New Anthony Stolarz announcement headlines several Maple Leafs injury updates

The first two weeks of November and December have not been kind to the Leafs on the injury front. As we all know, Chris Tanev was injured on November 1st while Anthony Stolarz and Brandon Carlo have not played since November 11th and 13th, respectively.

Fast-forward to December, and the Leafs lost Joseph Woll on December 4th before losing Dakota Mermis and Oliver Ekman-Larsson this week.

On Friday, Berube confirmed that Carlo underwent surgery on his foot on December 3rd and is expected to be out at least a month, if not longer.

As for Stolarz, the Leafs' bench boss confirmed that the former second-round pick has still not resumed skating since suffering an upper-body injury on November 11th against the Boston Bruins.

While it remains status quo for the time being with Stolarz, Berube was able to confirm some new information. The Leafs' bench boss told reporters that the 31-year-old netminder is not expected to be out for the season, so we will see him back at some point.

On the more positive note for the Leafs, Berube revealed that OEL may be an option for Saturday, depending on how his morning skate goes. If he is unable to go, Marshall Rifai could make his season debut for the Leafs instead.

Coming off of wrist surgery, Rifai has been skating for a few weeks and shed his non-contact jersey in practice earlier this week.

The 27-year-old right-handed defenseman made his debut for the Leafs during the 2023-24 season, skating in two games. The 6-foot-2, 211-pound Quebec native isn't flashy, but plays a physical game and is reliable defensively, while being able to chip in offensively at times.

Hopefully, when the calendar flips to 2026, the Leafs will be able to stay healthy and ice something closer to their ideal roster. For now, though, they'll have to continue to stay afloat relying on the 'next man up' mentality.