Initially expected out a ‘minimum of two weeks,’ Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe said they don’t expect the defenseman to be available for the team’s upcoming road trip.
The Toronto Maple Leafs will run with the same defensive pairs for the fourth game in a row when they host the New York Islanders on Monday, and it appears they’ll have to get used to it for the time being.
Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe said TJ Brodie isn’t healing from an oblique injury at the rate they had hoped and the defender is not expected to join the team for their upcoming four-game road trip through the US Thanksgiving Day holiday.
“Brodie is not progressing as quickly as they’d like and won’t travel with us,” Keefe said.
Brodie was a game-time decision ahead of the Maple Leafs’ game against the Vancouver Canucks on Nov. 12. He took the warmup but wasn’t able to play through an oblique injury.
Keefe initially expressed optimism that the injury wasn’t unlike the oblique injury that John Tavares sustained during the preseason. In his media availability with the Leafs on Nov. 15 to address Jake Muzzin’s cervical spine injury, Maple Leafs GM Kyle Dubas put a “minimum of two weeks” timeline on Brodie’s injury.
Tavares was expected to be out a minimum of three weeks with his oblique injury and that would have forced the Leafs captain to miss the season opener and possibly a couple of more games after that. However, Tavares was healed in time for the opener and has been one of Toronto’s top performers this season with 10 goals and 21 points in 19 games.
Before Nov. 12, Brodie had suited up for every Leafs game since he signed a four-year, $20 million contract with the club as a free agent on Oct. 9, 2020. He has five goals and 44 points in 153 regular-season games with Toronto.
With Brodie out of the lineup, Jordie Benn has occupied the sixth spot on defense. He made his Leafs debut on Nov. 12 in Brodie’s absence and has primarily skated with Morgan Rielly in a top-four position.
Keefe has liked how Benn’s personality has ingratiated him with the rest of the team. But the 35-year-old has exhibited a versatility that the coach has been able to depend on.
“He a veteran player who’s played a lot on the penalty kill,” Keefe said of Benn. “When you lose guys like Muzzin and Brodie, that bring significant parts to your penalty kill, that fits and the physical things, he’s contributed well.”
Benn contributed offensively in his Leafs debut by scoring a goal against the Canucks, his former team. He had missed most of training camp and the regular season with a groin injury. The Victoria, BC native has a goal and an assist in four games and has averaged 18:21 of ice time with Toronto this season.