'We Need Everybody': Morgan Rielly Day-to-Day and Joel Edmundson Out for the Week With Injuries as Maple Leafs Layout Plan For Crowded Defense Going Forward
Rielly wasn't fully ruled out for the club's game against the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday but missed the team's morning skate.
The Toronto Maple Leafs know they will be without Joel Edmundson for sure and it's quite likely the club will also be without Morgan Rielly when they host the New Jersey Devils at Scotiabank Arena on Tuesday.
Both players missed the team's full morning skate.
"We'll see how he is later today. If he doesn't go today, it's a day-to-day type of situation for him," Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe said of Rielly's status.
As for Edmundson?
"I wouldn't expect him this week," Keefe said while mentioning both players are injured and not sick.
The Maple Leafs tried out some new defense pairs as a result with struggling veteran TJ Brodie skating alongside Ilya Lyubushkin.
"We know our roles, we have to play the same game," Lyubushkin said of skating with Brodie. "Not a big change, you know, we have to help our team to win, you know, simple, hard, you know. That's it."
Rielly has played in every game this season except the five-game stretch the defender had to miss due to suspension for his cross-check to the face of Ottawa Senators forward Ridly Greig.
Edmundson has been a solid addition for the Maple Leafs, acquired from the Washington Capitals on March 7, the 6-foot-5 defender has made his physical presence felt. The clearest example was how he threw his weight around in the team's 6-3 win against the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday.
With nine defensemen on the roster, the Maple Leafs will attempt to spread out minutes between now and the end of the regular season.
Sheldon Keefe explained his strategy for deployment going forward.
"With how we've handled some of the back-to-backs and making sure guys stayed in. We need everybody. Guys need to stay ready. We need to -- when you bring in, you know, in our case, two new defensemen, that sort of changes the mix a little bit of our group. Those guys, they need reps, and others need reps playing with them," Keefe said.
"We're managing all these things as best we can, but the good news is that no matter what we've done and how we've moved things, the group has responded well to it. So I think our intention would be to continue to utilize all of our guys, but at the same time, try to find some rhythm and consistency inside of it. So that's going to be a challenge, and we hope that we can be healthy before long and be able to sort of lock into some things.
"the schedule itself will make it obvious that we need to share the minutes and share the responsibilities, but of course, not losing sight of the fact that we need to make sure we're secure in points here."
Mark Giordano is now available
After regularly participating in practice for a while now, the Toronto Maple Leafs are now able to use Mark Giordano. The club placed the 40-year-old defenseman on long-term injured reserve retroactive to the head injury he sustained on Feb. 29.
Right now, he seems to be slotted in as the club's ninth defenseman and there's no telling when he'll get back in.
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