Two high-profile Leafs absent from practice on Friday ahead of back-to-back games against Canadiens

The next two games for the Leafs in this pre-season occur tonight and tomorrow night, both against archrivals, the Montreal Canadiens on enemy terrain in Montreal. Tonight's roster appears to be mostly fringe players competing for spots which likely means that tomorrow's lineup will be heavily leaning towards a full-fledged NHL roster. There may, however, be a pair of notable absences tomorrow night.

Per the Leafs' official PR account on Twitter (AKA "X"), neither William Nylander nor John Klingberg was available to practice on Friday.

Klingberg had played part of the first period on Wednesday against Buffalo before something had "tightened up" on him, per Sheldon Keefe. He remains day-to-day with an undisclosed injury.

Nylander, on the other hand, is reportedly suffering from flu-like symptoms, so at least his issue doesn't appear to be anything that's expected to keep him sidelined for any length of time. If he improves throughout the day, we may yet see him suit up in tomorrow's Saturday night showdown in Montreal.

After this two-game set in Montreal, the Leafs will have only 3 games remaining on their pre-season schedule, which means that a huge wave of roster cuts is on the horizon. The Leafs will almost certainly want to have their full NHL roster assembled and have them play a game or two as a complete unit prior to the start of the season.