Maple Leafs make roster move with William Nylander, retroactive to Dec. 27
Photo credit: Steve Roberts-Imagn Images
The Toronto Maple Leafs placed William Nylander on the IR retroactive to Dec. 27 and have made a corresponding roster move in order to add some insurance.
Wiliam Nylander was injured on Dec. 27 during Toronto's game vs. Ottawa and while he was initially seen as day-to-day, if you've been paying attention the last year; that's basically a two-week stint on the shelf.
Well, he hasn't come back yet although has been skating, and the Maple Leafs decided that they needed to make a move with him as they prepare for their next game against Florida on Tuesday.
William Nylander moved to IR as Toronto recalls young defenseman
The team announced through their official PR account that they had placed Nylander on the IR retroactive to Dec. 27 and have recalled defenseman Marshall Rifai in response:
Rifai being recalled is a nice little story for the defender, as he spent the majority of the season recovering from wrist surgery and just got a couple games with the Marlies under his belt.
Nylander has arguably been Toronto's best offensive player as he leads the team with 41 points, and while the team has been able to handle things without him, no doubt he makes the team better overall.
When can Nylander come back to the Maple Leafs?
It seems Nylander was injured when he bumped knees with Ottawa forward Drake Batherson, and came up in a bit of pain before gingerly skating off to the bench.
Although it's quite quick, you can see Batherson shift his leg a bit the moment before he made contact with Nylander's knee though it doesn't look malicious; unlike Gage Goncalves hit on Dakota Mermis a month ago.
He's been skating with the team and made the road trip initially so we thought that he could return shortly, but clearly this is something minor, yet still a heavy inconvenience to Nylander.
According to the rules, Nylander is to miss at minimum seven days which would put his timeline to return potentially on Tuesday vs. Florida though more likely he will come back Thursday against Philadelphia.