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Muzzin and Brodie

Rick C.

Rick C.

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The Toronto Maple Leafs announced today that defenceman Jake Muzzin is out indefinitely due to a cervical spine injury. Muzzin?s status will be re-evaluated in late February. Muzzin skated in four games with the Maple Leafs this season and recorded one assist.

The Maple Leafs also announced today that defenceman TJ Brodie has been placed on injured reserve with an oblique injury while the club has recalled forward Pontus Holmberg and defenceman Mac Hollowell from the Toronto Marlies (AHL).
 
Oof.  Now Brodie out too. 

I guess we'll have to see how injured Brodie is, but they may be forced to make a move or 2 here.
 
Frank E said:
Oof.  Now Brodie out too. 

I guess we'll have to see how injured Brodie is, but they may be forced to make a move or 2 here.
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I suspect any teams with extra serviceable D are wringing their hands waiting for a Leafs call.
 
Not great.  Not great at all.  Muzzin being hurt isn't shocking given his health over the last few years but to have

Goaltenders 1, 2 and 3vs4 and defensemen 2 and probably 3 out is some pretty awful injury luck so far.
 
I'd rather have this injury run now vs in April - but still, those are huge losses on the backend and in net.

Any update on Murray being available this week?
 
Re-evaluated in late February. Right before the trade deadline (March 3rd). If he's announced as done-done at that point then the Leafs will surely go after a rental defenceman.

It's tough to acquire one right now since a) I guess there's still some very, very slim chance Muzzin might play hockey again this season (otherwise they'd have just announced he's out for the season, although I highly doubt he'll play) and b) there's not really a heck of a lot of teams in selling mode quite this early in the season.

Early bets on acquisitions later in the season would be Justin Braun, Carson Soucy, or Luke Schenn. Until then though Sandin and Liljegren will need to step up quite a bit.
 
louisstamos said:
Any update on Murray being available this week?
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Will probably see an update on him in the afternoon, but it was reported on the weekend he could be returning for tomorrow's game.
 
The injuries keep piling up for the Leafs. I wonder if the Leafs will make a move for a guy like Chychrun. I think they'll wait and see how it goes for a bit.
Sad news tho about Muzz. I don't see him coming back.
 
I'd shake the trees on Kulikov (ANA 2.25M) or Gavrikov (CBJ 2.8M). Adam Larsson for a longer-term option (SEA 4M x 3 yrs).
 
The thing with Muzzin might honestly be more of a "see how things are in February to decide if nothing is the appropriate option versus surgery".  In this scenario he might have a chance to play again without surgery but surgery will be the end of his career.
 
Now Brodie jeez we just can't seem to catch any breaks this year. 2 top 6 defensemen, both starting goalies yikes.
 
The only theory I have as to why they hung on to Muzzin so tightly (besides liking him) was he wouldn't pass the physical... Really stings seeing as how Durzi is progressing.
 
Bender said:
The only theory I have as to why they hung on to Muzzin so tightly (besides liking him) was he wouldn't pass the physical... Really stings seeing as how Durzi is progressing.
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You have to give something up to get something good and Muzz was def good. Sure it would be nice to still have Durzi but I think both teams win that deal. He wouldn't have played if he didn't pass his physical.
 
Guilt Trip said:
Bender said:
The only theory I have as to why they hung on to Muzzin so tightly (besides liking him) was he wouldn't pass the physical... Really stings seeing as how Durzi is progressing.
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You have to give something up to get something good and Muzz was def good. Sure it would be nice to still have Durzi but I think both teams win that deal. He wouldn't have played if he didn't pass his physical.
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He was good when healthy earlier on, but I just feel like we've really hitched our wagon on hoping guys that have an injury or inconsistency history don't have injuries or inconsistency in order to get a reasonable cap hit. I also think a number of people were worried about Muzzin's injury history when he signed the extension, and I've been in the trade Muzzin camp for a while - he hasn't been consistent even when healthy lately (except 7 games in the playoffs, but why are we basing our decision on 7 games?)

I feel for Muzzin as a player and as a person, but from a roster management perspective we let a young defenseman go when we need as many young, cheap players to fill out our rosters as possible, especially with less miles on the body. The Leafs are getting older and slower, and seeing assets disappear year after year either fixing mistakes or own rentaling or overspending on pending UFAs at the deadline... It's frustrating.
 
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Bender said:
I feel for Muzzin as a player and as a person, but from a roster management perspective we let a young defenseman go when we need as many young, cheap players to fill out our rosters as possible, especially with less miles on the body. The Leafs are getting older and slower, and seeing assets disappear year after year either fixing mistakes or own rentaling or overspending on pending UFAs at the deadline... It's frustrating.
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I appreciate where you're coming from but I think, to some extent, it's misguided here. When the Muzzin trade happened nobody was like "Hey, we have a fun young team, let's wait until our young defensemen to develop before trying to make a deep push into the playoffs". They traded for Muzzin on the basis of trying to win and, while we know the results of that aren't what we wanted, I don't think the trade looks bad in hindsight just on that basis.
 
Bender said:
The only theory I have as to why they hung on to Muzzin so tightly (besides liking him) was he wouldn't pass the physical... Really stings seeing as how Durzi is progressing.
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I think you're overthinking things here. It's likely much more simple than that - teams weren't willing to offer value the Leafs were willing to accept for Muzzin. The reasoning from the other teams isn't really important. The Leafs weren't willing to move him for less than they valued him.

It's likely as simple as this - other teams saw him as the Leafs trying to dump cap. The Leafs didn't see him that way. Hard to make a deal in that scenario.
 
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