Bad News for the Maple Leafs as Scott Laughton Ruled Week-to-Week

On Friday morning, the Toronto Maple Leafs official PR account announced that veteran forward Scott Laughton had suffered an upper-body injury and would be out week-to-week while he recovers.

The move is a very shocking one considering that it didn't feel like Laughton had really suffered any serious damage even though he was playing his usual gritty and tough style of play.

The team's official announcement means that clearly Craig Berube and company had to consult the medical team and the prognosis was awful; and while we hear day-to-day normally for Berube - a week to week scenario is a nightmare scenario.

Toronto acquired Laughton last year at the trade deadline in exchange for fan-favorite Nikita Grebenkin; a move the team might be regretting with the news of Laughton's injury.

It seems extremely likely now that veteran David Kampf will take the reins in the meantime while Laughton recovers, and it's a huge blow to a team who had their full lineup set and had aspirations with Laughton playing a key role alongside rookie Easton Cowan.

it seems as well that fans are not too happy with the news, and are very disappointed that Laughton is going to be out for the foreseeable future:

If Kampf for whatever reason still isn't involved in the picture, then odds are it's going to be Calle Jarnkrok or even perhaps an AHL call-up like Jacob Quillan to fill the gap while Laughton recovers.

It's an unfortunate addition to a Leafs team that is already heavily feeling the injury bug with Simon Benoit just getting back into action, not to mention Joseph Woll's indefinite absence.

While we don't know when Laughton is going to return, it's a shame considering how vital he was to that bottom line and has been incredibly durable over the past three seasons.

As soon as we have an update regarding Laughton's condition we will update you, but from the sounds of it that might not be for quite some time.

This is a developing story. More details to come.