Maple Leafs centre Ryan O’Reilly might be out of motion for some time.
Toronto head coach Sheldon Keefe advised reporters following Monday’s follow the centre, acquired from the St. Louis Blues in a blockbuster commerce final month, suffered a damaged finger in Saturday’s 4-1 loss to the Vancouver Canucks and might be positioned on long-term injured reserve.
A participant headed to LTIR should miss not less than 10 video games and 24 days, that means O’Reilly will not be obtainable till not less than the start of April.
“When you get him, you get excited and you recognize what he can convey,” Keefe stated. “To lose him definitely is hard and disappointing. But we have acquired him to be wholesome, able to go for the playoffs.
“That would be the case.”
Keefe added Leafs captain John Tavares (undisclosed) might be held out of the lineup when the workforce visits the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday to wrap up a five-game street journey, however expects the centre might be prepared when the workforce returns house to face the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday.
In corresponding strikes earlier Monday, the Leafs recalled forwards Pontus Holmberg and Alex Steeves from the American Hockey League’s Toronto Marlies, and loaned goaltender Joseph Woll to the membership’s prime affiliate.
O’Reilly was acquired together with fellow centre Noel Acciari in a three-team deal to kickstart a roster reconstruction by common supervisor Kyle Dubas that will later embrace the additions of defencemen Jake McCabe and Luke Schenn and centre Sam Lafferty.
A 32-year-old from Clinton, Ont., O’Reilly has three targets and 5 factors — together with a four-point night time in his third look — in eight video games with Toronto.
He was additionally 84.4 per cent within the faceoff circle by means of his first seven contests till going 3-for-11 in Vancouver earlier than struggling the harm late in Saturday’s second interval.
A Stanley Cup and Conn Smythe Trophy winner with St. Louis in 2019, O’Reilly additionally gained that season’s Selke Trophy because the NHL’s prime defensive ahead.
Toronto (38-17-8) at the moment sits second within the Atlantic Division, 5 factors up on the Tampa Bay Lightning.
WATCH | Pettersson, Miller sink Maple Leafs with short-handed targets:
Back-to-back short-handed targets by Pettersson and Miller lead Canucks to a win over the Leafs
Elias Pettersson and J.T. Miller scored short-handed targets within the third interval to steer Vancouver to a 4-1 win over Toronto.
