Two Maple Leafs miss morning skate due to illness, status uncertain for tonight's game vs. Oilers

With the Toronto Maple Leafs set to face off against the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday night, it's going to be a tough affair given they are up against two of the world's best players, and are dealing with some injury issues themselves.

Although we did see the return of Oliver Ekman-Larsson to the ice after a scary incident against San Jose on Thursday, there were two other notable absences during Saturday's morning skate.

According to the Maple Leafs official PR account on X, both William Nylander and Dakota Joshua are dealing with illnesses and are not participating in practice.

Nylander has 34 points in 26 games for the Maple Leafs this season (11 goals, 23 assists) meanwhile Joshua has 9 points in 29 games (5 goals, 4 assists).

With that news, the Maple Leafs needed to make some changes to their lineup in practice and while it's not confirmed whether or not both men will either play, the team looked much different this morning nonetheless:

Knies - Matthews - Domi
Cowan - Tavares - Robertson
Maccelli - Roy - McMann
Lorentz - Laughton - Jarnkrok

Absent: Nylander (illness), Joshua (illness)

Rielly - OEL
McCabe - Stecher
Benoit - Thrun

Hildeby
Akhtyamov
Woll

Matias Maccelli finds his way into the lineup albeit through some tough circumstances, and while he's here now it's unlikely he slides in unless both Joshua and Nylander find themselves out.

Nick Robertson takes over for Nylander on the second line for now, and it's possible we see him in the lineup over Calle Jarnkrok who is on the fourth line, however it's also genuinely a possibility he gets the healthy scratch yet again.

The one story coming out of practice is the return of Oliver Ekman-Larsson, who left Thursday's game but is back on the ice. With Toronto down two key defenders already, they couldn't afford to lose a third.

It's unknown who Edmonton will put in crease tonight, as Tristan Jarry was just acquired and was seen in the starter's net, only to be replaced by Calvin Pickard mid-way through.

It remains to be seen if the Maple Leafs will have Joshua or Nylander back, but if they want to have their best chance against Edmonton on Saturday then they'll need them both back on the ice.