Maple Leafs Confirm Injury to Yet Another Key Player

After announcing that Auston Matthews would miss Monday's matinee game against the Winnipeg Jets, Craig Berube also confirmed that Matthews' status for Friday was unknown.

In addition to this news, Berube also indicated that there would be a few game time decisions for the Leafs. Unfortunately, one of them was due to injury.

During warmups, the Leafs confirmed that defenseman Chris Tanev would miss the game with a lower-body ailment.

The rugged 35-year-old signed a six-year deal on July 1st with the Leafs as part of a major overhaul of the Leafs' blueline.

Tanev was brought in to be a stabilizing, defensive defenseman alongside Morgan Rielly. Although he hasn't played as much as expected with Rielly, he continues to be an elite shutdown defenseman alongside Jake McCabe.

The undrafted free agent has carved out quite the NHL career as a defensive stalwart and currently leads the Leafs in blocked shots with 99 through 34 games, while also averaging almost 3 minutes per game on the penalty kill, again, leading the Leafs in that category.

Hopefully, the Leafs are just giving Tanev an extended Christmas break to rest some bumps and bruises and the injury is nothing overly serious. With the Leafs off until Friday after Monday's game, there likely won't be any update until Thursday at the earliest.