If McCabe ends up missing games, he'll be Toronto's third defenseman to go down with an injury.
The Toronto Maple Leafs are holding their breath.
During the second period of Saturday's 5-2 loss to the Montreal Canadiens, Ivan Demidov's pass rode up the stick of Jake McCabe, hitting the defenseman in the face. McCabe, the tough customer that he is, remained on the ice to defend the Canadiens, who had the Maple Leafs hemmed in their zone.
Once the whistle blew, a bloodied McCabe (who was on the hook for a penalty) departed the ice and went straight to the Maple Leafs' dressing room. He didn't return to the game.
"He's a warrior," said Dakota Mermis. "You can see him finishing that shift. It's a huge credit to him."
Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube was asked how McCabe was feeling after the loss, and Berube was rather cautious when answering the question.
"I don't know the timeline of it right now, but bad enough that he couldn't come back and play."
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McCabe has dealt with a few head injuries before, including two last season.
The first came on Nov. 30, 2024, after taking a puck to the head from Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Nick Perbix. He was out for almost two weeks. The 32-year-old then missed five games in January after he hit his head off the ice in a fight with Philadelphia Flyers forward Garnet Hathaway.
The only information on McCabe's current injury is that it's an upper-body ailment.
"He's a guy that obviously eats a lot of minutes, plays the hard areas of the game, and on the penalty kill, too," added Mermis, who finished with 14:29 of ice time in Saturday's loss.
"He's a guy that eats a lot of minutes for us and a guy that we look to a lot through the course of the game following his leadership... Obviously, we missed him big time the rest of the way."
If McCabe is out for an extended period of time, it'll be yet another blow to the Maple Leafs' struggling defense core. Toronto is already without Chris Tanev and Brandon Carlo, two of their top defenders.
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Despite practicing with the team in full on Friday, Matthews and Knies are "doubtful" to play on Saturday against Montreal.
Though he has skated, Tanev's upper-body injury is more long-term, Berube said earlier this week. Carlo, who's been out since Nov. 13 with a lower-body injury, could begin skating on Monday. The Maple Leafs also have Auston Matthews, Matthew Knies, Nicolas Roy, and Anthony Stolarz out with injuries.
When asked about whether injuries are playing a factor in the Maple Leafs' struggles, William Nylander decided to take a positive spin on it.
"Yeah, I mean, that's a part of it. But like I've said before, I think this builds character. So obviously it's tough right now, but in the end I think it'll be good for our group."
Toronto's loss to the Canadiens on Saturday night was their seventh defeat in their last eight games. It's bleak right now, and with the Maple Leafs' current play, it doesn't appear like things will be turning around any time soon.
The positive: only five points separate them from second and third in the Atlantic Division, currently held by the Lightning and Ottawa Senators.
"Obviously, getting some people back in the lineup, that definitely is going to help," Berube said. "But until we decide to dig in and play the right way for 60 minutes on a consistent basis, it's going to be hard to pull yourself out of anything."
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