Prior to setting up an Auston Matthews powerplay goal against the Tampa Bay Lightning on December 20th, Rasmus Sandin was hit in the neck with a stick. His shift on the powerplay was the last shift he would play that night as the Leafs removed him from the game for precautionary reasons. Those reasons turned out to be a neck injury that has kept him out of the lineup since.
At the time, Sandin didn't think much of it until he started to get blurred vision. "My neck got swollen and I started to get blurry in my vision. Probably from the swelling in my neck it was attached to a nerve or something like that," Sandin explained. Once the swelling subsided, the blurred vision also did. However, that has not stopped the Leafs from taking every precaution to protect the 22-year-old.
That is why he was placed on injured reserve immediately following the game against Tampa which meant he had to miss a minimum of 7 days. Heading into the Christmas break, the Leafs knew they would be able to have him return as soon as tonight (but that is doubtful).
Sandin has been practicing in full and recently was skating with Jordie Benn on the Leafs' fourth pairing at practice Wednesday. The difficult part will be finding him a spot in the lineup when he is ready to return as Conor Timmins has played very well since being inserted into the lineup and while Sandin and Timothy Liljegren were playing excellent together, Morgan Rielly has now been paired with him for his return against Arizona. In 33 games this season, Sandin is second among Leafs defensemen in points with 14 points.
