The Toronto Maple Leafs defense has been an area of concern with everyone healthy, but was thrown into a state of chaos nearly a month ago when Jake Gardiner and Travis Dermott were lost just after the NHL Trade Deadline.
With Mike Babcock loading ice time on his top four and shuffling between Martin Marincin, Justin Holl and Igor Ozhiganov to find a competent bottom pairing, both injured blueliners on the ice at the Mastercard Centre has to be welcoming to the Leafs head coach.
Gardiner has been out of the lineup since February 25 with back issues and his appearance at the Leafs practice facility on Friday is the first time he has been seen since. Dermott suffered a shoulder injury against Edmonton on February 27 and has been skating to keep his conditioning up for over a week.
The Leafs have gone 5-5-1 with both defensemen out of the lineup, in part because they along with Morgan Rielly are chiefly responsible for carrying the puck up the ice.
It is expected that Dermott will be recovered in time to get into a couple regular season games before the start of the playoffs on April 10. If he does have not have any setbacks, two weeks could be enough time to ramp up Gardiner’s on-ice activity to be ready for the Leafs first-round series against Boston.
Calle Rosen has missed a month with a foot injury and is expected to return to the Toronto Marlies lineup as soon as this weekend, which could provide the Leafs with another option between now and the end of the season.
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The Maple Leafs continued to lock up some of their depth players on short-term deals to provide as much cost-certainty going into the summer. After locking up Trevor Moore, Calle Rosen, Andreas Borgman, Garret Sparks earlier in the season, forward Nic Petan has been signed to a two-year, $1.55 Million contract extension ($775,000 AAV).
The 23-year-old was acquired from Winnipeg on February 25 in exchange for Par Lindholm and has a goal in five games since the trade. Petan has the versatiity to play on the left side and up the middle, which could have in the mix for a fourth line spot next season depending on whether the Leafs bring back veteran Tyler Ennis.
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