Keefe makes changes to D pairs in the wake of Jake McCabe's lower-body injury

McCabe underwent an MRI yesterday and as the Leafs await the results, Sheldon Keefe made it very clear that he doesn't expect McCabe's injury to be short term. He will miss some time. Now, it's just a matter of how much.

The Leafs elected to send Fraser Minten back to his junior team in Kamloops on Friday, effectively ending his first NHL campaign at just 4 games, but it was the right move for the 19-year-old, who had missed 3 straight games sitting in the press box. In a corresponding move, the Leafs also called up defenseman William Lagesson.

On Friday, during line rushes, Morgan Rielly and T.J. Brodie were the only D pair that was unaffected by the McCabe injury. With the top pair unchanged, the Leafs' D corps did see some movement on Friday, with Mark Giordano moving up to play alongside Timothy Liljegren, while the newly recalled Lagesson, who had a surprisingly good training camp in his own right, was slotted in next to the offensively-minded John Klingberg.

Once we know how long McCabe is expected to be sidelined, I'm sure we'll have a better idea of what the Leafs' next move will be. If McCabe's injury is serious and requires a lot of time off, it wouldn't be surprising to see a move made to bring in an experienced NHL defenseman - though a high-priced option is out of the cards at this point, thanks to the Leafs' cap situation. If McCabe's injury is shorter-term, we'll likely see Lagesson and/or Simon Benoit helping the Leafs tread water until McCabe is set to return.