Leafs share important update regarding defenseman Morgan Rielly
Photo credit: Eric Hartline-USA TODAY SPORTS
As we near the end of the regular season, it's no surprise that the injury front is getting a little more busy than usual. Mitch Marner remains sidelined with his high-ankle sprain but the hope is that he can suit up sometime next week. Another key member of the Toronto Maple Leafs to keep an eye out for is defenseman Morgan Rielly, who has missed the last 2 games with an upper-body injury, and is expected to miss a third straight contest tonight.
Rielly last played in Sunday's 2-1 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes on the 24th of March. However, the injury didn't take place during the loss, in fact, it happened shortly before they were set to face off against the New Jersey Devils in their following game.
At the time, Sheldon Keefe was rather optimistic about his prospects of making a quick return:
"The one thing that's good is once he gets through this day or two here, it's not going to be a lingering situation. It's not an injury that's going to be ongoing. Once he's past it, he's past it. So we just need to give him some time."
And according to David Alter, it seems like he's still holding onto that expectation, despite not being in the lineup for tonight's divisional clash against the Buffalo Sabres. Keefe stated on Friday that Rielly is "progressing well, looks like he's turned the corner here". Whether that means he'll have the green light to play in Monday's game against the Panthers is unknown, but he's not far off now.
On the season, Rielly has 7 goals and 51 points in just 65 games, all while averaging 23:49 of ice time per game. In his stead, look for Simon Benoit to take on a much larger role, as well as Ilya Lyubushkin, who is paired up with T.J. Brodie to round out the top-4.
| POLL | ||
MARS 30 | 388 ANSWERS Leafs share important update regarding defenseman Morgan Rielly Who has been the biggest surprise on the back-end for the Leafs this season? | ||
| Ilya Lyubushkin | 16 | 4.1 % |
| Simon Benoit | 329 | 84.8 % |
| Joel Edmundson | 32 | 8.2 % |
| Other | 11 | 2.8 % |
| List of polls | ||
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