Bad news came out yesterday from the Toronto Maple Leafs. Goalie Petr Mrázek is out for up to four weeks again, this coming shortly after he ostensibly was back from injury. Our full report is here:

Petr Mrázek on IR, to miss four weeks

There isn’t really ever a good time for your newly-signed backup goalie to be out injured, but if there was ever a really bad time it’s right when the team has a brutal schedule of four games in six days. First up is The L.A. Kings tonight, then the Philadelphia Flyers in Philadelphia on Wednesday, a return to Toronto to play the Calgary Flames on Friday, followed immediately by the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday in Buffalo.

Those aren’t a crop of the top teams in the league right now, but four games in six days, including two with travel, puts a lot of physical strain on any team, especially the goalies. Jack Campbell has been great, but obviously that’s a lot of pressure for him to take even if it’s only for three of those games. Michael Hutchinson has been recalled from the Marlies before, and he could take at least one of the games to help keep the load down on Campbell. Hutchinson has been inconsistent in this role. He had some success last season, but you may recall he had to go in once this season the first time Mrázek was injured, and that was a disaster. Joseph Woll from the Marlies has now been made available to the Leafs as well, and he could be an alternative to Hutchinson, but he also could be around only for practice support. We’ll probably have to wait until a few hours before each game to be sure who will be in net this week.

Meanwhile, the Leafs are shuffling around some players, but we’ll wait to see how permanent these moves are, or if they are simply one-day salary cap management moves.

ICYMI

Arvind and Fulemin were back with another podcast yesterday afternoon. They talk about the Mrázek injury, and the new Morgan Rielly contract among other current Leafs topics. You can find it here, or on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, and Spotify.

Back to Excited Episode 157: Rielly Re-signed, Holl Hidden Away

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