Chris Tanev’s Maintenance, Waiting On Morgan Rielly And Explaining The Maple Leafs Day Of Roster Moves Ahead Of Game Against Devils

When the Toronto Maple Leafs left Scotiabank Arena following a 4-2 loss to the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday, they knew they would have to make at least one adjustment to their roster. And as they prepared for their game the next night against the New Jersey Devils, they had to make several.

Sunday began when the Maple Leafs sent Vinni Lettieri down and called up Cole McWard. With Rielly sustaining a lower-body injury, the straight swap of a forward for another defenseman was logical. But it turns out they need McWard to play, and the defenseman will make his Maple Leafs debut against the Devils.

Before media were briefed by Maple Leafs coach Jim Hiller, the team explained that the club’s performance staff was giving Chris Tanev a planned maintenance day as part of a path for recovery from the upper-body injury that kept him out of the lineup earlier this season.

They insist that Tanev is not injured.

The Leafs were at the 23-man active roster limit. The club is still evaluating Rielly and because of that, they didn’t simply put the defenseman on injured reserve to open up an active roster spot. That would have forced the defenseman to miss at least a week. That development alone should be deemed positive. 

But there’s also a game-time decision with an undisclosed player at the forward position. That’s likely why the club recalled Lettieri and sent Artur Akhtyamov down, abandoning the club’s previous plan to give Sergei Bobrovsky a full night off. Bobrovsky will back up Anthony Stolarz against the Devils.

The Leafs will have an update on Rielly’s status ahead of their game on Tuesday. But given someone is clearly banged up up front, and none of the injuries have been determined to have a fixed timeline, the Leafs made these changes. And that will leave the Leafs with the challenge of not having Rielly and Tanev available in the lineup against a very skilled Devils team.

Tanev missed nine games this season with an upper-body injury and although he has said it wasn’t directly related to the spine injury he sustained last season, the club is being very cautious about giving the defenseman recovery days following busy stretches in the season. And right now, that’s taking priority over the luxury of giving Bobrovsky the full night off. 

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