Maple Leafs forward injured; listed as day-to day

The Maple Leafs have been trying to build up their scoring depth and add some forward insurance in case of injuries, and it seems that plan may have to be enacted sooner rather than later. In addition to the injuries to Fraser Minten, Ben Danford, Steven Lorentz, and Jani Hakanpaa's lingering knee issues; they continue to be hit by the injury bug. Now, you can add a Maple Leafs regular to that list.

Per David Alter through Leafs Latest on X, Maple Leafs forward Calle Jarnkrok has been listed as day-to-day with a lower body injury.

It's unclear how Jarnkrok acquired the injury, whether it was earlier in training camp or something that just popped up, but for now he's not going to be on the ice until he recovers. Jarnkrok was set to be a staple on the bottom-6 for the Maple Leafs and is coming off a down year where he only managed 10 goals, but is clearly capable of putting the puck in the net, having scored 20 in 2022-2023 for Toronto. The 11-year veteran has 136 goals and 165 assists for his career spent between Nashville, Seattle, Calgary and of course, Toronto, and offers the Maple Leafs defensive versatility while also being able to score a bit. He's a tad pricey for his output, but it's a blow nonetheless to Toronto.

Jarnkrok, for his career has been injury prone going all the way back to 2018 when he was a member of the Nashville Predators and it never seemed to let him go, being injured in his time with the Seattle Kraken and twice within two months for for the Maple Leafs.

His only chance to keep a roster spot given the emergence of rookies Fraser Minten, Nikita Grebenkin and Easton Cowan, not to mention Max Pacioretty who has loudly laid his claim for a spot on the team; is to stay healthy and contribute. His contract hit at $2.1M for someone who is consistently injured is money not necessarily well spent. I personally don't see him in the opening day lineup and could find himself skating for another team soon.

We will have to wait and see how this injury turns out, but for now all we can hope is it's nothing too serious and Jarnkrok can try and make his way back onto the ice in time to get comfortable for the start of the regular season; the Maple Leafs cannot afford any setbacks on their journey to the Stanley Cup but Jarnkrok could have had just one too many for the team to be comfortable with him.