play no matter where you're slotted in, Sandin's absence is certainly concerning.

In his absence, Mac Hollowell was recalled from the Marlies and was the extra defenseman at today's practice. With Hollowell's recall, there was some speculation on social media that perhaps one of the Leafs' roster defensemen will be included in a trade.

Could Kyle Dubas be preparing to package Rasmus Sandin in a deal for a player like Jakob Chychrun? That might be the only player rumoured to be available that would warrant giving up such a dynamic young defenseman.

A maintenance day is most likely, but with the trade deadline just over 2 weeks away, any player absence is going to cause people on social media to begin to speculate.