Nick Paul's Four-Minute Debut Ends in Classic Maple Leafs Injury Drama
Head coach Jim Hiller indicated the issue is not significant.
The managed to get exactly four minutes and 42 seconds out of their newest depth piece before the injury bug showed up.
According to Daily Faceoff, forward Nick Paul is officially day-to-day with an undisclosed injury after leaving Wednesday's preseason game against the . He vanished before the second period even started.
Logging less than five minutes in a home debut is barely enough time to realize how expensive a beer is at Scotiabank Arena, let alone break a sweat. Head coach Jim Hiller claims the issue is not significant, which is exactly what every hockey coach says right before a guy suddenly needs six months of rehab.
desperately needs this to actually be a minor bump. When you are paying Auston Matthews $13.25 million and William Nylander $11.5 million, your depth pieces have to stay on the ice. The front office brought Paul in from the specifically to provide the kind of gritty, reliable minutes that keep a top-heavy roster from collapsing.
If Paul misses real time, the bottom six gets very thin, very fast. That lack of depth is something to keep in mind if you are looking at 's early-season puck lines, because one missing puzzle piece forces everyone else to play heavier minutes.
The regular season opens on September 29 against the . If Paul is skating by the weekend, this is just a preseason footnote. If he is still in street clothes on opening night, Hiller's first real lineup is already playing from behind.