'I've Had About A Month Off With A Broken Finger So I Feel Pretty Rested': Why Mark Giordano Will be a Healthy Scratch Again for the Maple Leafs Against Jets
The Toronto Maple Leafs will rest Mark Giordano for the second consecutive game when they host the Winnipeg Jets on Wednesday.
The NHL's oldest player, Giordano is no stranger to being rested while with the Maple Leafs. The player sat out the final two games of the 2022-23 season as and was rested on two other occasions previous to that.
But this season has been a bit of a challenge for the 40-year-old.
Projected to be a bottom-pair defenseman this year, the veteran was again trusted up into a top-four role as injuries to the rest of the group took hold. But then he was pushed down to the bottom pair alongside Timothy Liljegren as players like free-agent pickup Simon Benoit leapfrogged him in the lineup.
On Sunday, Giordano found himself to be a healthy scratch as the Leafs put Conor Timmins into the lineup.
With a couple of days rest, Giordan will be scratched again.
"Part of it is the rest factor and the back-to-backs, we've had a heavy schedule this month," Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe said of Giordano. "With Timmins, we want to get him going but we also like the right-shot thing, it's something we've been fighting quite a bit."
The Maple Leafs have been short right-handed defensemen for much of the last few seasons, but this year it took on a whole new level. When right-handed defenseman Timothy Liljegren was out of the lineup, Toronto dressed six left-handed defensemen in a 5-4 shootout victory against the Calgary Flames on Nov. 10.
Benoit's growing popularity from head coach Sheldon Keefe squeezes Giordano further.
So is Giordano feeling worn down?
"Nope. Not really. I’ve had about a month off with a broken finger so I feel pretty rested," Giordano said following practice on Wednesday.
Giordano sustained a broken finger on Nov. 28 against the Florida Panthers and returned to the lineup on Dec. 29 against the Columbus Blue Jackets.
At 5-on-5, Giordano's expected-goals rating is 49.5 percent, per NaturalStatTrick.com. If the season were to end today, it'd be his lowest rating in that regard since the 2015-16 season. Meanwhile, Benoit has a career-best rating of 54.5 percent.
There's also the fact that the Leafs have more invested in Timmins. Despite the defenseman's struggles this season, he is on the books for $1.1 million next season and is just one of three defensemen beyond this season. Morgan Rielly and Jake McCabe are the others.
The Leafs also remember that Giordano struggled at toward the end of the team's playoff run where he was essentially the seventh defenseman dressed in an 11 forwards and seven defenseman formation and there is some thought to having the player more fresh down the stretch.
So for now, Giordano is going to have to live with the reality that at times he could be a 6-7 defenseman this season.
Giordano has one goal and five assists in 31 games this season.
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