While the Toronto Maple Leafs offense appears to be going well, the defense is doing the exact opposite due to the absence of several injured guards.
General manager Brad Treliving announced Monday that he was open to adding a defensive lineman or two to his roster to give his coaches additional ammunition. The fact that John Klingberg’s name is now on the long-term unavailable list has raised some alarm.
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“It’s an aspect that we wanted to strengthen anyway,” the CEO said this morning, according to the Sportsnet network.
With Klingberg and Timothy Liljegren sidelined for a long time, the Leafs have significantly fewer options than they did a few weeks ago. Players like William Lagesson and Simon Benoit have recently been called up by the big club, but they don’t necessarily have the profile to help Toronto remain a top club.
“They probably have players who play higher [dans la formation] and more minutes than you’d like and they’re fine, but we’d definitely like to take a look at it and figure out how we can help with that,” Treliving said.
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It would be surprising if the Leafs made a move by the end of the week, as they expect to have answers on Klingberg’s case by Friday. Should the veteran require further surgery, Treliving can then justify his actions on the transaction market.
In addition, he did not expect to be without the Swede, who began to suffer again from the effects of surgery on both hips in 2014.
“It wasn’t a situation where we knew the player was injured and still offered him a contract. “We knew the player’s history but we didn’t expect it to be a problem,” admitted the general manager.
With Klingberg on the long-term injured list, the Queen City team has $4.15 million in temporary payroll to spend as they see fit. However, if the defender returns by the end of the season, there could be difficult personnel moves.
The Maple Leafs host the Florida Panthers at Scotiabank Arena on Tuesday night.