The Toronto Maple Leafs have had no shortage of injuries this season, and Oliver Ekman-Larsson could be the latest player to go down. The veteran defenseman left the game in the first period of the club's matchup against the Detroit Red Wings on Wednesday due to a lower-body injury. Although the Leafs did not say what caused the injury, the Swedish defender fell awkwardly while trying to spin around with the puck along the corner boards, The 34-year-old Ekman-Larsson is just one of a handful of Leafs to play in all 50 regular-season games thus far. There have been a couple of occasions where the player has been forced to leave the game with a possible injury, only to bounce right back. "I'll know more tomorrow, evaluate him, look at him, see where he's at," Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube said following the team's 2-1 overtime loss to the Detroit. On Dec. 11, Ekman-Larsson had to be helped off the ice after an awkward collision with San Jose Sharks forward Adam Gaudette. Ekman-Larsson ended up being fine one day later. Both the Maple Leafs and the Swedish Olympic team are hoping that's the case for Ekman-Larsson. The veteran is scheduled to compete in his second Olympics next month in Italy, and the Swedish men's hockey team already has a long list of named players who are currently out due to injury, including Leafs teammate William Nylander. Ekman-Larsson has eight goals and 23 assists this season. PLAYERS REACT TO EKMAN-LARSSON'S INJURY AND THE IMPACT HE'S HAD ON THE CLUB Brandon Carlo: I think you've seen him just raise his game to a whole other level. You know, his playmaking ability, his calmness just in the defensive zone. He's got an amazing stick. He's somebody that I definitely look up to and like to try and learn from for sure. But his game is fantastic and his composure definitely keeps things a little bit more calm for us. And he's definitely a big component of our group. Joseph Woll: He's been great out there as a two-way player. He's just like all the other guys, someone I really trust. I think he's getting rewarded for that, obviously, with the Olympics. I hope he's all right. Scott Laughton: Oh, he's been unbelievable. I've seen it for my whole career, right? And he's brought everything to this team, power play, penalty kill, and he's done everything. So he's a big part of our group. And we'll see what happens here. Simon Benoit on adjusting to five defenseman without Benoit: Yeah, all the guys stepped up. Some guys played the big minutes, especially Caber (Jake McCabe).Obviously, when you see a guy go down like that early, you always try to play a bit more safe. Don't go up the rush for nothing, obviously, because you're going to play a lot more. But I think we did a good job for that.
