TORONTO — Conor Timmins‘ disappointment might just be Brandon Pridham’s relief.
The Toronto Maple Leafs‘ right-shot depth defenceman had been excelling in training camp, building a serious case for a spot on the opening roster by piling six points in his first two preseason games.
But Timmins absorbed a hit late in his third outing, Friday in Montreal, that has ended his training camp prematurely.
The 25-year-old suffered a “significant” lower-body injury as a result and has now been labelled week to week, coach Sheldon Keefe announced Monday.
If Timmins is expected to miss the first 10 games and 24 days of the regular season, the Maple Leafs could slide him onto long-term injured reserve alongside Jake Muzzin and Matt Murray. His $1.1 salary would not count against the club’s salary cap while injured.
This is key to note because Timmins is not exempt from waivers and the Leafs are so tight to the cap’s ceiling, they are at risk of losing a depth piece to the wire before getting cap-compliant ahead of next week’s opening night.
Giving general manager Brad Treliving and his financial wiz, Pridham, pause for thought ahead of their roster cuts has been the steady play of third-string goaltender Martin Jones and the fact that a division rival will consider stealing a goalie off an increasingly busy waiver wire.
The Tampa Bay Lightning have lost stud Andrei Vasilevskiy to back surgery for two months, and GM Julien BriseBois will have options as opponents trim their rosters.
None of Toronto’s three goalies — Ilya Samsonov, Joseph Woll and Jones — are exempt from waivers.
Will the Leafs brass consider hanging on to all three and enter the season with a three-headed crease?
“Everything is up in the air,” said Keefe, deferring to Treliving and Pridham on cap matters.
“Obviously that’s going to be a big factor in decisions that are made.”
Toronto is far from the only club concerned about losing a depth goalie.
Vancouver already lost Spencer Martin on waivers to Columbus. Pittsburgh is in danger of losing third-stringer Magnus Hellberg. And the Detroit Red Wings are watching veteran James Reimer and late-bloomer Alex Lyon battle to be Ville Husso’s backup.
Lyon, 30, wowed last season in the Florida Panthers’ successful playoff push and only counts $900,000 against the cap on a two-year deal.
Lyon would be a fine fit in Tampa, but Detroit — unlike Toronto — has enough cap room to carry three goaltenders more comfortably.
The 33-year-old Jones lingered on the open market for over a month before signing a one-year, $875,000 contract with Toronto on Aug. 9.
Aware that he is priced nicely for a contender, Jones isn’t interested in discussing what might happen between now and opening night.
“I’m just trying to play well. Right now, I’m a Toronto Maple Leaf. I’m just trying to play as well as I can here,” Jones told reporters, following Saturday’s preseason win in Montreal.
Keefe credits Jones’s positive attitude amidst the uncertainty.
“He’s a professional,” Keefe said. “He recognizes the situation he’s in. He’s just going to control what he can. He’s done a good job of that.”
Interesting times, as the game before the games will unfold over the next week.
One-Timers: New power-play quarterback John Klingberg suffered an upper-body ailment Wednesday in preseason action and has now been off the ice for five days and counting. “He’s not going to skate for a bit, but we think he’ll turn the corner here pretty quickly,” Keefe said…. Forward Calle Järnkrok has been working his way back into action from an undisclosed camp injury. He practised Monday with Toronto’s non-game group and is expected to suit up for one of the Maple Leafs’ final exhibition games later this week against Detroit… Roster hopeful Simon Benoit is still playing catchup in camp, but injuries to Timmins and Klingberg give more hope to both he and Mikko Kokkonen. Keefe crowned Kokkonen “the surprise of camp” and is placing him in an NHL lineup for Monday’s game against Montreal… Joseph Woll (illness) missed a scheduled exhibition start but may get one back against Detroit.
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