Maple Leafs Move Another Forward to Injured Reserve, But for Good Reason

The common theme surrounding the Toronto Maple Leafs over the last few weeks has been injury after injury, as all 3 positions have had to deal with losses in some way, shape, or form.

With the Leafs playing host to the Columbus Blue Jackets tonight, they were given some good news in that Scott Laughton will be making his return to the lineup, but to bring him back onto the roster, they had place
another forward on IR. That forward is Nicolas Roy.

Laughton has had a rather frustrating start to the season after he was placed on the IR before the campaign even started due to an injury he sustained in a pre-season game. His return to the lineup barely lasted 2 games as he was forced out of their game against Boston on the 8th of November after a thunderous hit from Nikita Zadorov.

Nevertheless, the 31-year-old is excited to be back in the lineup and is raring to help out the Maple Leafs, who just recently snapped a 5-game losing streak. At this morning's practice, the veteran was centering the third line with Steven Lorentz and Easton Cowan and is expected to handle his usual workload.

To accommodate his return to the 23-man roster, the Leafs had to make a subsequent move, which resulted in Roy taking his spot on the IR. The 28-year-old was ruled out ahead of Tuesday's game vs St. Louis after having played a season-high 19:45 the game prior in Chicago.

Roy's placement on injured reserve is retroactive to the 15th of November, meaning he won't be allowed to return until next week, effectively ruling him out of this weekend's contest against the Montreal Canadiens.

The Leafs are hoping to win back-to-back games for the first time since early November, and will also be looking for revenge, after the Blue Jackets recently beat them 6-3 at the end of October.