Maple Leafs Veteran Forward Surprisingly Absent from the Lineup Vs. The Kings

With the Toronto Maple Leafs dealing with a bunch on injuries thus far into this young season and have already seen the likes of John Tavares and William Nylander out due to an illness sweeping through the locker room. Not to mention Jani Hakanpaa, Fraser Minten, Connor Dewar, and Calle Jarnkrok are currently dealing with injuries or recovering from surgeries and Toronto can't afford to lose any players for any length of time.

So it's a big relief the Maple Leafs got both Tavares and Nylander back on the ice for their game Wednesday against the Los Angeles Kings, as both men were seen on the ice for warmups:

Nylander is a surprise given he missed practice yesterday and head coach Craig Berube wasn't sure about the status of Nylander before game time, labelling him as a game-time decision; well either Nylander's healthy enough, or he loaded up on the Buckley's and Halls before heading onto the ice. Either way, it's a big positive for Toronto.

One absence however is Max Pacioretty, as the veteran forward was not seen skating during warm-ups and his status for the game or going forward is unknown as of this writing:

Losing Pacioretty would sting for the Maple Leafs, as the long-time Montreal Canadiens forward opened the scoring for the team this season, and has been a strong veteran presence for the younger Leafs forwards. Toronto expected Pacioretty to add some deep veteran scoring on their bottom-six, and if he is out any amount of time it could jeopardize his momentum. Given his injury history, it's unfortunate that Pacioretty will miss yet another game in his career, and hopefully doesn't cost the Maple Leafs in the long-run.

With Pacioretty out the Maple Leafs will lineup as such:

Let's hope it's nothing serious for Pacioretty, and it's a big relief to the Maple Leafs and its fans that two of their Core Four are back in the lineup and ready to do damage against the Los Angeles Kings.