Three Maple Leafs Players Held Out of Practice With Injuries and Illness

In an unfortunate bit of new for Maple Leafs fans, the injury bug is hitting early and often it seems.

Max Domi has already been dealing with an injury that is slowly being worked on and he should be back shortly, but in the meantime the team lost three more bodies over the weekend.

The Maple Leafs PR account on X informed us that the trio of Simon Benoit, Nicholas Roy, and Joseph Woll would all be absent from practice on Saturday ahead of Sunday's first preseason game.

Benoit is dealing with an upper-body injury which could mean anything from his elbow to his neck to his ribs. Roy is dealing with a lower-body injury which leaves less room for interpretation however he should be fine in a day.

Woll's absence is simply due to an illness and whether it's something of a flu bug or a rhinovirus, it's that time of the year and is an unfortunate pattern that seems to follow the team every year.

There are certainly more than enough bodies to help cover for the three men in their absence however they are all key contributors (or expected to be) and the faster they are back on the ice the better.

But right now, as much as these three players have their spots locked down, it also opens up a window for others to come in and step up. Guys like Henry Thrun, Philippe Myers and John Prokop can all sub in for Benoit and could be solid depth options.

With Woll, it's tougher but it's a great chance to see what improvements Dennis Hildeby has made and make sure they didn't waste their money on an extension.

Roy, who came over in the Mitch Marner deal is a bit of a wildcard since we haven't had him in the system really yet, and his injury is a bit of a setback but gives way to guys like Easton Cowan to have more of a look.

The whole situation is frustrating because it's more of the same as we saw all of last year when it comes to injuries and illnesses.

But thankfully the team has brought along more than enough depth to weather that storm.