Another Leafs defenseman misses practice on Sunday; Keefe provides an update
After their 6-4 defeat against the Buffalo Sabres last night, Mark Giordano was not present at practice today, which caused some panic among the Leafs' fanbase, largely due to the current injury report on the Leafs' blueline. Giordano skated 22:19 TOI and had 6 blocked shots last night, but did not appear to be out of sorts in the game at all, so his absence this morning was a bit conspicuous.
This morning, following practice, Sheldon Keefe made sure to point out that Gio's absence had nothing to do with an injury. The head coach said he was unavailable today for a "recovery day" given his recent increased workload with so many D-men banged up.
Before the regular season started, there were a lot of discussions regarding Giordano and the possibility of load management as he entered his age-40 season.
Giordano, a veteran of 18 seasons and 1,113 games, played in 78 regular season games last season for the Maple Leafs, where he averaged 18:57 TOI. In 11 playoff games, Giordano saw his ice time drop by 4 minutes to 14:53 TOI and it became apparent that the wear and tear from the season had him a bit fatigued.
Aside from the Gio update, Leafs reporter David Alter added that Keefe won't know if Jake McCabe will suit up for tomorrow's game against the Tampa Bay Lightning until they get through today's practice session.
McCabe has already missed 4 games this season and with Conor Timmins and Timothy Liljegren out for the foreseeable future, they will have to rely on Giordano and the rest of the veterans a whole lot more.
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