Leafs captain John Tavares and top-line winger Mitch Marner have been joined by William Nylander, the team’s leading scorer, in sick bay. All three missed Wednesday’s practice.
“They’re not feeling well enough to have it make sense to come in today,” coach Sheldon Keefe said. “We’ll monitor them through the day. They’ll try and get some food down and see where they’re at tomorrow.”
The Leafs will host the Philadelphia Flyers, who have won four straight games, on Thursday.
Tavares started feeling sick on Monday night while Marner encountered flu-like symptoms on Tuesday. Each player was a late scratch before Toronto’s 4-1 win over the St. Louis Blues.
“We had a couple of other guys where it was either play them or play short,” Keefe revealed. “They kind of battled through it.”
Nylander scored the game-winning goal while logging 19 minutes and 38 seconds to lead the team’s forwards.
Managing energy levels at this time of year can be tricky. Leafs centre Auston Matthews, who leads the league with 42 goals, left practice midway through the workout on Wednesday.
“I had given Auston the option to not even skate today,” Keefe said. “The All-Star guys, in particular, kind of grinded through last week. They didn’t get a day off coming off the All-Star Game until Friday which was not even a full day off because we had to travel to Ottawa that day. It’s been a tough road for those guys. Does that contribute to why Marner and Nylander are sick? I don’t know, but we have to be very mindful of that. Auston wanted to skate today, but I wanted to make sure he kept it short.”
Defenceman Morgan Rielly practised in Nylander’s spot on the line with Matthews and Matthew Knies.
“I actually thought maybe if I changed his number nobody would notice and just put him out there on right wing,” Keefe said with a smile. “We just obviously needed to fill that position today with 11 forwards and seven defencemen [available]. It just helps us get the practice going. It gives some different touches and all those kind of things and maybe something different and helps kind of break up this period of time for him. Something different and new.”
Rielly was suspended for five games by the department of player safety for a high cross-check on Ottawa Senators forward Ridly Greig at the end of Saturday’s game.
Rielly is appealing the decision to commissioner Gary Bettman.
“There’s some hope, quite frankly, that it might be reduced by a game,” TSN Hockey Insider Chris Johnston said. “There’s really no downside to this sort of appeal.”
The last Leafs player to appeal a suspension to Bettman was Jason Spezza, who saw his six game ban reduced to four back in December 2021.
“That alone tells us it’s possible,” Johnston said. “It’s a bit of a long shot, but in that ruling on the Spezza case one of the factors Bettman cited was the fact he had such a long, distinguished career with no prior incidents whatsoever. That was the main reason and justification for lowering the ban.”
This is the first suspension for Rielly, who has played 769 games plus 50 more in the playoffs.
If Rielly serves the full five-game suspension, he will not return until Feb. 22 in Las Vegas. So, this may be a chance to get the team’s ice-time leader a bit of a breather.
“We’ve chosen to this point to keep him going, keep him on the ice while we’re uncertain of how the situation is going to play out and the period of time and all that,” said Keefe, “but I do think it warrants a discussion in terms of how to manage him going forward.”
Keefe pointed out the team will lean on Rielly quite a bit down the stretch and the 29-year-old, like Matthews, Nylander and Marner, participated in all the All-Star week festivities.
News of the Rielly suspension broke right before Tuesday’s game.
“It’s tough,” said defenceman Jake McCabe. “I’m not going to sit here and b—h and complain about it. It sucks missing one of your leaders and one of your key guys for that amount of games, but we got one win for him and hopefully we can continue to carry that on.”
Following the game, Keefe indicated Brad Treliving would address the media regarding the Rielly suspension on Wednesday. However, the Leafs general manager opted not to speak to reporters after Rielly informed the team he planned to appeal.
Ryan Reaves, who was outspoken on Monday in voicing his displeasure in how the situation was playing out, politely declined to hold court again. The veteran winger noted that his bosses prefer he not rock the boat.
“It’s bad for our business, but I think it’s smart business by the Leafs in this case,” noted Johnston. “There’s no point in pouring more gasoline on the fire.”
For the first time since sustaining a high ankle sprain in Ottawa on December 7, Joseph Woll addressed the media. Rourke Chartier appeared to have sent a harmless shot on net from the side boards, but it went to the 25-year-old instead.
Woll remembered, “Just kind of in an awkward position there.” “I had to stoop down and take an uncomfortable position, and my ankle simply refused to cooperate.” Really, that’s all I recall about it.”
For Woll, who was having a great season with a.916 save % in 15 games, it has been a hard trip back.
“A lot of emotions come up when you get injured,” he stated. “I found it difficult to not feel like I was