Some confusion about Leafs defenseman's injury cleared up by the team
During the second period of last night's game against the Nashville Predators, Leafs defenseman Timothy Liljegren was taken hard into the boards, which had appeared to cause a shoulder injury. Liljegren spent a few minutes on the bench with a trainer trying to collect himself, but before long, he was ushered off to the locker room for additional treatment.
Here's a clip of the Yakov Trenin hit that caused the damage:
As the third period began, the Maple Leafs' official PR team put out an announcement on Twitter/X that Liljegren was doubtful to return to the game, but that his injury was of a lower-body variety. This was confusing to fans, as Liljegren had appeared to be favouring his shoulder.
Following the game, it was clarified by the team that Liljegren's issue was indeed an upper-body injury.
This marks the 2nd time in as many games that the Leafs have lost a top-4 defenseman to injury, Jake McCabe going down in Dallas being the first. Obviously, this is not ideal for the Leafs, who were already reportedly looking for a defenseman before the start of the season to help bolster their depth. Now, having lost two top-four defensemen, it puts the Leafs in a very precarious position very early on in the season.
The Leafs are right up against the salary cap, which means that any moves at this point would have to be money in, money out - meaning someone from the active roster would need to be traded in order to bring in another top-4 defender, if that's the route that GM Brad Treliving wishes to go.
We don't yet know the severity of Liljegren's injury. The Leafs are back in Toronto today, so Liljegren will be looked over and we should have an update in the next 24 hours, but we do know that McCabe's injury isn't believed to be long-term, so there's a silver-lining there at least - even if Liljegren is forced to miss some time.
We'll have more on this as the updates become available.
| POLL | ||
OCTOBRE 29 | 286 ANSWERS Some confusion about Leafs defenseman's injury cleared up by the team Do the Leafs need to trade for a defenseman with both McCabe and Liljegren now injured? | ||
| Yes | 188 | 65.7 % |
| No | 98 | 34.3 % |
| List of polls | ||
