NHL Regular Suddenly Finds Himself Out of the Lineup, Sliding Down Maple Leafs' Depth Chart

Ahead of today's practice, the Toronto Maple Leafs welcomed Jake McCabe back into the fold. The veteran defenseman was held out of their last game against Chicago due to precautionary reasons after taking a puck to the head in their game on Saturday.

With McCabe taking his usual spot in the lineup, that meant that one of Conor Timmins or Philippe Myers would have to come out of the lineup. It seems as though Craig Berube and company went with the former instead of the latter as Timmins was skating on the "fourth pairing" during Tuesday's practice, which is usually designated for extras and healthy scratches.

It looks like Myers will be in line to face one of his former clubs in the Nashville Predators on Wednesday night. The 27-year-old was skating with Simon Benoit on the third pair, while McCabe was on the top pair alongside Chris Tanev.

Myers has 1 assist in just 2 games this season, holds a plus-1 rating, and has averaged 15:19 TOI, while Timmins has collected a goal and 4 assists in 22 games to go with a plus-8 rating and 16:48 ATOI.

One would have to imagine that, if Myers keeps playing well enough to stick in the lineup, Timmins might be the new odd man out. It's certainly a shocking decision, considering how stable and reliable Timmins has been, but perhaps the Leafs want to see what they have in Myers before making a resolute decision.

The Maple Leafs will look to improve upon their 15-7-2 record when they welcome the struggling Predators to Scotiabank Arena on Wednesday. It's been a puzzling start to the season for Nashville as they own a 7-12-6 record and sit 3rd last in the NHL behind just Montreal and Chicago, despite adding 3 of the NHL's top free agents this summer in Steven Stamkos, Brady Skjei, and Jonathan Marchessault.