The Toronto Maple Leafs had just begun to turn their season around, winning eight of 10 games from mid-December to mid-January to return to relevance in the Eastern Conference. But Craig Berube's team has begun to struggle again in the New Year, dropping four of five. A slew of injuries has played a key role in the skid, and they continue to hit the roster hard in 2025-26.
The Leafs lost 2-1 to the Detroit Red Wings in overtime on home ice on Wednesday, and also lost two key defenders in Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Brandon Carlo. The Athletic's Chris Johnston provided an unfortunate update on the two veterans after the defeat.
“The hits keep coming to the Leafs blue line: Not only did Oliver Ekman-Larsson leave last night's game with a lower-body issue that is expected to cause him to miss some time, but there's concern Brandon Carlo tweaked something as well,” the hockey insider reported early Thursday morning.
Ekman-Larsson exited in the first period on Wednesday; in just his fifth shift, he got tied up with Red Wings forward Lucas Raymond. He left the ice shortly after and didn't return to the contest.
“I’ll know more tomorrow after they’ve evaluated him and we see where he’s at,” Berube said of OEL afterwards.
The Leafs are already missing stalwart defender Chris Tanev, who is considering groin surgery that could keep him on the shelf for the rest of the regular-season. If Ekman-Larsson and Carlo both miss time, Toronto could be missing three of its top-four defenseman ahead of the stretch run.
Maple Leafs just can't afford these injuries
Along with Tanev — and now potentially Ekman-Larsson and Carlo on the blue line — key forward Matthew Knies admitted he's playing through an ailment, while superstar William Nylander is still out, with no return timetable in sight.
As well, starting goaltender Anthony Stolarz has been out of action since early November, although he has been sent down to the American Hockey League on a conditioning stint and is expected to return to the NHL club soon.
Still, Toronto is struggling mightily to tread water in the face of these injuries, and it's showing on the scoresheet. The Leafs have won just once since Jan. 13. They're still only a point outside of the final wildcard berth in the East, but the conference is filled with teams who have postseason aspirations come April.
The Leafs are certainly one of those, but they're doing things the hard way as the injuries pile up. If Ekman-Larsson is forced to miss any time, management could look to make a move to replace him ahead of the March 6 NHL Trade Deadline.
“Leafs management continues to poke around the trade market for available upgrades. If Ekman-Larsson misses time, could the Leafs make a trade sooner than anticipated to keep themselves in the playoff hunt?” wrote The Athletic's Joshua Kloke on Thursday.
Ekman-Larsson has been Toronto's best defender this year, and any kind of absence for the Swede would be detrimental to the franchise's playoff hopes. That being said, he was seen after Wednesday's game outside of the dressing room “in no obvious pain,” per Kloke.
The team should have an update on the veteran at some point on Thursday.
The focus now shifts to Mitchell Marner, who will make his highly-anticipated return to Toronto when the Vegas Golden Knights visit Scotiabank Arena on Friday night.
